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The Humboldt Forum – Meeting Place of World Cultures
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- Visitors to Schlossplatz today can see archeological excavations of the City Palace foundations, demolition work on the old Palace of the Republic and landmarks like the TV tower and the Berliner Dom. The Humboldt Forum will take shape on the square by 2013.
- (© picture-alliance/dpa)
The narrow strip of land where the Spree river briefly splits is more than just prime real estate in the new Berlin. It is the intersection of the city’s past and its future and a showplace for the spirit of the times.
A complex of museums housing some of the world’s greatest antiquities occupies the island’s northern end, and it was once the site of the Berlin City Palace, where the Prussian prince-electors and kings resided. The end of the Kaiser’s rule and the beginning of the Weimar republic was announced from a balcony of the city palace in 1918, and the East German government demolished the baroque palace to build its parliament building there during Germany’s partition.
Now, the bronze-mirrored “Palace of the Republic” has been demolished, and a new structure will arise that combines the baroque façade of the Palace with a modern interior that will serve as a venue for cultural research and dialogue. Named for two brothers who embody the enlightened spirit of the late 18th and early 19th century, the Humboldt Forum is to be completed by 2013.
Wilhelm and Alexander von Humboldt will not only lend their name to the project, they will also be its guiding figures. The elder brother Wilhelm was a linguist and philosopher who is credited with reforming the Prussian school system and laying the groundwork for the current German educational system. Alexander Humboldt's quest “to examine the interweaving and interacting of all the forces of nature,” drove him to mountaintops in Latin America and deep into Siberia. He explored the concept of ecology before the term existed. Both brothers were committed to the idea that freedom is essential to individual development and human dignity, and Alexander von Humboldt spoke out vigorously against American slavery.
In 2009, celebrations will mark the 150th anniversary of Alexander von Humboldt’s death.
Berlin’s world-famous and rich collections of artistic and cultural artifacts from Africa, Asia, America, Australia and Oceania will be on display at the Forum, as will the Humboldt University’s history of science collections and contemporary works of art. The central agora will be a venue for theater, film, music, performances and symposia. Collections from Berlin’s Central and Regional Library will also ensure that the Forum is well frequented.
The German Bundestag has adopted a number of resolutions paving the way for the Humboldt Forum’s construction inside the re-erected walls of the Berlin City Palace. The Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs announced in December 2008 that the Italian architect Francesco Stella had won an international design competition for the new hybrid building. Parallel to this, the conceptual preparations of the three project partners – the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation including Berlin’s State Museums, the Humboldt University and the Central and Regional Library Berlin – are in full swing.
The idea is as visionary as the 19th century construction of the neighboring Museum Island, which today attracts millions of visitors every year from far and near. The Humboldt Forum will form an integrated artistic and cultural complex – a millennial counterpart to the 19th century showcase for Europe’s ancient art and culture with its Middle Eastern roots.
After the war, the division of Germany and its eventual reunification, a modern center of art and science is being built at the city’s finest location, a venue for dialogue among the cultures of the world that is bound to make an international impression.
Source: Includes material from the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, published in Deutschland Magazine, October 2008
