Mar 23, 2014

Bärenquell Brauerei (abandoned brewery)

Berlin has a lot of interesting abandoned buildings. I've already seen Güterbahnhof Pankow (old railroad yard) and Ballhaus Grünau few weeks ago. Today's destination was Bärenquell Brauerei, abandoned brewery in East Berlin. 

Bärenquell Brauerei first opend in 1882 as the Borussia Brauerei. In 1898 was bought and expanded by Schultheiss AG and after the war it came under state cotrol and was renamed the VEB Bärenquell (VEB stands for Volkseigener Betrieb, people-owned enterprise, although the people had nothing to do with it).

Bärenqueel proved to be one of Berlin's most popular beers and was renowned for its good taste (Bärenquell literally means Spring of Bears). By its time of the closure was one of the 'big four' with Kindl, Berliner Pilsner and Schultheiss.

Bärenquell Breuerei closed its doors for the last time 20 years from now, on April 1st 1994, after the 112 years of operation. Can you imagine how many beer is that? :)

Getting in was easier than I thought. Just climbe the low fence on the main entrance and you're in. The whole place screams: "Come in, you're invited!" And we were not the only one there. I think we met around 10 people - from children throwing stuff from the roof of tallest building (I have no idea why way that good for) to fancy girls on afternoon walk. 

The property is huge, with several buildings. Four hours wasn't enought to explore even half of the place, but still I did a lot of pictures - maybe too many :D Althought I would prefer having more time to sniff through every single dark corner of the place.

Exploring abandoned buildings is always an unique experience for me. Checking all the doors, finding hiden rooms, climbing on the roofs, ... and the part I like the most - imagining how it looked like before it was abandoned and ruined, with all the workers and machines and beer. And trying to answer on all the questions in my head - What is this? What was that for? Where do you get through this locked door? ... Yes, exploring is so much fun! Too bad we don't have many abandoned places in my hometown. I guess I will have to take advantage of every single (free) day left before I go home, to visit at least one more place like this. Or come back to Berlin very soon :)






















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