The Museum des 20. Jahrhunderts Is Coming
News from 11/14/2019
On November 14, 2019, the Budget Committee of the Bundestag approved the funds for a new building in the Kulturforum.
The planned budget for the Museum des 20. Jahrhunderts (Museum of the 20th Century) of the Nationalgalerie (National Gallery) of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (National Museums in Berlin) was adopted at today's budget committee meeting of the German Bundestag to finalize the 2020 budget.
Hermann Parzinger, President of the Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz (Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation) stated: “This is a good day for Berlin as a city of art and for the Kulturforum. The new building by Herzog & de Meuron behind Potsdamer Platz will be part of a “Museum Island” of modern art. I would like to thank the budget committee of the German Bundestag, the federal minister of finance, Olaf Scholz, and the minister of state for culture, Monika Grütters, for enabling the Museum des 20. Jahrhunderts to be built for the Nationalgalerie’s unique collection. The groundbreaking ceremony will be held in a few days and at that time, we will again clearly understand what is being built here: a fascinating museum building dedicated to the art history and history of a significant century, which will trigger debates within present-day society. At the same time, a place that will complete the Kulturforum, because it finally connects the buildings there – from the Philharmonie, our Staatliches Institut für Musikforschung (State Institute for Music Research), and the Neue Nationalgalerie to the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (Berlin State Library), the Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut (Ibero-American Institute), Kunstbibliothek (Art Library), Kupferstichkabinett (Museum of Prints and Drawings), Kunstgewerbemuseum (Museum of Prints and Drawings), and the Gemäldegalerie (Old Master Paintings). I am certain that critics will also recognize the potential of the new Herzog & de Meuron building. We know that the project has a big budget. For this very reason we will be monitoring closely to make sure that the we stay within the newly approved budget.”