Berlin Castle: Call for a Moratorium
The political significance of the castle does not justify its reconstruction.
Prussia is gone. The Empire is vanquished. The tasks for the present and
the future, those of European integration, globalisation and multicultural
assimilation, are quite different in nature.
The historical significance of the castle prohibits its reconstruction. The
castle was a testament to history of primary importance, but reconstructing
such a testament is an act of forgery.
The absence of meaningful uses makes the reconstruction of the castle null
and void. There are no convincing proposals for what a reconstructed
castle should contain. A castle is not needed for functions that the city can
provide in several other different ways. Baroque rooms are not suitable for
a museum of non-European art. A purpose-built new building would be best
and above all maintain a competitive position on the international stage.
The significance of the castle in art history does not justify its
reconstruction.
In particular, the characteristic parts of the building, the 19th century west
wing and dome are artistically second rank. Only Schlüter's contribution - his
major work in the design of the inner courtyard - was first rank.
The listed building status of the castle prohibits its reconstruction.
The arbitrary reproduction of historic buildings devalues the original
monuments. The rebuilding of lost former monuments is the deliberate
tinkering with historical records. Money paid out for an expensive
falsification is then not available for spending on real monuments in need of
repair.
The artistic quality of the building's sculptural form makes the reconstruction
of the castle impossible. Schlüter's own sculptural work cannot be
reproduced. A copy would be art forgery.
The building archaeology of the castle makes its reconstruction impossible.
The castle was a complex interactive arrangement of the widest range of
different building features spanning over six centuries. In particular, the
narrow picturesque eastern wing parts from the Renaissance period cannot
be reconstituted.
The aesthetic quality of the castle in art history does not justify its
reconstruction.
People over the centuries have always complained about the gloomy,
massive blocks. No one considers it beautiful. We have forgotten the criteria
for assessing historical architecture. Age, size and grandeur should not be
confused with beauty.
The "empty centre" does not justify the reconstruction of the castle.
The "empty centre" is a myth. The road network of inner Berlin has never
been centred on the castle. "Berlin's heart" never beat here - at the best it
was the Emperor's heart. The centralist urban structure of a feudal society
is no longer contemporary. The polycentric city works without the castle.
The location of the castle with respect to urban planning is not favourable
to its reconstruction. The castle stands as an isolated monumental alien
form with no reference to the city's structures of space and use. No one can
seriously consider recreating this serious shortcoming in urban planning.
For these reasons a moratorium is requested. The results of various
commissions, partial solutions, amalgams of new and old, a fragment of the
old Palace of the Republic in one spot, a bit of the castle in another, some
modern piece of architecture, the external sandstone nostalgia and internal
pragmatic contemporaneous features, all lead to mediocre weak
compromise solutions and not to a higher plane of architectural culture,
which alone would be worthy of such a prominent location.
There is no reason to fill the castle square as quickly as possible and in an
arbitrary manner. To build there today would take away the opportunity from
a future generation to create something with a use appropriate for that
location. Instead, the site could be turned over to a Central Park of some
kind, which could also in time become a permanent solution.
You can support this call for a moratorium with your signature. Thoughts
and opinions are welcome, either via our webpage (www.aedes-galerie.de),
email (aedes-aufruf@baunetz.de), or the opinion book located in the Aedes
West Gallery from 17.2 until 5.3.2001.
