In Braunschweig, Frankfurt and Potsdam, architectural heritage destroyed by the war was rebuilt. Now Berlin has caught up - the City Palace has been rebuilt. Thousands came to visit the site at the weekend.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. v. Jutrczenka
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The history of the Berlin City Palace
Where the Prussian kings once resided, a new cultural center is being built in Berlin: the Humboldt Forum. Due to technical problems, it will probably not open until 2020 — too late for the Humboldt Year 2019.
Image: Getty Images/S. Gallup
Berlin City Palace around 1900
The original cornerstone was laid in 1443, but the royal residence only began to take on its final form in 1701. Architect Andreas Schlüter designed the palace facades in the Italian style. With its 1,210 rooms, the City Palace subsequently became known as the biggest Baroque building north of the Alps.
Image: ullstein bild
War damage
During the Second World War the palace caught fire during an air raid. The fire destroyed virtually all of the state rooms in the north and south wing. Other parts of the building survived, including the outer walls with their sculptured decorations, the supporting walls, and the main stairwells.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
First neglected, then blown up
Exhibitions were held in the post-war years in the surviving parts of the building. In 1950, however, the communist East German government decided it wasn't part of German cultural heritage and gave the order for it to be destroyed, despite many protests. In its place the Marx-Engels-Square was created as a location for mass rallies.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Socialist interplay
In the 1970s, East German leader Erich Honecker had the Palast der Republik built on the site. It became the seat of the East German parliament, but the building also served various cultural purposes as well as being home to numerous bars and restaurants. After the fall of the Berlin Wall the building was closed because of its asbestos content, and later torn down.
Image: picture alliance/ZB
Deceptively real
After German reunification, there was a passionate discussion about the possible reconstruction of the Berlin City Palace. In 1993, a pro-construction lobby group landed a coup by erecting a scaffold with a life-size canvas mock-up based on historical pictures of the City Palace façade. In 2002, the German parliament voted to have the palace reconstructed.
Image: picture-alliance/ZB/B. Settnik
Reconstruction in the original size
In 2008, the design by Italian Franco Stella won the architectural competition to rebuild the palace. His design combines the Baroque exterior with a more modern interior. The reconstructed Berlin City Palace is to house an international art and cultural center known as the "Humboldt Forum."
Image: picture-alliance/Xamax
Keeping an eye on the building site
The "Humboldt Box" has become a temporary Berlin landmark - since 2011 it serves as an information center on the past and future of the City Palace. It attracted 100,000 visitors in the first 50 days alone. Visitors can also enjoy a panoramic look at how the reconstruction work is progressing from the viewing platform.
Image: picture-alliance/D. Kalker
Things are underway
On June 12, 2013, German President Joachim Gauck laid the cornerstone, which has two numbers engraved on it: 1443 and 2013, the date when the cornerstone for the historical palace was originally laid and, of course, the date the reconstruction began.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Gambarini
Old decorations for new walls
While the walls are being constructed the Schlossbauhütte palace builders' shed, is making Baroque façade decorations. Using historic designs, sculptors are creating some 3,000 original pieces. The palace façade cost about 80 million euros ($90 million), most of which will be financed with donations. The finished palace will cost some 590 million euros, most of which will be financed by the state.
Image: picture-alliance/ZB/A. Burgi
Great expectations
In 2016, gray concrete dominated the site - but this will change when the Humboldt Forum is opened. Then, Berlin Museums will exhibit their non-European cultural treasures here, while the Humboldt University begins holding international conferences. The Palace courtyard will serve as a backdrop for music and theater performances.
Image: picture-alliance/Arco Images
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"Fortune was always with us," says Wilhelm von Boddien. Then he smiles. The Berlin City Palace is up and running. The construction workers are dismantling the scaffolding in the Schlüterhof and opening up an unhindered view of its splendidly reconstructed baroque façade.
Only one more year, then the opening is to be celebrated in 2019 - and Berlin will have a new landmark. Opposite the Museum Island, there will be enough space for the non-European collections of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. Named the "Humboldt-Forum," it will be home to a new museum to show 'how Berlin is connected to the world'.
2015: Topping-out celebration for the reconstruction of the Berlin City PalaceImage: picture-alliance/dpa/P. Zinken
A lifelong dream
Wilhelm von Boddien, who grew up in northern Germany, visited the divided city of Berlin as a high school student. Afterwards, he began an intensive study of Prussian history - and dreamed of having the Berlin City Palace rebuilt.
During the war, the building was badly damaged and in 1950, under the orders of East German leader Walter Ulbricht, demolished. A few years later, the legendary Palace of the Republic was built on part of the site.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, when many things became irrelevant and Berlin was rethought, von Boddien, by then a successful businessman, had baroque backdrops painted bright yellow and mounted in front of the Palace of the Republic, sparking off one of the most vigorous debates in newly reunited Germany.
For a long time the construction site was covered by plastic tarpaulinImage: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Skolimowska
Wilhelm von Boddien was ridiculed by the media as the "ghost of the palace," and his declared plan to raise at least 85 million euros ($98.5 million) in donations to support the reconstruction of the palace was politely smiled upon. But fortune was always with him.
At one point, commissions, juries and the Bundestag parliament agreed to the demolition of the asbestos-contaminated Palace of the Republic and the reconstruction of the City Palace.
The palace is back
Five years have passed since the cornerstone was laid. During this time, much has been debated - including the issue of looted art, the future Humboldt Forum and how to deal with artifacts from Africa, Asia and South America. But no one questions the existence of the palace anymore.
Image: DW/photocrom
Discerning Berliners have made it their business. Initially, donations from the capital city were sparse, but today they account for more than 50 percent of the total. Wilhelm von Boddien's sponsorship association has meanwhile collected 85 million euros. The only thing missing is 20 million for the dome, which the palace is now also to include. Wilhelm von Boddien wants to have that sum raised by the end of 2019.
Those interested can take a closer look at what has been built so far on August 25 and 26, 2018, during which the City Palace will be an open construction site. On the one side, visitors can inspect the East Wing, which could not be reconstructed because it was too angled. In its place: an extremely sober concrete block designed by the Italian architect Frank Stella.
The other wings are mostly modern in design inside, spacious, with escalators and air conditioning - but boast finest baroque on the facades and, above all, in the large inner courtyard named after Andreas Schlüter, the original builder.
Finest construction: robots have milled the stucco partsImage: picture alliance/dpa/F. Stoffers
Elaborate arcades and deep pergolas, columns, friezes, garlands, lion heads and eagles make for a clever mix reconstructed from old photos and remains of paint and stone. Everything has been brought to its final form by robots and experienced master craftsmen. On Saturday afternoon, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra will perform a benefit concert here, with proceeds to go entirely towards the construction.
On the home stretch
There is still a lot of work to be done on this major construction site in the center of Berlin. But things are progressing well, with work on schedule and total costs of €600 million ($694 million). "It's a small miracle," says Wilhelm von Boddien. Now 76, he is planning to celebrate the opening in time for Alexander von Humboldt's 250th birthday on September 14, 2019.
