VISITING CAPITALS

Saturday

1 THE ART AND FLEA MARKET ON FEHRBELLINER PLATZ Start your weekend on the outskirts of Berlin’s city ring, in the Wilmersdorf district, at the traditional Insider flea market tip (trödelmarkt) on the Discover the dealer’s “pain threshold” Fehrbelliner (Schmerzgrenze in Platz. It German) and offer is known just under it. throughout the , image © visitBerlin city as the place where art lovers hours and flea market fans meet. It is open two days a week (depending on the 48 season), taking place on the esplanade in of the metro station Fehrbelliner Platz, which makes it easy to reach by public transport. While it mostly showcases Berlin art and antiques, clothing, furniture and other vintage items are also on offer. In With many of the city’s famous Christmas addition to which, artists, gallery owners and art dealers show up at the flea markets starting this month, why not take a trip market to sell their paintings. From fine art and portraits to crafts and smaller to Berlin, which boasts a collectors’ paradise installations, it is possible to find pretty writes Nicholas Martin much everything. Experienced buyers who have visited this flea market for years, know that ith 600 galleries and 153 was given the prestigious title of UNESCO haggling at the Fehrbelliner Platz market museums it is no surprise World Heritage site. requires a bit of negotiating skills. Don’t Apart from Museum Island, Berlin is home that Berlin is at the centre of be afraid to walk away (or pretend to) W Europe’s cultural scene. The to a host of museums and galleries including to see how the merchant reacts. With city’s art scene received a considerable boost the Gemäldegalerie (Painting Gallery), which enough negotiating skills and cheek it is in 1995 when the Art Forum Berlin launched focuses on Old Masters from the 13th to the really possible to find great deals. and the Berlin Biennale for contemporary 18th centuries, while the Neue Nationalgalerie artists, held every June, began in 1998. (New National Gallery), built by Ludwig Mies Fact file Berlin’s Museumsinsel, (Museum Island) van der Rohe, specialises in 20th-century +49 30 24358510 is home to fi ve world-class museums European painting. www.fehrbi.info showcasing works from Ancient Egypt and If that’s not enough, and you want to take Fehrbelliner Platz 1 Byzantium to treasures from Berlin. a piece of Berlin’s incredible cultural heritage 10707 Berlin Cultural exhibits include the breathtaking home, then pop along to any one of the city’s Underground U Fehrbelliner Platz Pergamon Altar and the stunning Ishtar jaw-dropping fl ea markets, where you could Saturday and Sunday 10am-4pm Gate. In 1999, the Museum Island complex very easily bag a bargain.

34 ANTIQUE COLLECTING 2 SUAREZSTRASSE, OR 5 ARKONAPLATZ THE ‘ANTIQUE MILE’ The Sunday flea market on Arkonaplatz has established itself as one of the best flea After the Fehrbelliner Platz, move west to the markets in Berlin. And no wonder, because it affluent area of Charlottenburg, which is home has been around for more than a century. to an abundance of captivating antique stores In 1912 the illustrator and photographer on Suarezstrasse, the Berliner Antikstrasse or, Heinrich Zille depicted the market’s hustle and in English, the “Antique Mile”. bustle in one of his sketches. This mile-long flea market is brimming Its real charm comes from its location, with art deco, furniture and paintings all a wide square beneath chestnut trees available at unbeatable prices. surrounded by old buildings and dotted with Boasting more than 30 stores showcasing several pleasant cafes for a ringside view of a spectacular array of the action. It is also the place where hipsters collectables, estate mingle with old Berliners. purchases, and Insider The market is close to many of the The market is small and therefore very city’s landmarks vintage curiosities, tip accessible with a good mix of professional it is loved by locals. On the first Saturday 3 sellers and locals selling things they no longer However, it still in September, the STRASSE DES 17. need. The emphasis is firmly on traditional remains a mystery Suarezstrasse organises JUNI antiques and collectables (more so than the to a huge portion a yearly festival Mauerpark). Look for anything from furniture Overlooking many historic landmarks, of the city’s tourists. attended by up to to clothes, creditable paintings, as well as the twice-weekly Strasse des 17. Juni flea This street was 30,000. vintage electronics. named after the legal market (named after the victims of the reformer Carl Gottlieb workers’ uprising in on that Fact file Suarez in 1897. Today, the road perfectly date in 1953) is recognised as the original +49 30 7869764 connects the past with the present. If you’re Berliner flea market. Anyone looking for www.troedelmarkt-arkonaplatz.de looking for glassware try Schöne alte Gläser bargains should show up early (but, on Arkonaplatz 10435 Berlin at number 58 for a beautiful selection the plus side, it opens at 10am). Look Underground Bernauer Strasse from the 1750s to the 1960s. Antik-Center for all manner of collectables, antique Sunday 10am-4pm Suarezstrasse can be found at no. 48-49, jewellery and memorabilia. where you will discover a large showroom adorned with vintage memorabilia, artwork, Fact file and cabinets full of delicate jewellery. +49 30 26550096 For European furniture and accessories www.berlinertroedelmarkt.com from the 1950s onwards, visit Design54 at Strasse des 17 Juni numbers 54-56. 10623 Berlin Train S-Bahn S Saturday and Sunday 10am-5pm The market opens one day a week

4 MAUERPARK over 7,000 sqm), is located near the former Todesstreifen (Death Strip) at the border With more than a million visitors annually, area between Wedding and Prenzlauer Berg. the Mauerpark flea market ranks among Because it is open to both private dealers the most popular destinations in Berlin. and professional traders, it has a wide range Once a week, come rain or shine, up to of different goods, for all tastes and every 30,000 visitors flock to the Mauerpark possible budget. event. The market, which covers a total of But this is not the only reason why eight hectares (with up to 500 stalls split this flea market is such a hit in Berlin: the festive atmosphere has to be experienced. Numerous performing artists can be seen on Sunday the nearby open space. And, around 3pm, it hosts a karaoke, if you fancy a singsong. Fact file Fact file +49 030 29 77 24 86 +49 30 706 05 335 www.flohmarktimmauerpark.de www.suarezstrasse.com Bernauer Straße 63 14057 Berlin 10435 Berlin Saturday 10am-4pm Tram Wolliner Stasse Monday to Friday 2pm-7pm Sunday 8am-6pm Underground Sophie Charlotte-Platz The market is home to 500 traders

ANTIQUE COLLECTING 35 VISITING CAPITALS Berlin

Dyck, and many more, had been slumbering Q&A in an apartment in Berlin for 70 years before We asked Dr Stefan Grisebach discovered it. In two days, 3,000 Körner, a specialist with objects went under the hammer totalling the Berlin auction house €12m (£10¾m) and ending up in new Grisebach, for his tips on collections around the world. The catalogue visiting for the collection went on to be an important the city archive available to scholars around the world.

What antiques do you collect, if any? What home-grown Berlin antiques Q I love historical objects in daily use Q should UK collectors look for? A that look like modern art, such as Berlin has an abundance of a Mingei hook for a Japanese tea ceremony A extraordinary works of art from the that looks like a Henry Moore, or a fórcola of The market, with its surrounding eateries, golden twenties, when the city was the hot a Venetian gondola that looks like a sculpture is good a way to end the weekenda spot for international art. Artists from all by Hans Hartung. 6 BOXHAGENER PLATZ over Europe came here, and it was the place where Modernism, for which art Grisebach What insider tips can you reveal to Located in the heart of the vibrant is a worldwide leader, came into its own. Q collectors visiting Berlin? student quarter around Simon-Dach- The spectrum ranges from graphic works There are incredible design shops here Strasse in Friedrichshain, the flea market by Max Liebermann to paintings by Max A that show the best of the best of the on Boxhagener Platz, nicknamed “Boxi” Beckmann. Other areas include applied arts 19th and 20th centuries – from art nouveau to by locals, is a wonderful place to stroll by outstanding goldsmiths such as Emil Bauhaus, and from Scandinavian, mid-century and rummage around. Lettré, whose estate, including jewellery design to East German design. Look, in Brought to life in the late 1990s, it and silver from the twenties, has just been particular, for the shops around Savignyplatz lures the professionals and heavy hitters rediscovered. in Charlottenburg. of the Berlin flea market scene. While big enough to offer good variety, it is small How would you describe your What are your favourite antiques or enough to be more intimate and less Q collecting style? Q non-antiques places in Berlin? overwhelming than other markets, like I prefer to collect a crossover that The Museum Island is clearly a must, Mauerpark or Strasse des 17. Juni. A brings together various styles, epochs, A but the cemeteries in Berlin also Look for everything from books cultures, and centuries. This way your recount the city’s history. In them, one can and furniture to household equipment, imagination has no boundaries. Include, find the graves of not only famous artists paintings and second-hand designer perhaps, a Baroque commode by Abraham and authors, but the architects and sculptors garments. One of the distinctive features Roentgen, alongside a linear artwork by commissioned to design them. For example, of the market is its many books and George. Money should not be the determining the Cemetery has the graves record stalls. factor, it should be one’s taste and the joy of of and his wife Helene Weigel, Last, but not least, there are beautiful things. next door to the home they shared together numerous restaurants and snacks in the which is now a museum. immediate vicinity, and the meadow What areas are currently selling well in the square’s centre is Q at Grisebach? Which places are a must? a great place to chill A few years ago, we rediscovered the Q Berlin has a wide range of small out after shopping. A art of the Dresden Romantic which was A museums in the city centre. Nicholas Martin In fact, a visit to incredibly popular. Younger audiences, whose But, off the beaten track, look out for Heinz is the founder of the flea market eye has been schooled by the contemporary, Berggruen’s collection of Classical Modernism fleamarketinsiders.com Boxhagener find the cloud studies of German artists from and the Scharf-Gerstenberg family’s collection an online guide to the Platz can be around 1800, particularly fascinating. of Surrealism in Charlottenburg, which is world’s best flea markets nicely combined next door to the Charlottenburg Palace, the and brocantes. with a Sunday Where are your favourite antique Prussian royal residence. Nowhere in the brunch in one of the Q hunting grounds in Berlin? world can you wander between such diverse surrounding cafes. A visit to the flea market on the Strasse districts – from sophisticated Charlottenburg, Ades 17. Juni is absolutely a must. But get to the wild nightlife of Schöneberg, through there early, very early. multicultural and the club culture Fact file of Friedrichhain, to the new centre of the +49 1521 1342683 What is the most memorable piece you government district in , nothing is very Boxhagener Platz 1 Q have sold, why was it so memorable? far away. 10245 Berlin For me, the most spectacular Underground U Frankfurter Tor A experience was recovering the last Grisebach’s next sale, titled Preview in Berlin, Sunday 10am-6pm German collection of Old Masters in 2015. This is on November 28. For more details visit treasure trove, with Brueghel, Ruisdael, van www.grisebach.com

36 ANTIQUE COLLECTING