Humboldt Forum: The Palace That Came Back
Why is it significant?
Stand back far enough to take in the western front: a great gateway shaped like a Roman triumphal arch, and high above it a copper-green dome crowned with a golden cross. Everything in front of you looks three hundred years old. Almost none of it is older than 2013.
Key Facts
| Place | Humboldt Forum: The Palace That Came Back |
|---|---|
| Address | Schloßplatz, 10178 Berlin, Germany |
| Geo Coordinates | 52.51700, 13.39980 |
| Part of Walk | Kings, Domes and Empty Shelves: Museum Island & Prussian Berlin |
| Generated | Generated |
Stand back far enough to take in the western front: a great gateway shaped like a Roman triumphal arch, and high above it a copper-green dome crowned with a golden cross. Everything in front of you looks three hundred years old. Almost none of it is older than 2013.
This was the Stadtschloss, the city palace of the Hohenzollerns. The first castle was begun here in 1443 by Elector Frederick the Second, nicknamed Irontooth, and the townspeople hated it so much that they rose up against it. The story goes that they even opened the sluices to flood his building site. Around 1700 the sculptor and architect Andreas Schlüter turned it into a baroque giant for Frederick the First, who in 1701 crowned himself the first King in Prussia. The gate in front of you was added by his next architect, Eosander von Göthe, and the dome came much later, in the 1840s and 1850s.
On the 9th of November 1918, as the monarchy collapsed, Karl Liebknecht proclaimed a free socialist republic from one of the palace balconies. In 1945 the building burned, and in 1950 the East German leader Walter Ulbricht had what remained blown up as a symbol of Prussian militarism. Only one piece was saved: the portal with Liebknecht's balcony, later built into the East German State Council building across the square.
In its place, in 1976, rose the Palace of the Republic, a bronze-glass box with the East German parliament, theatres, restaurants and even a bowling alley. It closed in 1990 because of asbestos and was demolished by 2008. In 2002 the Bundestag voted to bring back the old palace, and the Italian architect Franco Stella rebuilt three baroque façades around a museum. Look at the east side later and you will see the compromise: a plain modern wall facing the river. The Humboldt Forum opened in 2021, and Berliners still argue over the cross on that dome.
A palace destroyed for being too royal, replaced by a people's palace, replaced by a copy of the royal one. Few buildings anywhere have changed their mind so often. Now turn north, cross the road towards the green lawn, and face the largest church in the city.