INTERSECTIONS, CONJUNCTIONS, CONFLUENCES, VENN DIAGRAMS, ETC

I’ve been thinking about intersections in the past few days—by which I mean the odd unexpected and interesting conjunctions and overlaps (neither linear nor logical) that occur as one goes along. Take our discovery of Berlin Square here in Seoul. Berlin is the European city we’ve visited most often, Peter for professional reasons, me for the pleasure of it. It’s a city he loves and I find endlessly fascinating, not least for the layers and layers of text that you see in it. I certainly didn’t expect to encounter Berlin here, but it turns out that Seoul and Belin are sister cities.

Berlin Square, Seoul, Korea. June 12, 2010. Photo by Peter Harris

Berlin Square, photo by Peter Harris

The square is the street corner where stands a surprisingly large chunk of the Berlin Wall. If you approach it from the “wrong” direction you could be forgiven for thinking it a piece of detritus left from a construction project. But on the other side you’ll see the graffiti. A painted Berlin bear (but for its blue colour more actually bear-like than the ones I saw in Berlin itself) also stands there, seemingly paused in mid-lope.

The Bear forms an interesting intersection between the two cities. It’s been on Berlin’s coat of arms since about 1920, perhaps because Albrecht 1, who founded the Margraviate of Brandernburg was nicknamed “the bear”, but more likely because in German Baer echoes the first syllable of Berlin. According to a Korean legend the country’s founder, Tan-Gun, was the son of a bear whose wish to be human was granted. In the story I heard she became a beautiful woman, so beautiful the god who transformed her fell in love with her and they had a son. For a couple of other versions and more details check out:

http://www.lifeinkorea.com/information/tangun.cfm

http://www.imjinscout.com/Foundation_Myth.html

I don’t know when the Square was established, but I found the following announcement (dated August 25, 2004) about it:

With the hope of reunification of the Korean Peninsula, the Berlin Square is to feature the Berlin Wall that will be moved from a German city, and German-style street lamps and benches. German trees will be planted along the square. The city of Berlin will financially support the establishment of the square.

The city government hopes that the Berlin Square will improve the relation between the two cities and provide a place for citizens to pray for the reunification of Korea.

http://english.seoul.go.kr/gtk/news/news_view.php?idx=204&cPage=163& (accessed 17 June 2010)

Ironically, perhaps, the square’s function as the starting point for the Pride Parades has generated the most notice of it, so far as google is concerned.

Intersections will be continued ... at intervals ...