A palace for Berlin and the world? | DW Documentary

A very German story has ended with the completion of the Humboldt Forum in a replica of Berlin’s former Royal Palace. The site - where the Kaiser once resided and the Palace of the Republic of Communist East Germany once stood - sparked controversy from the start.

The Humboldt Forum in the capital’s newly rebuilt Berlin Palace is one of the most sensational and debated projects in recent years in Germany. Some critics ask why the Palace of the Republic was torn down to build a structure outwardly reminiscent of the Kaiser’s aspirations to global power and quest to secure Germany’s "place in the sun." Others wonder if exhibitions of items that originated in a colonial context should be held here. Can the true intercultural dialogue the Forum wishes to initiate take place in these surroundings? And, behind its Prussian baroque façade, does the modern structure actually work?

Like Hamburg’s Elbe Philharmonic Hall, the Berlin Palace creates ripples far beyond the bounds of its home city. This documentary follows the Humboldt Forum project from concept through construction, as well as the debates surrounding it. The film also gives viewers a taste of what awaits visitors behind the building’s baroque façade.

#documentary #HumboldtForum #Berlin
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[mrbaker]

love the reconstruction- old Berlin was much nicer than the modern glass and steel buildings which are so indistinct

[duesen]

I like the idea of the interior being this cultural centre. But at the same time I wished they could have rebuilt parts of the old interior, with modern ways. They could have used these for official government meetings and such, and to show how pretty the palace's inside once was.

[MichaelCasey]

They should have reconstructed it fully with parts of the interior simlilar to the Impierial Palace and other parts set up for art exhibits and museum displays. The imperial palace portion could act as a living museum much in the same way they have actors in Versaille dressed in 18th century clothing

[danielcunningham]

I'm a historian first making replicas of old buildings. I viewed reel to reel footage of the old palace and it was beautiful. If people who weren't around at that time saw what it looked like they would probably want a replica. At least it looks like the old building and is the same size.

[tylermcfadden]

I like the traditional facades they went with and I love the dome on top. I think this building is a good symbol for what the greater society must do every day, which is to bridge the past and present and to make the two worlds work with one another. People shouldn’t get too caught up in stuff like the symbolism of the cross on top or the royal crowns, it’s still apart of German history and can’t be changed.

[alanh]

If no one, including the narrator, is truly pleased with the entire thing, then the builders hit the right balance.

[Reflox]

I'm not from Berlin but I find it right that the Baroque elements representing the Imperial Era stand there without comment. For example, France has Napoleon and Napoleon III, which plunged the world into Chaos and lead to a lot of deaths and nobody is really scoffing at the Arc de Triomphe. There is no disclaimer that the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars claimed hundreds of thousands of innocent lives and that the Invasion of Egypt was the first imperialistic war in Africa. Yes, the German Empire was not a "good guy", the atrocities in Africa are horrific, but the Empire was also the unifier of the nation, Germany would not be as it is today without them. Both things need to have their place - we can appreciate how the building looked in the old Berlin, as well as critically examining the history of Germany and the Empire that built it. We do not need both of these things to clash violently or one dominating the other.

[arolemaprarath]

I'm grateful that Italy preserved their historic buildings.
Literally the Museum of Europe.

[lashachakhunashvili]

This confession-like summary says it all:

"It means setting off on an adventure. The Humboldt Forum has to talk about this adventure, even though we don't know where it will take us."

[ucube]

As someone who has an interest in history, it would have been cool to see the palast der republik, as a living piece of communist history, but of course they wanted it torn down, they just came out of a horrible era for Germany and Berlin and wanted to either move forward, or rebuild something from the past. Also the environmental hazard the communist palace was also was a strong argument to remove it. I have seen the Humboldt museum in person when it was in the final stages of construction, and it is nice to see that area of Berlin looking pre ww2.

[AndreaMoletta-sc]

It's like if Paris decided to rebuild the Tuileries Palace except the east pavillon of the Palace proper looks like a Soviet apartment block and the interior is more akin to a Garage.

[MartinBrenner]

Whenever I visited Berlin during the last few years I have seen it grow, from the state where there were just sample facade displays to the little tower housing an exhibition about the reconstruction and its purpose until it being almost finished. Now I look forward to visiting it myself to experience it and see if it is worth all the money spent on it. The place is a very special one, it marks the end of a set of historic buildings along Unter den Linden and the previous GDR palace kind of stole it to complete the Alexanderplatz area as the showcase of the GDR power. The new palace both provides a closure to the historical center with its restored facade and also a modern face to the post war city center around the TV tower and Alexanderplatz. I never have been to the museum in Dahlem so I don't want to comment on the exhibitions which will be inside, but I hope it is as interesting as the other places created to remember the problematic history of Berlin.

[carriebtc]

So glad to see Germans are getting back a glimpse of the magnificent city that existed before the sad and very unappealing buildings were constructed in the 50s, replacing what was destroyed, and that polluted the view of most of this great European Capital. Conceptualism should not be applied to a place destroyed and degraded by human failure. Beauty should be instantly captured as a reflection of the soul, not a 'concept' that needs to be understood with time. In spite of the negative connotation of this video's comments, thank you for giving us the chance to see the much-needed transformation of what used to be one of the most beautiful cities in the World. Cheers

[manhin]

People are complaining over the destruction of that abomination in favour of a much more historically significant and visually appealing architecture???

[nicolasdeandrade]

Why is nobody talking about 15:42?
England gouvernment really does not care about the horror

[appleslover]

They replaced a classical European Prussian palace with a piece of soulless concrete in the heart of Berlin.
Yeah, that's Germany for ya!!!

[Ploog]

The forum is a wonderful building, the rumination about the colonial past ridiculous . The Louvre or the British Museum never talk about the colonial time.

[TommyElijahCabelloReal]

I swear, the day I see a DW video that isn't 42 minutes long is a day I will be able to die peacefully.

[kacperwoch]

Architectual reconstructions are so common nowadays because our society is fed up with cold, white boxes. People want architecture that makes them feel something, in a world where nothing is true anymore they need something to hold on to and buildings are the only thing that lasts. But alas, there are still so many who are unwilling understand why the masses support reconstructions.

[benjaminbauer]

Such a shame that modern day Germany is ashamed of itself. I am a young German, mixed blood and it disgusts me. I am proud of Germany having been a world power in the past, but not for its atrocities. Yet I still love my country. The amount of self hatred Germany has for its former past is just disgusting.