May 2002 - Nr. 5
Berlin History Museum
Gets I. M. Pei Addition
TWIG - The German History Museum in Berlin is being renovated for the 21st century, and on Tuesday (April 16) the city celebrated the completion of its sparkling new wing, a curved glass building by American architect I. M. Pei. State Minister for Cultural Affairs Julian Nida-Ruemelin and other federal officials joined the designer at an opening ceremony on Berlin’s central boulevard, Unter den Linden.
"This is where history will be made transparent," said Transport Minister Kurt Bodeweg of the new addition.
That spirit represents an important departure from the past, when the museum, as an institution of the German Democratic Republic, ignored or misrepresented whole chapters of Germany’s history. Like other GDR institutions, it blamed Nazi-era crimes on the capitalist West.
The task of illuminating the past seems a natural one for Pei, whose light-inspired buildings include the National Art Gallery in Washington and the glass pyramid at the Louvre Museum in Paris. "When I first became interested in Berlin in 1963," said Pei in the German capital Tuesday, "little did I know that I would be in the middle of German architectural and cultural renaissance in this city."
The new addition, which houses a spiral staircase overlooking the museum’s main building, will be used for temporary exhibitions and is scheduled to open to the public in May 2003.
