Castle in the Air

First, Berlin's Palace Bellevue lost its prince -- President Horst Köhler, who resigned in a huff -- and now the city has lost its Palace. The reconstruction of the baroque Stadtschloß was to begin in 2011. But the government's latest austerity measures have shelved plans for one of Germany's most high-flying cultural projects.

Bombed and burned out after the war, the original palace was demolished by the GDR and replaced by the Palace of the Republic, a Stalinist rectangular box with bronze reflective glass.

After the discovery in 1990 of asbestos contamination, the bronze glass box stood closed and sealed for the next few years. Some hated it; some loved it. But in 1993 it was finally decided that the Palace of the Republic had to go -- as much for its historical symbolism as for the asbestos.

Then began the palace debate. What was the best way forward? Keep the GDR Palace after all, for the sake of nostalgia? (After all, how many parliamentary buildings also housed a bowling alley for the people!) Reconstruct the baroque palace, even though the result might be suspiciously close to kitsch? Wipe the slate clean and start anew?

After years of bitter wrangling, a concept for the Humboldt Forum -- a center for the arts and sciences -- was finally approved. Blueprints showed a historical facade replicating three sides of the original palace, but the Forum was unmistakably 21st-century in design and purpose. It would house part of the Humboldt University's Library, as well as the prized collection of non-European art from the Ethnological Museum in Dahlem. This was Berlin's answer to the 21st century museums in Abu Dhabi and Qatar or Aga Khan's museum opening this Fall in Toronto, Canada. All this came with a price tag of 552 million Euros.

But this is no time for big spending, says the government, freezing construction for at least three years. The mayor is incensed. The director of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation is wary, fearing that plans may be put into cold storage indefinitely. Financiers are critical, saying they see no real savings, given the huge cost of now renovating the Dahlem museum, which is in a dismal state of disrepair.

And the Berliners? They are used to temporality.  Eighty percent of them did not believe we needed another palace anyway. And now that summer is finally, finally here, they can't believe their luck: they've just got 18,000 square meters of grassy meadow in the city's historic center with a view of the River Spree and the Lustgarten in which to lounge in their deck chairs. Let the summer roll on!

photo: Mike Wolff