Eight years ago I wrote about how, for fans of modern art and architecture, a trip to the Bauhaus is less 'a visit' and more 'a pilgrimage'. In the intervening period it has been the greatest delight in my life to have met and married someone who shared my giddy excitement about this building. As such the night we spent staying in the former student accommodation was one that will stay long in our memory.

It was near impossible to wipe the smile off of our faces when we checked in at the nice cafe and realised we had been given the keys to the front door of the Bauhaus!

The whole evening consisted of us wandering around anywhere in the building that we could access with our set of keys, we were like kids in a candy-shop. We excitedly wondered who may have lived in our room, Josef and Anni Albers perhaps? I was also struck by how similar it was to my own Central European university dorm room, again showing the effect this institution has on everyday life.

Every aspect of the building seemed to enthral us from the Gropius handles to the stools in the Mensa it is fair to say that we were giddily geeking out at the smallest details but as Mies would say that is where God resides.

But beyond appealing to those already converted I felt that the audio guide and museum exhibits did a great job of explaining the importance and relevance of the site to everyday life.

Since my last visit the Masters Houses have had something of a makeover, with those that had previously been demolished rebuilt as blank concrete boxes. I thought this worked really well, and certainly was an improvement from the small unremarkable bungalows that sat in their place last time. Additionally my wife and I have a list of artists’ houses that we have visited, and we almost doubled it on this one street. Also I was delighted to see the rebuilding of the newspaper kiosk on the corner facing the Georginium park, not only because it meant the two world heritage sites were visibly closer to each other, but also because it was the only building that Mies built with a direct link to the Bauhaus.

I was already a big fan of this site, but the wonderful experience of staying the night inside the student accommodation and sharing that experience with someone else to whom it also meant so much means that I have no problem putting this site as one of the finest World Heritage Sites I have ever visited.

Site 9 : Experience 10