Der Mensch bezwingt den Kosmos (The Potsdam Mosaic)

Soviet mosaics are perhaps not what one would expect to see in the city of palaces, yet this is one of its most famed public art pieces. The Potsdam mosaic was created in 1972 after the design of Fritz Eisel, who used it to decorate three sides of an otherwise boring socialist building.

The mosaics show different scientific achievements, such as the launch of Sputnik in 1957 and Aleksey Leonov’s spacewalk in 1965. It also pays tribute to the people who made it possible, showing several panels of scientists and workers in scientific settings. One panel in particular has been the source of much discussion, as it shows the Earth wrong (some people believe that this is due to a misunderstanding of Eisel, who wanted to show the planet from the perspective from the space ship, but others believe that it was done as a form of silent protest from the workers).