Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Fish Church


Summer in Berlin! That doesn't necessarily mean three months of gorgeous weather: some days are rainy and cold as if it was still early spring.  To prevent myself from complaining too much about it (which I do on a regular basis), I found a place where me and the kids are always having a good time: the Aquarium.
I enjoy the quiet: except for those odds moments when a brood of school kids walks by, the only sound you'd hear is the "shhwshsss" of water being pumped into the tanks.


The Berlin Aquarium is not only a place of peace, it is also a place of beauty 


Above the tanks, on the first floor, you find stained glass windows which remind so much of Jugendstil (the German version of Art Nouveau)


I like joking about the fact that it feels a bit like being in a church, but if you think about the fish as a traditional symbol of Christianity, it is not so inappropriate




The Greek letters which make the word for fish are IXTHUS, and they form an acronym that has also been associated with this symbol.  "Iesous Christos Theou Yios Soter", which is translated as Jesus (I) Christ (X), God's (TH) Son (U), Savior (S)
 


But religious symbols aside, maybe you're interested in reading more about  glass windows' history

 
Note: the Aquarium I am referring to, is the one inside the Zoologischer Garten.