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I had the chance to stay for a couple of days in Leipzig, in 1990 just a few month after reunification : 1) The city was 100% Steampunk ! There where steam he

I had the chance to stay for a couple of days in Leipzig, in 1990 just a few month after reunification : 1) The city was 100% Steampunk ! There where steam heat pipes everywhere along and over the streets. Those pipes where the main source of heating for the city houses and facilities. Things like this one, but everywhere in the city : https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Haltepunkt_Leipzig_Anger-Crottendorf_%E2%80%93_Rohbau_Fu%C3%9Fg%C3%A4ngerunterf%C3%BChrung_im_S%C3%BCden_mit_Fernw%C3%A4rmeleitung.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Haltepunkt_Leipzig_A... The steam was produced by dedicated factories near the city, and the main energy to produce this steam was lignite (brown coal) excavated near the city at Bergbaurevier Südraum Leipzig. There was gigantic and very impressive bucket-wheel excavators south of the city (some of the biggest of the world at the time) : https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Bucket-wheel_excavators_in_Tagebau_Hambach https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Bucket-wheel_exc... But the pipes where in bad state, so you could see steam escape from every tubes at every street. At the time it was estimated than 50% of the energy produced by the factories was lost during transport... 2) The houses where all greys and dusty because of said lignite factories around the city. There was steam from the pipes, but also smoke from the factories... That said you coul still imagine the former glory of the houses under the grey. 3) There was still many "bomb holes" here and here along the streets since World War Two. The GDR did try to patch the city centre with impressive (and ugly) buildings and but i did see plenty of missing houses in the main streets.

bobthechef 5y ago
> 1) The city was 100% Steampunk ! District heating was quite common across the former Eastern Bloc and Russia. In the winter, you could see bands of melted snow on the sidewalk where the pipes ran. I hear the ones still in use have been better insulated since then. > i did see plenty of missing houses in the main streets. Yeah, this I've also been told. Compare that with the impressive rate at which Polish cities were rebuilt (aside from the beautiful historic centers, we can debate about the desirability of the modernist architecture that was built in places where it was decided that the historical building was not to be rebuilt; some of them are actually quite interesting, to be sure, but certainly not all of them). Not sure why the GDR took so long, or how they fared next to West Germany.

bobthechef 5y ago

> 1) The city was 100% Steampunk ! District heating was quite common across the former Eastern Bloc and Russia. In the winter, you could see bands of melted snow on the sidewalk where the pipes ran. I hear the ones still in use have been better insulated since then. > i did see plenty of missing houses in the main streets. Yeah, this I've also been told. Compare that with the impressive rate at which Polish cities were rebuilt (aside from the beautiful historic centers, we can debate about the desirability of the modernist architecture that was built in places where it was decided that the historical building was not to be rebuilt; some of them are actually quite interesting, to be sure, but certainly not all of them). Not sure why the GDR took so long, or how they fared next to West Germany.