Alte Kommandantur

Alte Kommandantur, Unter den Linden 1 in Berlin, in 2008.

The Alte Kommandantur is a building in the historic center of Berlin, which had been heavily damaged during World War II and destroyed in order to make room for the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of East Germany.

The original building was in the baroque style, built by architect Johann Gregor Memhardt (b. 1607, d. 1678), and enlarged in 1795, and modified again in 1873 in a neo-Renaissance style.

In 1995, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of East Germany itself was demolished in order to recreate the Werderscher Markt area.

The Alte Kommandantur was rebuilt by media conglomerate Bertelsmann and the Bertelsmann Stiftung foundation to become its joint Berlin liaison office with the prestigious address Unter den Linden 1. Since no plan was available, the building was designed based on historic pre-war photographs and testimonies. The building was completed in November 2003.

Critics of this reconstruction see it as an example of the Disneyfication of the center of Berlin.[1]

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Reconstruction Doubts: The Paradox of Building in Schinkel's Name - Barry Bergdoll - The Berlin Journal - Number Ten - Spring 2005 pp. 45-49

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kommandantenhaus (Berlin).

External links

Coordinates: 52°31′02″N 13°23′52″E / 52.51722°N 13.39778°E / 52.51722; 13.39778

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