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Cost and planning certainty: ground-breaking ceremony for the Nationalgalerie's Museum of the 20th Century this autumn
Press release from 09/17/2019
Parzinger: Great opportunity for the Kulturforum - Thanks to Minister of State for Culture Grütters, Federal Minister of Finance Scholz and the budget holders of the Bundestag: "Path of clarity taken" - Herzog: Museum will be the centrepiece of the Kulturforum
The ground-breaking ceremony for the National Gallery's Museum of the 20th Century at Berlin's Kulturforum will take place this autumn and the new building is expected to be completed in 2026. According to the President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, Hermann Parzinger, the design planning by architects Herzog & de Meuron has now been finalised, which is also the basis for a reliable time and cost plan. The calculation now available assumes construction costs of 364.2 million euros for the new building. In addition, 52.2 million euros can be added for future construction index increases and 33.8 million euros for risk costs, bringing the total to 450.2 million euros: "We are now embarking on a path of clarity and we are looking forward to a spectacular building with which we can catch up internationally. I am very grateful to the Federal Government, especially Minister of State for Culture Monika Grütters and Federal Minister of Finance Olaf Scholz, but also to the Budget Committee of the German Bundestag, for wanting to give us the necessary support for the extension of the Nationalgalerie. We know that this is about more than just a new museum building for one of the most important collections in the world: after years of fruitless debate, we are completing the Kulturforum. It is precisely the unifying element and the power of urban planning that are the captivating ideas behind Herzog & de Meuron's design, which the jury unanimously agreed on at the time. Everyone benefits from it, the Philharmonie guests as well as the visitors to St Matthew's Church, the users of the State Library as well as the lovers of the Picture Gallery."
The director of the Neue Nationalgalerie, Joachim Jäger, once again emphasised why the building was so urgently needed: "Our collection has at least tripled in size since the 1960s as a result of the merging of collections from East and West, numerous acquisitions and donations, but it is fragmented, spread across many locations and can only ever be seen in sections due to lack of space. Much of it lies dormant in the depot. The new building will make it possible to experience the art of the 20th century from Max Beckmann to Bruce Nauman, from Kurt Schwitters to Jason Rhoades as a continuum. The vision for the Museum of the 20th Century is to show art in contexts that go beyond aesthetic history and refer to political and socio-historical references. In this sense, the new building should also enable interdisciplinary platforms. Together with the architects, we have developed innovative spaces and forms of performance for the open art forms of the late 20th century in particular." The future location for 20th century art will not only connect the Neue Nationalgalerie with the new building, but will also provide ideal presentation spaces for the Pietzsch, Marx and Marzona collections. In addition, the painter Gerhard Richter has also agreed to make a large number of works available for the new building. Works from the Museum of Prints and Drawings and the Art Library round off the presentation.
Architect Jacques Herzog spoke of a major challenge: "The Museum of the 20th Century is an architecture in its own right, like Mies' building and Scharoun's architecture. In addition to its function for the presentation of art, however, it has another, very important task: connecting and interlinking the surrounding buildings and outdoor spaces to form an urban planning whole - a cultural forum for the 21st century. Together with the client and users, we have made decisive progress: large gates and entrances create a spatial connection between the museum and the surrounding squares and streets. The east-west boulevard is a public route through the building. The wide gable field turns towards the Philharmonie and the chamber music hall. The north façade is extensively glazed and allows direct views from the museum onto Scharounplatz and Potsdamer Strasse. At the same time, the museum can be experienced from the outside. In short: the museum becomes part of life on the square, the centrepiece of the Kulturforum."
