May 2002 - Nr. 5
Reconstructing Berlin’s Historical Centre as a Private Initiative?
TWIG - Since reunification, Berlin has been crammed with cranes, scaffolding and concrete mixers. So does the German capital really need another construction project, and a historically controversial one at that? When the project in question is a building that was seen as the city’s architectural signature for more than two hundred years, answers are sharply divided. The enormous baroque Berlin Palace, designed by architect Andreas Schlueter in the 18th century, was long the seat of Prussian Hohenzollern kings and later of the German emperor. In 1950, the bombed remains of the palace were levelled by East German communist leader Walter Ulbricht.
Now a committee of architects, art historians, politicians and preservationists is working to determine whether Ulbricht should have the last word. "The rebuilding of the palace has nothing to do with politics," said Wilhelm von Boddien, an entrepreneur who is a chief advocate of rebuilding, "There was no nationalism when it was built 300 years ago. The palace was always the nucleus of this city. We need it to restore Berlin’s identity." The cost, however, would be the leveling of the bronze and glass "Palace of the Republic" built by former East German leader Erich Honecker.
While the heart of Berlin is still graced by the work of Karl Friedrich Schinkel, architect to the Prussian royal family, some feel his buildings, without the original palace, lack their natural focus. Boddien notes that the Brandenburg Gate has become the de facto symbol of the German capital, but that "it was never meant to be a national monument - it was the entrance to the palace." Like most of those campaigning for the comeback of Berlin’s central square, Boddien believes that the "Palace of the Republic," only 25 years old but already crumbling, will be torn down as nostalgia for it fades. But among the activists deciding the square’s fate, there are many who argue for replacing the old structures and ruins with a thoroughly new and unifying concept. "We need a fascinating new idea that will allow us to escape all these backward-looking proposals," says Lehmann.
