Topping-out ceremony for the Neues Museum: Insight into the "workshop" of reconstruction
Press release from 09/21/2007
Today's topping-out ceremony and the three subsequent open days offer the public the opportunity to gain an impression of the progress of the construction and restoration work that has been underway for four years in the war-damaged Neues Museum. As one of the five buildings on the Museum Island, it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999 and will house the Egyptian Museum, the Museum of Prehistory and Early History and the "Library of Antiquity" from 2009. Both the treatment of the building as a monument and masterpiece by Schinkel's pupil Friedrich August Stüler and the creation of a museum for first-class archaeological collections that meets today's requirements determine the concept of the reconstruction.
The special thing about this building is that it has survived to this day as a ruin from the Second World War and the extremely different states of preservation: some parts of the building have been completely destroyed, while in other rooms even the wall paintings have been preserved in significant parts. The work to restore the museum is based on a standardised concept, which then leads to different solutions depending on the state of preservation. The concept follows the maxim of being historically honest: Out of respect for the original parts, the new parts to be added will not be mock replicas. The new is created in the architectural language of our time according to the specifications of the old. It blends in with the existing with the aim of creating a harmonious overall appearance, while the differences remain recognisable. This is monument preservation in the best sense of the word: not restoring what was once beautiful, but making it possible to experience the building in its historicity. This guideline also corresponds in particular to the Unesco standards for World Heritage Sites.
The Museum Island unites masterpieces of museum architecture. Its special quality also lies in the architectural diversity of this ensemble, which extends over almost one square kilometre. Each of the five historic buildings, which were constructed between 1830 and 1930, follows the specific architectural language of its time and blends with the existing buildings to form a new unit. This principle is now also being applied to the elements of the Neues Museum that have been lost and are to be rebuilt: in particular the staircase, the north-west wing and the south-east quadrant. The decisive factor here is that the structure and rhythm of the old is the guideline and the new is created as a continuum of the old. For example, the new staircase picks up on the cubature, the flight of stairs and the proportions of Stüler's composition.
Special care has been taken to preserve and restore the rich and colourful wall paintings. When the building was opened, they illustrated Stüler's novel museum concept compared to the classically-influenced Altes Museum: the aim was to create spaces for experience, where visitors could immerse themselves in the world of distant cultures, whose artefacts were exhibited in encyclopaedic variety (ethnographica, prehistoric exhibits, monuments of the ancient Egyptians). The conceptually and technically finely balanced restoration of the wall decorations, some of which are still preserved, is being carried out under the direction of David Chipperfield and Julian Harrap. The concept and the individual measures for the reconstruction are in line with the Venice Charter and have been agreed with all specialist bodies, especially those responsible for the preservation of historical monuments: the Berlin State Monuments Authority, the State Monuments Council and ICOMOS.
The Neues Museum was built between 1843 and 1859 as the second building on Museum Island according to plans by Friedrich August Stüler. New technical achievements were utilised (prefabricated iron supporting structures, steam power). Until 1866, the building was richly decorated with murals, including paintings by Wilhelm Kaulbach in the stairwell, which has since been destroyed. Parts of the building were destroyed by bombing in 1943 and 1945. It was not until the late 1980s that the GDR undertook initial safety measures and plans for restoration. An international competition for the reconstruction in 1993 did not produce a satisfactory result. David Chipperfield emerged as the winner of the second competition in 1997 and was commissioned with the planning. The plans are an integral part of the Museum Island Masterplan adopted in 1999. Around 60 of the total 233 million euro cost of the reconstruction will be spent on the elaborate restoration. The reopening of the building is planned for 2009.