GFZ German research centre for geo sciences

Report | A grand piano with a grand history

Piano with a story. When relics from the past come back into focus.

The Telegrafenberg in Potsdam can look back on a long history of geosciences. Research facilities have been located here for almost 150 years. One of which is the GFZ. The centre is the child of the German reunification and the successor to the GDR institution Zentralinstitut für Physik der Erde (ZIPE), which had been conducting research on this site since 1969. When relics from the past come back into focus we are reminded of our eventful history. For example, a grand piano with a story to tell is now being auctioned.

The grand piano comes from the Blüthner pianoforte factory in Großpösna near Leipzig and has already experienced a lot, as its many blemishes will attest. Unfortunately, the exact year of construction is not known, but Albrecht Schulze, who has been working on the Telegrafenberg since 1973, has known the piano since his first working day at the former ZIPE. "During the ZIPE era, the GDR national anthem was played on the grand piano, for example on the eve of the 1st May and on the 7th October, the founding day of the GDR," recalls Schulze.

Occasionally there was a kind of music circle or chamber music evening where ZIPE employees played music together for colleagues and their families. Even then the instrument was in the same building as today, one of the two lecture halls in the Science Park. Since the GFZ was founded, the grand piano has occasionally been used at Christmas parties or as a breaktime entertainment for talented employees, reports Schulze. But it has not been used for some time. A grand piano needs to be played regularly to maintain good condition so it is now to be auctioned off via the online platform of the federal recycling company VEBEG - in the hope that someone will be found who will bring it to life again. (ks)

More information about the history of the GFZ  

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