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Construction progress at the Neues Museum
Press release from 03/16/2006
Construction work on the Neues Museum, the war-damaged building by August Stüler (begun as the second building on Museum Island in 1843 and opened in 1859), which has survived as a ruin, is progressing rapidly in line with the plans of architect David Chipperfield. Parts of the building were completely destroyed during the Second World War, while other parts, including the murals, were preserved but were badly damaged by a lack of restoration in the post-war period. The completely destroyed sections of the building (fourth quadrant) are currently being rebuilt.
The criticism of the Gesellschaft Historisches Berlin e.V., which calls for the exact restoration of what has been destroyed, comes to nothing. The association acts as the self-appointed custodian of a monument preservation programme whose criteria it has drawn up itself. The monument authorities of the State of Berlin and the State Monument Council at the Senate Department for Urban Development are involved in all phases of the planning and realisation of the reconstruction of the Neues Museum. All individual decisions were made in close consultation with them, starting with the architectural competition in 1997. When Unesco decided to include the Museum Island on the World Heritage List, Chipperfield's plans were not only known, they were also presented in the application. The concept was repeatedly presented to the public and discussed in numerous exhibitions, panels and publications.
The special nature of the conservation task at the Neues Museum results from the fact that some parts of the building and its furnishings have been completely destroyed, while others have been severely damaged and others less so. The parts that have survived are being restored with the greatest possible care and supplemented in such a way as to create a uniform impression that comes close to the original state. The staircase, however, was completely destroyed by an incendiary bomb. The frescoes by Kaulbach, the architectural decoration and the entire staircase itself have been irretrievably lost. Any attempt to reconstruct the staircase true to the original would lack the appreciation of what has fortunately been preserved in other parts of the building and would be aesthetically doomed to failure. The staircase is now being rebuilt according to Chipperfield's plans as a spatial structure that picks up on the cubature and graceful elegance of Stüler's design while utilising a contemporary architectural language. As in Stüler's design, the staircase will form the centrepiece of the building's overall organism and trace the alternating flights of stairs and landings of the original structure. The façades of the destroyed building components will also be constructed in the structure of the historic building. The density of experience of the original architecture is restaged. The care and respect with which this building project will treat what has been preserved can be seen from the fact that around half of the total construction costs of 230 million euros will be spent on restoration. The association's claim that the realisation of its ideas would be cheaper can be clearly contradicted.
Another point of criticism levelled by the Historisches Berlin association is directed at the planned New Entrance Building, which is to be built between the Neues Museum and Kupfergraben, as it would impair the unobstructed view of the building. The criticism negates the fact that the new building will be constructed on the site of the destroyed Packhof, a building that August Stüler found when he designed his museum.
The conservation work involved in restoring the Museum Island has so far been praised by experts. In 2002, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation was awarded the Ferdinand von Quast Medal, named after the first Prussian state conservator, for the restoration of the Alte Nationalgalerie.
