Foundation stone laid for “berlin modern” museum
Published: Friday, Feb 9th 2024, 12:40
Updated At: Saturday, Feb 10th 2024, 00:59
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The foundation stone has been laid on what is currently Germany's most expensive cultural construction site. The Museum of the 20th Century in Berlin, now known as "berlin modern", is thus making progress.
By 2027, the seventh location of the National Gallery at the Kulturforum, not far from Potsdamer Platz in the heart of the German capital, will be completed at a cost of around half a billion euros.
Klaus Biesenbach, Director of the Neue Nationalgalerie and also of the future museum, referred to the urgent need for space at the laying of the foundation stone on Friday. Only 172 of the approximately 5,000 works in the collection could currently be shown.
Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth (Greens) recalled the persecution of numerous artists of the 20th century by the National Socialists. "Artistic freedom is being called into question again today," said the Green politician. This is "a challenge that we are actively facing up to".
Berlin's Governing Mayor Kai Wegner spoke of a "passionate discourse" surrounding the building. "The museum is highly justified and absolutely necessary," said the CDU politician, adding that it fills a painful gap.
The museum is being built directly between the buildings of the New National Gallery and the Philharmonie, which are celebrated as architectural icons. For a long time, the building was controversial due to its poor energy balance. Roth wants to make it a "role model for sustainability". To this end, the plans for the museum, which has been under construction since 2019, have been revised.
The design and redesign are by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, who also built Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie concert hall, the Olympic Stadium in Beijing and Munich's Allianz Arena.
The redesign will increase the cost of the construction financed by the federal government by almost ten million euros to a good 363 million euros. With index increases and risk costs, the financing adds up to around 450 million euros.
To mark the laying of the foundation stone, the Neue Nationalgalerie is showing the video installation "Ready Mix" by US artist Lucy Raven in the large hall of the iconic building by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969). "Even the laying of the foundation stone should be art," said Biesenbach.
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