What if a democratic nation was planning to re- construct a building from its undemocratic past? What if that building was a palace, a symbol of absolutism and militarism that had lost its original function after the German Revolution and the end of the monarchy? We are in the centre of Berlin, the German capital. This is a city that has been in constant transition from the very beginning. A city that has experienced two world wars. A city that has seen different regimes and ideologies. We are at Schlossplatz, the square on the spot where the city of Berlin was founded in 1237. Two architectural icons, the Berlin City Palace (Stadtschloss, 1443–1950) and the socialist Palace of the Republic (Palast der Republik, 1976–2008), stood here before they were demolished in a struggle for a superior ideology. But ideologies come and go.
The German state will begin reconstructing the Berlin City Palace in 2014. Right now, all that exists is a computer visualisation, but it looks thoroughly real: an image to believe in. The perfectly rendered palace definitely has the potential to seduce its viewer. But will it really bring back history? While Schlossplatz remains vacant, a question hangs over it: Is there really no alternative?
Read the short version of my essay ›The New Berlin‹, published in the invitation booklet of the exhibition ›The Next Big Thing‹ in August 2010.
The full-length essay can be found in the book ›Mind the gap Berlin‹.