Wunderschön

Tags

Berlin, City Palace, Forum, Hohenzollern, Humboldt, palace

I have been following the rebuilding of the Berlin City Palace located on the museum island in the centre of the City at the end of Unter den Linden avenue in Berlin. The palace which stood on the site from 1443 was the official residence of the Kings of Prussia and then the Emperors of Germany. The baroque style building was fire bombed during the second world war and totally demolished by the Communist East German Government in the 1950’s.

Through private and public financing it has been rebuilt and will be inaugurated in 2019, now serving as a museum, library, conference centre as part of the Humboldt University.

The reconstruction of the outside walls is faithful to the original. Here are some photos of the finished product in its soft pale yellow colour, as the scaffolding comes down.

All the decorative elements in stone had to be re-carved from drawings and photos of the original.

Renovations

Tags

1847, Berlin, Charlottetown, City Palace, Legislature, PEI, Province house

I have blogged about the massive rebuilding project in Berlin of the former Imperial City Palace now renamed the Humboldt Forum the work is almost complete and it is a marvel baroque architecture. The architect is Italian, Franco Stella, the cost is 750 million Euros. http://cam01.berlinerschloss-webcam.de it is the largest building project in Berlin.

Here in Charlottetown, PEI on a smaller scale the Legislative building of 1847 by architect Isaac Smith is undergoing a reconstruction and renovation phase over 5 years at a now estimated cost of $47 million CDN dollars. Parks Canada is responsible for the project.

The project has been under discussion and went through a long tendering phase of about 3 years, makes you wonder what took so long. The Legislature had to move out some years ago because the building had become dangerously unstable and many feared it would collapse on itself. Province House formerly known as Colonial House prior to 1864 has been the seat of the Legislative Assembly of PEI all those years and is the place where some of the main conferences of the Fathers of Confederation took place in 1864. So it is a National Historic Building of great importance, built in the Greek Revival style popular in the Georgian Period.

As I walked to Grafton Street today I went around Province House where workers are preparing the building for phase one which will stabilize the structure before more major work is undertaken. I noticed how badly cracked some of the stones are on the exterior walls, the wooden window frames are rotten and the stone steps are worn away with age. Given the age of the building, 170 yrs, with little to no maintenance it is a miracle that some great catastrophe has not struck.  Many of the original facing sandstone will need a full replacement.

The interior has retained its original rooms and it is quite elegant. It will be interesting to watch the progression of the work in the months and years to come. The idea is to return the building to its original splendor.

if you look at the outside walls you can see the damage on the stone.

Stone is cracked, chipped and discoloured

Here the workers are removing  the ceiling of the balcony on the North side to reveal the old original wood skeleton of the building supporting the roof, the original wood is rotten and the roof in danger of caving in.

The North facade of Province House, soon the windows will be removed and a steel skeleton will envelop the building to give it extra support and prevent any mishaps.

Province House with the Provincial Flag, only a few trees have been cut down for being to close to the walls of the building, all others are protected.

 

A new President in Germany

Tags

Bellevue, Berlin, Bundestag, Germany, President

Frank-Walter Steinmeier was born in 1956 in the small town of Detmold in North Rhine-Westphalia. His father was a carpenter and it is said that some within Germany’s political elite look down on Steinmeier for his lowly background. On the flip-side, he is often praised for having risen to such heights within the political system.

He has a doctorate of law which he was awarded in 1991 by the University of Giessen, and did his dissertation on state prevention of homelessness.

Soon after leaving university he went to work for the state Chancellery of Lower Saxony as an advisor, and in 1993 became director of the personal office for the Minister-President of the state, and later Chancellor of Germany, Gerhard Schröder.

While serving as head of the office of the Chancellor from 1999 following Schröder’s election victory, he earned himself the nickname “The Grey Efficiency” because of his ability to manage teams behind the political spotlight. Steinmeier was made responsible for Germany’s intelligence services and he helped Schröder forge a coalition with Russia and France against the US’s invasion of Iraq.

In the grand coalition of 2005, Merkel appointed him Foreign Minister, from where he was shifted up to Vice-Chancellor in 2007. But come the elections of 2009 his party was rejected in favour of Angela Merkel’s, and he became leader of the opposition until he was given the position of Foreign Secretary again in 2013 following another election.

The Election process

The process by which a new President is chosen is not a simple one. It’s not a direct vote by the German people, but rather the Federal parliament calls in so-called “Electors” to vote on behalf of the nation.

The 630 members of the Federal parliament or Bundestag are joined by 630 “Electors” in the house.

Each different state is given a different number of Electors to send to the Federal parliament depending on their population size, and the regional governments can vote for anybody to become an Elector. This led to the surreal situation on Sunday where politicians were mixing with film stars, the national football coach, and the nation’s best known drag queen to vote for the next head of state.

Different parties can put forward their candidate, but in reality the government chooses who it wants to be President and then the vote is purely a formality. Steinmeier received 74% of the ballots with 931 votes out of 1,260.

The role of the German President

The official role of the President is as the head of state of Germany. The President often has a lot of freedom in their job, but they tend to leave the actual running of the country to the Chancellor.

The President cannot create laws or policies, but can give direction as to what the political debate should be. The President must also sign off on laws. He also has the power to veto a law.

In general however the President represents the State of Germany itself, and has a role in upholding the law and constitution. The President is obliged not to comment on current political affairs, and should stay politically neutral, staying above party politics.

Probably the most important role of the President is to represent Germany at home and abroad, and having been Foreign Minister, Steinmeier is very qualified to do this. He will now spend the next four years fulfilling his duties at home and abroad. He has promised to focus on visiting “left-behind” communities around Germany.

He takes Office in March and will replace the current President Joachim Gauck who is 77. The Official Residence of the President is a former Royal Palace Schloss Bellevue in central Berlin, built as a summer residence for the brother of King Frederick II the Great of Prussia in 1786. The German President actually lives in a Villa in Dahlem a suburb of Berlin, the palace is only used for Official functions.

Christmas trees

Tags

2011, 2016, Berlin, Charlottetown, Christmas, Milan, Munich, Ottawa, PEI, Rome, Strasbourg, Tree, Vienna, Vilnius, Warsaw

Some example of favourite City and their Christmas tree, 2016.

Milan in front of the Duomo (cathedral) of Milan 2016.

Rome, Piazza Venezia in front of the Altar to the Italian Nation.

Berlin, Brandenburg gate, Pariser Platz

Munich in front of City Hall, Christmas market.

Athens, Syntagma Square in front of the Greek Parliament.

Shönbrunn Palace, suburbs of Vienna

Vilnius, Lithuania

Warsaw, Poland in front of the old Royal Palace.

Strasbourg, Alsace

Ottawa, Canada, behind the Parliament Buildings

Our tree at home in Charlottetown, PEI.

Christmas in Rome 2011, at the top of the stairs of the Church of Santa Maria Ara Coeli in Capitolinum. One of my favourite photos of us on that last Christmas in Rome, I remember it was a crisp but sunny day.

Morning photos

Tags

Berlin, capitals, photos, Rome, St-Petersburg, World

Here are photos of 3 cities in the world this morning. I have visited and or lived in these capitals.

A fountain in Trastevere, Rome

A view of St-Petersburg, Russia with of the St-Nicholas Naval Cathedral

A view of the dome of the Lutheran Cathedral of Berlin, extensively restored after the Second World War. The modern wall on the left is the East side of the City Palace being rebuilt now. The interior of the Cathedral are as they were in 1918.

Restoration

Tags

Acropolis, ATHENS, Berlin, Canaletto, Dresden, Neue Palais, Potsdam, Prussia, Restoration

I have always been interested in historical restoration of buildings, despite the fact that many archeologists oppose such restoration as not genuine, especially in buildings of great antiquity or in buildings which have been totally destroyed.

If any restoration should take place often it is in the consolidation of the buildings foundations or some partial and limited reconstruction of any structure, clearly marking where the work took place so it should not be mistaken by any future restorer or student as original.

In Athens in the last 30 years important restorations have taken place on the Acropolis, a monumental complex 2500 years old. The work was necessary due to the advance state of decay of the remaining buildings and their importance to Western Civilization. The Parthenon has been extensively restored to prevent any further decay and hundreds of fragments have been found so they could be re-incorporated into the building. The original Parthenon was destroyed by the Persians in 480 BC and re-built under Pericles between 479 and 439 BC. The greatest destruction was inflicted during the long war between the Ottoman Turks and the Venetians who attacked Athens  in 1687 and fired upon the temple which the Turks had used as a gun powder depot, the resulting explosion gave us what we see today. The restoration which I visited many times in the last 17 years are very impressive and will conserve this important monument for the future. The Greeks in recent years have also restored the Erechtheion, the Temple of Athena Nike and the gate or Propylaea.

Under Mussolini from 1923-1939 much of what tourists see today in the Roman Forum was the results of excavations and restorations as political gestures to support the Fascist program of Il Duce. Prior to Mussolini’s rule little could be seen and most of the Roman Forum was covered with modern neighbourhoods, all had to be destroyed and removed to uncover Imperial Rome.

In Germany with the end of the Second World War much of the country was in ruins, the great monuments of the 17th and 18th centuries had been bombed and burnt. Dresden was destroyed in two nights of fire bombing in February 1945. After the war, Dresden found itself in the Eastern part of Germany and the Communists had no interest in re-building the city. What Canaletto had painted in 1747 while under commission to Frederick-Augustus II, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland was the only memory of that glorious city. 

We visited Dresden 3 years ago and saw how the city has been re-built to a point where all the ancient monuments have been brought back to life. The most stunning is the Lutheran FrauenKirche (church of our Lady) built in 1726 by George Bähr with a height of 91 meters.

When we first saw it it was nothing more than rubble, an amazing feat of restoration.

The City of Berlin has undergone the same transformation since 1989 with its re-unification as the Capital of Germany, the Berlin City Palace is nearing completion and is the single most expensive public-private project in Germany at 790 million Euros.

In Potsdam which is a suburb of Berlin, much restoration and re-building of the 18th century buildings has been going on. The City Palace was completely re-built and the Park complex where the famous palace Sans Souci of Frederick II the Great is located has seen much restoration of the pavilions, gardens, Royal tombs and other palaces including the Neue Palais built in 1763 to commemorate the victory of Prussia and England in the Seven Years War against France and Austria.

The Neue Palais (new palace) is intact and avoided being bombed during WWII. Frederick II used it to show off the power of the Prussian State. Frederick II would live there in the Winter and move to Sans Souci down the park alley in the Summer. This palace is also interesting has it was the last residence of the German Emperor Frederick III who only reigned for 99 days dying of cancer and his son Emperor Wilhelm II until his forced abdication in 1918 and exile to Holland.

In front of the Palace and in keeping with the baroque style so loved by Frederick II a folie or fantaisie was built in the form of a semi-circle colonnade with two pavilions. It was damaged after 1918 and during WWII. The first time I saw it in 1997 it was in very poor state and needed much repair, it was cordoned off because it could collapse.

As of 2004 a great effort was made to re-built it and the work is now complete, it can be admired as it was at the time of Frederick II. Here are some photos of it.

This photo taken from the steps of the Neue Palais looking at the colonnade during an open air concert.

Side view, prior to 1997 many of the allegorical statues on the top where missing and had to be re-carved and re-installed. The columns and architectural elements replaced and the copper roof completely redone.

This aerial photo shows the complex, the buildings on either side of the colonnade where servants quarters. Today the buildings are part of the University of Potsdam. While the Neue Palais is a museum, it has 200 rooms and 4 state reception rooms and much of its original furnishings. All of these places are interesting to visit because it is living history.

There are many more cities in Europe who restored their ancient buildings. The State is actively involved and the public often subscribe with donations to these projects.

In France one famous site is the Palais of Versailles, with the help of the American Friends of Versailles, hundreds of millions of dollars have been raised to restore this palace and garden to its pre-revolutionary glory. I remember one visit in 1969 with my parents, what a sad site it was, so much was closed to the public and only up-keep work could be done. Much of the furniture of the palace was sold in 1792 prior to the execution of Queen Marie-Antoinette. Most bought by wealthy English Aristocrats for a few pennies, in London today much of this furniture and various paintings and objects belonging to the Royal Family of France can be seen in mint condition.

Restoration and conservation is important and gives an accurate picture of what life was like back then. One wonders why in Canada we make so little effort to conserve and protect our history.

 

 

photo not PEI

Tags

Alexanderplatz, Berlin, BRD, FRG, GDR, Germany, Spree river

This photo of central Berlin, the Capital of the Federal Republic of Germany, re-united and once again the Capital since 1990. It had lost that title in 1946 with the division of Germany by the Allies when the Capital moved to Bonn for the Western part of the Country and the Eastern part kept Berlin, half demolished, bombed out as their capital.

The photo below is East Berlin now known as Mitte or central Berlin. The Princes and Kings of Prussia lived on the island on the Spree River as of the 15th century until 1918. The buildings on the left side of the photo, you have the great dome of the Lutheran Cathedral it was connected to the Imperial Palace across the street, heavily damaged in 1944 it was lovingly restored to what it was like in 1918, the crypt is full of coffins of the Royal Prussian family members. The cathedral is surrounded by several museums all fully restored since 1989 at great expense. The collections are breathtaking, varied and shows the knowledge and quality of the curators who worked for the Hohenzollern family. The long gray facade building on the Spree river is the old stables of the Palace, housing hundred of horses and carriages at one time. The empty space between the cathedral and the stables is occupied today by the reconstruction site of the great City Palace of the German Emperors. On the middle of the photo is St-Nicholas neighbourhood also heavily damaged by aerial allied bombardments in 1942-1944, the churches have been restored and so has the red brick tower and building of Berlin’s City Hall. The modern towers you see in the background is Alexander Platz built to celebrate the visit to Berlin of Russian Tsar Alexander I in 1805, it was re-imagined by the Communists East German government and turned into a typical soulless ugly brutalist architectural monstrosity for army parades, think Red Square or Tien An Men Square in Beijing.

 

Same area another shot taken around 2007

Home sweet Home

Tags

Berlin, City Palace, Hohenzollern, Isenburg

The City Palace home of the Kaiser of Germany since the 16th century being completely rebuilt in the centre of Berlin after its destruction by the Communist regime of East Germany. This is said to be the most expensive construction project in Berlin close to $1 billion dollars. Completion date 2019, it will be used as a university-conference centre and museum.

Family reunion, HIH Prince Georg Friedrich of Prussia (middle in brown coat) Head of the Hohenzollern Family surrounded by his uncles, aunt and his cousins Philipp, Wilhelm and Christian on the construction site of the grand entrance to the City Palace, former home of his great grand-father Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany. They came to inspect how the reconstruction was going on their former family home.

Great grandpa Wilhelm II,Kaiser of Germany, see the striking family resemblance with his great grand-son Georg Friedrich, below, who would be Kaiser today.

HIH Georg Friedrich with his wife Princess Sophie, they have 3 children

Images of 2016

Tags

2016, Berlin, Budapest, Canada., Copenhagen, Dresden, Europe, New Year, Niagara, Rome, Vienna

Some beautiful photos of New Year in Europe

Dresden reborn on the Elba river in Saxony.

Copenhagen, the Tivoli Gardens

Berlin, GendarmenPlatz

Berlin, Brandenburg Gate New Year’s Eve party

Budapest seen from the Danube river

Vienna, St-Stephen Cathedral

Rome

Amsterdam

Athens, the Parthenon, Greece

Canada, Niagara Falls, the horse shoe

Did not mean to scare the horses

Tags

2019, Berlin, City Palace, construction, Humboldt Forum, renovation

My post yesterday may have conveyed the wrong idea, if I go by the comments I received. I was trying, in my second language, to convey that retirement meant that I had to re-invent myself and find new interests, which is not always easy to do. At least I am not sitting in front of the television set 24/7 and becoming a couch potato, mind you it would be difficult to do since we do not have a television and starring at the walls is not my thing anyway. It is just another challenge in 2016 to move into news digs but I wanted to re-decorate our apartment and re-paint etc, so this is the opportunity.

Speaking of re-invention since 1997 I have been following developments on the restoration, rebuilding, rejuvenation of Berlin and specifically the re-building of all the buildings that once existed in the historical centre of the capital before 1939 and the devastation of the War. A master plan is being followed and after reunification of the two Germanys in 1989, the fall and removal of the wall, the capital moved back from Bonn to Berlin which has only been the Capital of a unified country since 1870. Prior to that Berlin was the Capital of Brandenburg and of the Kingdom of Prussia.

The first building that needed to be rebuilt and restored was the Reichstag which had been torched and then bombed between 1933 and 1945. A British architect was hired, Sir Norman Foster to re-think how the re-christened building now called the Bundestag (Federal Parliament) would look. The whole philosophy the German Political elite came up with was to focus on Enlightenment and Ideas, leading to a transparent building where the affairs of the new Germany would be conducted. Foster retained the outside walls with all the symbols of Imperial Germany, the original building was built in 1894, but he imagined the new inside would be all glass including the dome, anywhere you look you see through walls and floors, the idea being that transparency = truth, Germany would be an open democracy for all to see.

You can see the difference in the old and the new German (Reichstag) Bundestag. 

In the meantime in 1946 Germany was divided, the Iron Curtain fell and down Unter den Liden avenue just 3 Km away on the ruins of the old Imperial City Palace rose the new Parliament of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), a building full of the typical Communist Kitsch of the 1970’s

The old palace had stood on this site since 1443 remodelled many times, expanded and after 1870 remodelled yet again to now represent the new Unified German Empire, all baroque and over the top.

The site of the German Democratic Republic Parliament occupied only a third of the ground occupied by the Old City Palace, the rest of the space as seen in this photos was a parking lot and parade ground. I saw it in the last years before its demolition in Berlin and it was an ugly building. It was Communist functional and also full of asbestos, this is what led to its demolition, which took several years because of the risk of removing all this asbestos.

I have followed the debates for some years how the Municipal administration in Berlin, the Brandenburg State and the Federal German Government have handled the demolition of the East German Parliament and reconstruction of the City Palace. There was a lot of discussions in the Bundestag and in the Senate and many votes on motions and who would pay for what and most importantly what would be the use of the rebuilt City Palace which is scheduled to cost around 750 million Euros.

The idea of re-building was finally accepted by the Senate and the Parliament after it was proposed that an international competition would be held to find an architect who would handle this project, Italian architect Franco Stella won the competition with his design. The Palace could not be a copy of the old demolished one and there would be no restoration of the original rooms or decor. The theme of the rebuilt Palace would be the Humanities and World Culture and it will be called the Humboldt Forum after the famous 18th century philosopher scientist. The only original elements of the old Palace would be the three facades in the Wilhelmine Style of the 1890’s, the West facade, the South and the North with the original portals, the East facade is utterly post-modern strangely enough given that it was the oldest side of this palace. The point of recreating those facade was to blend in with the Lutheran Cathedral and all the other classical buildings in the area forming the Fridericianum, meaning in the style favoured by Frederick II the Great (1712-1786).

The idea of re-building the Palace came from one man a Hamburg businessman and aristocrat Wilhelm von Boddien who lobbied and advocated as of 1993. He also proposed that the re-built exterior facades West, South and North would be financed by public donations and the interior work would be financed by the German Federal Government. The finished product would be run and administered by the City of Berlin, the Humboldt University and the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation.

So I have been following the construction from the website and here are some photos http://berliner-schloss.de/en/. What is astonishing is the high degree of care and the number of artists, sculptors, archeologists, historians and Academics involved in this project. Donations from around the world have pored in and famous visitors have come to see the construction site. The project is scheduled to be completed by 2019.

The Palace will occupy its original footprint meaning it is very large and will dominate the area. So far in the last 4 years the ground was prepared after meticulous archeological digs into the old cellars of the demolished palace which were simply covered over. The reinforced concrete shell of the building has been completed and now the brick work and sculpted stone ornamental elements are being added including the windows, the dome of the Palace chapel is also in place, though not the lantern.

The walls are very thick if you look carefully at the photos and the men working on the brick work. On top of the brick work will be added later a coat of cement which will be painted to give the exterior walls their final colours.

Here you see men, bricklayers working, you can see how huge the windows of the Palace are compared to them.

Here we see a worker measuring as the carved stone blocks are put in place on the Western Portal (main gate) of the Palace. You can also judge the thickness of the concrete skeleton structure.

You can see men working on the Western Portal of the Palace installing the carved stone blocks on top of the concrete skeletal structure. The higher portal was originally used by the Emperor and the smaller portals on either side by other family members. Similar design as one found in Imperial palaces in China.

This photo shows how thick the concrete walls are and then on top 3 layers of red brick and on top the carved stone elements. Very solid construction. The naked brick will get dressed with a coat of cement which will be painted to give a finish look to the walls.

Five levels of scaffoldings to allow workers to lay the bricks and stone carvings. For the first 3 floors of the Palace structure, gives an idea of the height of the ceilings.

 

This mock up shows the finish look of the walls of the Palace with its carved elements. However much more complicated carved elements will also adorn the Portals and large bronze tablets will also be affixed to the main Western Portals proclaiming the glory of Prussian kings.

The Eastern facade on the Spree River with a view of the Lutheran Imperial Cathedral of Berlin, very modern look on that facade to indicate that the Palace is a re-construction.

Built to last obviously.

A maquette of the old Palace as it was before its destruction during the Second World War. The other buildings in this display have all been restored to their original look and are part of the Museum Island complex housing the Royal collections. The five museums were also bombed and all the buildings have been restored. David Chipperfield was another famous architect who worked on the restoration of the museums.

The dome of the Royal Chapel of the Palace, 24 meters circumference and 9 meters high. Missing is the lantern on top with its dancing angels supporting a Latin Cross. A donor is sought for that item which is quite expensive according to the catalogue. Originally the chapel was large enough to accommodate 600 persons.

The South elevation of the Palace once construction is completed in 2019.

In 2019 the view of the Museum Island, the Lutheran Cathedral and the Palace (Humboldt Forum).