Berlin, the Perennial Battleground
The casualties these days are mainly the bruised egos of world-class architects. They are falling all over themselves by making headlines and designing signature buildings. In the rarefied world of contemporary architecture the competition had been so fierce that Berlin’s decision-makers have taken a break from promoting unbridled creation to the safety of classicism. They are now seeking comfort in replicas. The new trend is to recreate the gentle but partly destroyed 18th century Berlin. It was a brilliant period and by Germanic standards a non controversial one.
Since the 18th century, Berlin has been a playground for architects and their royal masters. After the large number of architectural innovations of the past two decades, it is now feel safe to rebuild the architectural masterpieces of the 17 and 18th century. At that time the bellicose Hohenzollern dynasty was at its less bellicose period. Consequently, the old Hohenzollern Schloss (castle) is soon to be rebuilt. Berlin is literally going rococo, and welcome to Frederick the Great’s theme park!
Berlin is the embodiment of a trend one can describe as “ideological architecture.” If “The Thousand Year Reich” had not crumbled after 12 years, Berlin would now be known as Germania. The capital was to become the showpiece for the megalomaniac creations of Albert Speer, the Nazi star architect. After the destruction of Berlin by relentless Allied bombing and its subsequent fall to the Soviet army in April 1945, the city became a stage for architectural experiments of uneven esthetic value.
The Hohenzollern Schloss, also known as the Stadtschloss Berlin (Berlin City Palace) is the very avatar of ideological architecture. Badly damaged by the bombing, it was razed by the Communist government of East Germany in spite of the disapproval of the West. The Communist objective was to erase any sign of the defunct Prussian Empire. On its location they erected a modern-style monster, pompously named the Palace of the Republic. In addition to making heavy use of glass and steel, the builders were lavish with asbestos. The East Berlin population loved this eyesore whose main purpose was that of a Communist-style entertainment complex. It also hosted the tamed East German Parliament.
After the fall of the Wall and the subsequent German reunification, the asbestos palace went the way of the castle. The German Bundestag (parliament) called the wrecking balls into action. It is now an empty lot in a prime real estate location near the Museumsinsel (Museum Island); Berliners refer to it as their Ground Zero. The reconstruction will consist of a Baroque-style shell with a replica of the original façade and dome. The interior of the building will be dedicated entirely to 21st century leisure pursuit. This new temple to triumphant capitalism will host a five star hotel, countless quality shops, and several restaurants. According to the Stadtschloss Berlin Initiative,” the building will boost an aura of opulence and style that will be the envy of Germany.” Although it will also host the future ethnological museum Humboldt Forum, critics and citizens nostalgic for East German order regard the whole undertaking as a über shopping mall in a Baroque wrapping.
The decision to rebuild the palace was greeted with scorn by the star architects. The Hohenzollern kings and emperors must certainly be turning in their graves.
Over the Christmas and New Year period, 2 million tourists flocked to the German capital. They were mainly Germans who had come to discover the city following the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Wall which divided Berlin until the fateful 9 November 1989. Berlin has a chequered past: sinister evidence of its Nazi period, Soviet occupation, and Communist regime has been preserved. It is not controversial to say that these unhappy historic episodes are the bread and butter of the city. As corny as it looks the decision to rebuild the Berlin Palace may not be an innocent one: the Berlin tourism board is probably eager to diversify the capital’s historic and cultural attractions away from those with an unsavory label.
Berlin is host to 3.5 million inhabitants, 7000 to 8000 urbanized wild boars (of the Sus scrofa scrofa species) and 170 museums and galleries; these numbers are growing. In other words, the city is cultured and not overcrowded. It enjoys the bucolic charm of the countryside and people are learning to coexist with the street-smart and increasingly plump boars. There are museums for every taste, creed and sexual inclination. Berlin museums are thematic, issue-focused and generally manageable, and visitor-friendly. Many are hosted in grand historic buildings and palaces. The famous East Side Gallery displays more than 100 paintings by selected artists on a preserved section of the Wall along the Spree River.
Many of the museums are grouped together; the Kulturforum south of the Tiergarten and Museum Island in the Mitte (old city centre) stand out. Overall favorites are the Pergamon, the Altes (Old) Museum and the recently reopened Neues (New) Museum, the Gemäldegalerie (Picture Gallery) the Charlottenburg palace, the Jewish museum and the
Hamburg Bahnhof (a former railway station).
The makeover of the Neues Museum illustrates a reconstruction trend which aims at enhancing the architectural, cultural and historic inheritance by blending the ruined elements within new structure. The building which had laid in ruin for 60 years has been brilliantly revived by British architect David Chipperfield. He made a daring and expensive (200 million Euros) architectural statement which leaves few people indifferent. Nefertiti, “the world’s most beautiful woman” could not have settled for less.
Chipperfield followed a reconstruction trend which had been pioneered by other star architects during the previous two decades. One striking example can be found in Postdamer Platz, the large square which lies south of the Reichstag the former German parliament. It was totally bombed out in 1945. Because it was divided by the Wall, the area remained a wasteland until reunification. Architect Helmut Jahn was commissioned to build the imposing Sony Centre on the site. He embedded the ruined stone façade of the 19th century Hotel Esplanade into the glass and steel complex to a contrasting effect.
Figure 1 One of the 106 paintings gracing the East Side Gallery on a 1.3 km long section of the Wall.
Sir Norman Foster, the world-renowned British architect who designed the breathtaking Millau Bridge in France was responsible for restoring the Reichstag. Notably, he and his team designed the gleaming glass dome. Their restoration work was both environmentally savvy and sensitive to history. They even took care of preserving the Cyrillic graffiti left by the Red Army soldiers.
Berlin has mastered the art of “memory lane” to heartbreaking effects. When one strolls along Grosse-Hamburger-Strasse, the sadly famous street in the Scheunenviertel area of the former East Berlin, the macabre past comes back vividly. This area was the Jewish heartland of Berlin. Its Jewish inhabitants were dispatched to death camps, their cemetary was desecrated and their schools destroyed. To add insult to injury, the Scheunenviertel was heavily bombed during the war. The names of the victims whether exterminated in concentration camps or killed during the bombing, are engraved on small shiny bronze plaques. These square plaques are bolted to the pavement and regularly polished.
The dramatic past of Berlin has impregnated the city to its core. Berlin has more memorials to Nazi and Communist victims than any other European capital. It may be the reason why the authorities want to promote a more cheerful past.
The era of Frederick II lends itself to this aim. Frederick was called the Great by his beloved subjects. Thanks to his military prowess and enlightened reign he transformed Prussia from a backwater kingdom into a powerful European state. He was dedicated to his state and lived more modestly than his royal counterparts in Western Europe. Contrary to the other rulers of the period, Frederick didn’t fancy the company of ladies; soon married he dispatched his wife to another palace far from his. He is remembered as a talented musician who could play the flute like a professional. Philosophers such as Voltaire where part of his entourage, although near the end of his life Old Fritz preferred the company of dogs. One of his dogs was impertinently named Madame de Pompadour after the powerful mistress of French King Louis XV. He was no religious zealot and gave great religious freedom to his people. He was buried among his beloved dogs in the garden of his small Rococo Sanssouci palace in the neighboring city of Potsdam. His prosperous reign was a shining example of enlightened ruling.
Berlin, the phoenix city may remain an architectural battleground. The big stars of the architectural planet are showing little gusto for recreating “Frederician Rococo” but Old Fritz’s charm is working wonders in bridging the gap between the Western architects’ vanity constructions and the former East’s ideological architecture.
Beatrice Labonne,
10 February 2010.
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