Farewell... "Erich Honecker's Lamp Shop" - Palast der Republik

[SWANK-E]

click on image to link to article

Demolition of communist East Germany's so-called Palace of the Republic in the heart of Berlin will begin shortly in mid-January 2006 and be replaced by a replica of the 18th century Hohenzollern Royal Palace that once stood in the same place, but was blown up in 1950 by Communist rulers who saw in it a symbol of Prussia's military past.

The modern and multifunctional building housed East Germany's parliament until German unification in 1990, but was also a posh cultural center for ordinary people. For many Berliners, the decision to pull down the building is an extremely emotive issue.

[SWANK-E]

this is a great opportunity to link to THIS thread about post-war communist chic.

[papanix]

My heart sinks when I see what they are to (re)build. I guess you could get into a huge debate about the politics of architecture - a subject always close to the hearts of my lecturers when I was studying - but it just seems that it is a huge opportunity missed to build something positive and forward looking. Something to represent the new Germany. We all have to live WITH the past but no need to live IN the past.

Politics or not, architecture and design has incredible power to transform lives both positively and negatively and this idea seems like a dull, boring uninspiring waste of time, money and effort.

[primocordara]

I totally agree! you cannot bring back time, as if communism never happened. I understand the feeling to erase a dark past after a dictatorship is over.

You can however re-adapt the building to a modern use and thereby give it a new significance to the "people".

Here for example, the military made a ministry of defense, which was finished by the time the dictatorship collapsed. The democratic government decided to use it as the new executive power, symbolizing the displacement of the military by the elect government, and giving a good use to a very expensive building!

[Hotrats]

Maybe they'll recycle it like some of the other cold war buildings.

http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2005/12/plattenbauten.html

[imasayer]

Originally Posted by primocordara

I totally agree! you cannot bring back time, as if communism never happened.

Maybe the building should stand as a reminder. I don't know if we should make it so easy to forget the past, lest we repeat it.

If you have ever doubted whether or not architecture matters, we need not look any further. Architecture can stand as a powerful symbol, for good or bad.

[Mark Timms]

Unbelievable...

Rebuilding a Palace is a waste of time and effort. It would cost the earth to replicate and I doubt we have the craftsmen to do the original building any justice....its like 'changing rooms' on a much bigger scale! I know, lets build it out of mdf and do some nice paint effects to mimic marble and stone....nice!

Totally fake

I agree with primocordara, they should first look to refurbishing/altering the existing building.

[GinSoakedBoy]

The problem is that they have to take down that building, not because of the historical landmark but because of radition of the asbestos used in the construction of the building.
still... i don´t agree with them doing a replica of a building that used to be there...


[edited because i used the wrong term for asbestos,sorry ]

[Pedro Barradas]

strange attitude

[dhaa]

"The building has been used for cultural events since the asbestos was cleared out" says a note bellow one of the photos in the linked article. if i understand it right, the problems with asbestos have already been solved somehow...

i got the feeling that the decisions about the demolition came from some "west" german politics who have absolutly no understanding of what the communist history of the eastern part of their country means and who only are able to watch it in some kind of mcCarthy way - or, say they just want to cure their poor eastern brothers from their horrible recent history by erasing its symbols and by recalling the glory of prussia. the intent has no chance to end up other way than ridiculous. it's a great piece of misunderstanding of history.

imagine that in case they built the copy of the royal palace, it may occur in some 50 years that the palace would be torn down and replaced by a replica of the communist palace of republic - simply to correct the view of history again. the same thinking that now calls for rebuilding the prussian pride might result in such an absurdity.