Kerstin Decker: Das Graue Kloster von Berlin
Biografie eines wiedergefundenen Ortes
Ute Müller-Tischler/Philipp Oswalt

The ruins of the Franciscan monastery church are among Berlin's oldest architectural monuments. Kerstin Decker's cultural-historical narrative provides an insightful journey through time, describing the city's founding years and highlighting the groundbreaking architectural achievements of its builders as well as the many changes in the monastery church's users. Through maps, photographs, and drawings, the text introduces the history of the site and reveals different layers of time. The monastery church allows for a concrete experience of urban history in the city space, through which one can move with the book. The publication is developed in an interplay between the author, picture editors, and designers as a kind of archaeological method and formal experiment, so that a lively engagement with the city and its history emerges beyond the well-established routines of city guides.