2016 - News - Detail Page - Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz

Ladies and Gentlemen,

When Kaiser Wilhelm II opened the museum on 18 October 1904, it was a rainy day, with uniforms, gowns and medal necklaces providing the colourful backdrop.
Today we had glorious imperial weather, but the imperial era is long gone. The opening today is ennobled by the words of welcome from the President of the Bundestag, Norbert Lammert, as the highest representative of our people's representatives, and the Minister of State for Culture and the Media, Bernd Neumann, as the responsible minister, as well as by the presence of numerous ministers, members of parliament, excellencies and citizens. This participation demonstrates the
timeless validity of the Bode Museum and its collection, the play of colours conveyed by the unique exhibits.

I warmly welcome Mr Lammert, President of the Bundestag, and Mr Neumann, Minister of State. I welcome the Governing Mayor, Klaus Wowereit, Minister Tiefensee, the Members of Parliament, His Royal Highness, Presidents, Intendants and General Directors, the architects Tesar and Fischer, the ambassadors from numerous countries and other distinguished guests and especially you, ladies and gentlemen, friends of the Museum Island, dear colleagues.

What we are witnessing today is nothing less than a miracle: the splendid rebirth and completion of the Bode Museum and the contemporary appropriation of Western art from Late Antiquity to Classicism in the most magnificent masterpieces of a wide-ranging sculpture collection. Added to this is Byzantine art as a link between antiquity and the Middle Ages and the impressive coin collection with more than 500,000 objects.

In 1998, the sculpture collection bid farewell with its last major exhibition: "Riemenschneider on the Museum Island". The building was closed in 1999. Renovation began in 2001. The building was handed over in November 2005. We are now opening on schedule and within the budget of €152 million.
The museum has given us nothing and we, who bear responsibility, have
given ourselves nothing. For me, it was one of the most intense professional experiences.
I'm sure the same applies to everyone else involved. We are now deeply emotionally attached to the
house.

Large parts of the museum were destroyed during the war, and in the GDR era, it was provisionally
restored. Behind the stucco and façades, a dramatic state of construction developed - close to collapse. In the end, all our decisions and measures have been legitimised: in terms of architectural history, technical construction, monument preservation and aesthetics. The Bode Museum has found a convincing identity, light and cheerful, with surprisingly alternating spatial sequences, with a grandiose staging of the central axis, coherent down to the smallest detail, a highlight of the art of restoration.

The timing has certainly contributed to the fact that the architectural qualities
of this Wilhelminian building have been unbiased and independent of ideological
blinkers. Fifteen years ago,
the building might have been brushed against the grain. That was the time when it was believed that the
Museum Island could only fulfil today's requirements if a
showy modern building with meandering metal surfaces - against the island -
was elevated to the status of a new landmark.

As is well known,
intensive debates with all kinds of thought models and brainstorming preceded the final exhibition concept. They were an
important part of the internal intellectual process. The formative elements were formulated in an objective manner and independently
of external influence. We
have made sure of our own position in the long term. Understanding Bode, but not copying
; giving the sculptures room to breathe and still conveying the intellectual
context of the respective epoch. It is a great pleasure to be able to share and enjoy the result with you all. After 67 years, after the
years of war, after removal, deportation, destruction and after
the long years of division, we can finally display the wealth of treasures.
Never before have the masterpieces gathered here had so much space and aesthetic
development opportunities, never before has there been the chance to experience the aura of the respective
sculpture so directly in a personal encounter and at the same time
to grasp the spirit of the epoch, never before have sculpture and space entered into such an intimate
relationship.

It is a school of seeing, which admittedly demands concentration from the visitor, but leaves him
with great benefits. There is no question that a contemporary, modern
presentation has been developed here, a paradigm shift that opens up new perspectives
on all stylistic epochs of the West. Culture needs knowledge, history
and tradition. With this Bode Museum, Berlin has something unmistakable and unique in the world.

Without Wilhelm von Bode's great connoisseurship and unerring eye for quality, such a panorama of art would not have been possible. He began his career at the Royal Museums in 1872 and was Director General of the museums from 1905 to 1920. He made it possible for the Berlin museums to achieve a leading international position. With his tremendous willpower, he pushed through this building, which was created in close intellectual symbiosis with the architect Ernst von Ihne and with the special support of the Emperor, Wilhelm II. That is why it rightly bears the name "Bode Museum", which it was given in 1956. In this context, I am delighted to be able to welcome members of the von Bode family - the great-grandchildren's generation - to today's ceremony. A very warm welcome! However, it now also bears its original name again: formerly the Kaiser Friedrich Museum. Even if this emperor, Frederick III, who reigned as German Emperor and King of Prussia for only ninety-nine days, from 12 March 1888 to 18 June 1888, is no longer very present to us, his name in connection with the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museums-Verein recalls
the great era of the Berlin collectors and patrons who came together in 1897 in the Kaiser-Friedrich-
Museums-Verein, inspired by Wilhelm von Bode. They promoted
art and culture in an impressive manner and thus developed an important
part of civic participation. James Simon,
who generously donated his collections to the state museums, especially the
Bode Museum, is a good example of this. It was only through civic commitment, primarily from Jewish
patrons, that the State Museums were able to build up their high-ranking collections in the late
19th century and early 20th century. century and the beginning of the 20th century. It is therefore probably no coincidence that the coat of arms of the Medici, the great patrons of the
arts, can be found here in the basilica. James Simon and Wilhelm von Bode are each represented by
busts in the grand staircase.

The new visitor centre and entrance building will bear his name in future:
James Simon Gallery.

The Kaiser-Friedrich-Museums-Verein is still an active supporter of the Bode-
Museum and the Picture Gallery today. The Museum Island
receives a great deal of support from the Museum Island Board of Trustees, which brings together around 20 German companies. But private initiatives, such as that of the
Haub couple or that of Mr Würth, have also resumed the tradition of civic involvement.

Seven years after the adoption of the Museum Island Masterplan, we
have gloriously handed over the second museum after the Alte
Nationalgalerie with the reopening of the Bode Museum. In two years' time, the Neues Museum with the
Egyptian Collection and the Museum of Pre- and Early History will follow, then the
Altes Museum and finally the Pergamonmuseum.

We are very grateful to the Federal Government for recognising the master plan
and for securing funding for this largest cultural construction site in Europe. Until 2002
the state of Berlin was also involved in the construction financing.

I would like to make one wish today. After the complete renovation of the
historical buildings, the construction of a visitor centre
is planned as part of the master plan. Dear Minister of State, you are strongly committed to
the realisation of the master plan. Please use your political weight to help us convince those responsible for the budget that the visitor centre will soon be
needed to provide our international visitors with information, orientation and
hospitality, to open us up to the world and at the same time to treat
the historical substance with care. More than 12,000 people a day will visit
and its museums from 2009 at the latest. This impressively demonstrates the urgency
of the project.

We are grateful to the federal government and the state of Berlin for the timely
completion of the historic Monbijou Bridge. It connects the Scheunenviertel,
with its lively Oranienburgerstraße and the Hackesche Höfe across the Museum Island with Schlossplatz and the boulevard Unter den Linden.

Two large gateways to the north and south, marked by the Bode Museum and
Alte Nationalgalerie, make the island a first-class urban attraction
.

Then everyone will meet on the Museum Island: Art lovers
and history buffs, architecture enthusiasts and aesthetes, day trippers who have interrupted the
steamboat trip, tourists from Europe and overseas, lovers,
strolling through the museum gardens, shoppers and joggers relaxing on the
benches overlooking the Spree, students from the nearby university. It is a
truly urban place, not an authority or a national monument, but a part of
us.