The Eiffel Tower of Lower Saxony

From our posts thus far, you might think that Lower Saxony contains only rain clouds and steep hills. However, it also has major architectural monuments, including the Faguswerk, a shoe factory designed by Walter Gropius beginning in 1911 that served as the model for the Dessau Bauhaus school. A shoe factory, you might ask? Why yes! The French might build iron monuments to nothing, but the ever-so-practical Germans need to know that their monuments to modernity make dollars and cents (or Reichsmarke, or the case may be). The key features of the factory include large spans of glass windows, a few glass corners that seem to float in the air, and a total interior design down to bathroom fixtures.

We visited the factory last Sunday (in the rain), and were quite amazed by the design. It still functions as a factory, but there are good exhibits devoted to its history and importance for twentieth century architecture. It is on the list of monuments currently being considered for Unesco World Heritage Status! And all this in homey Lower Saxony. We hope that this will warm the kids up for a visit to Dessau later this year.