Our Editor Is Guided Through The German Historical Museum In Berlin

Written by Barry Huntington Friday, 31 December 2010 03:57

The German Historical Museum (Deutsches Historisches Museum). The Zeughaus or armory, which today houses the German Historical Museum, is Berlin's largest preserved baroque structure. Four master builders worked on the royal armory between 1695 and 1706. The first, Arnold Nering, died shortly after the foundation stone was laid, his successor Martin Grünberg resigned in 1698; the third, Andreas Schlüter, who created the renowned masks of dying warriors, was relieved of his post when the attic collapsed as a result of a structural miscalculation. The building was finally completed by Jean de Bodt - for the moment. In 1877, Friedrich Hitzig delivered plans for the reconstruction of the Zeughaus to a Prussian Hall of Fame with a military museum. In 1952, the leadership of the GDR commissioned Otto Haesler with the restoration and remodelling of the building as a Museum of German History. The German Historical Museum was launched with an opening ceremony in the Reichstag building in the west part of the city in 1987. At the time, there were plans for a new museum building around the area of the Reichstag building. Architect Aldo Rossi won the competition that was announced in 1988. When the Berlin Wall collapsed, the situation changed: the site was now required for the new chancellory building. In 1990, the German Historical Museum took over the GDR Museum of German History and with it, the Zeughaus. The façade was restored between 1994 and 1998 and its former yellow coat replaced by the historically authentic pink tone. Ex-Chancellor Kohl commissioned Gropius pupil and creator of the glass pyramid at the Louvre in Paris, Ieoh Ming Pei (I.M. Pei), to design an extension on the north side. Pei and his German architectural contact offices of Eller + Eller produced plans for a closed structure on a triangular ground-plan. A four-storey glazed foyer with a glass winding staircase was placed in front of the stone building on the south side and is linked to the main building by a subterranean passageway. The interior courtyard has now been covered over - as in Hitzig's design from 1877. Pei developed the filigree glass roofing in cooperation with the Stuttgart engineering offices of Schlaich, Bergermann and Partner. Construction began in 1998 and the new extension was dedicated in 2003 with the first temporary exhibition. The Schlüter courtyard was reopened to the public in April 2004. German History in Images and Artefacts from Two Millenia Exhibition. In this exhibit more than 8,600 historical objects testify to political events and struggles as well as to social, economic and intellectual developments. Spread across two floors of the former Prussian armory building, with illustrative multi-media stations and special pedagogical opportunities, it presents an enthralling and intellectually enriching tour of the vicissitudes of German history in its greater European context from the beginning of our common era into the present that the visitor can customize according to their personal interest. For full exhibition information in English visit : http://www.dhm.de/ausstellungen/staendige-ausstellung/english/index.html#geteiltesdeutschland

Reinhold Begas (July 15, 1831 – August 3, 1911) was a famous German sculptor. Begas was born in Berlin to the painter Karl Begas. He received his early education (1846-1851) studying under Christian Daniel Rauch and Ludwig Wilhelm Wichmann. During a period of study in Italy, from 1856 to 1858, he was influenced by Arnold Böcklin and Franz Lenbach in the direction of a naturalistic style in sculpture. This tendency was marked in the group Borussia, executed for the facade of the exchange in Berlin, which first brought him into general notice. Among his chief works during this period are the colossal statue of Borussia for the Hall of Glory; the Neptune fountain in bronze on the Schlossplatz; the statue of Alexander von Humboldt, all in Berlin; the sarcophagus of Emperor Frederick III in the mausoleum of the Church of Peace at Potsdam; and, lastly, the national monument to Emperor William I, the statue of Otto von Bismarck before the Reichstag building, and several of the statues in the Siegesallee. On exhibition until 6 March, 2011 is "Reinhold Begas – Monuments for the German Empire" at the German Historical Museum. The exhibition commemorates one of the most influential artists of his era. As creator of some of Berlin’s greatest monuments, such as the Neptune -Fountain and the National -Monument, and as portraitist of many famous -individuals, he shaped the visual world of the German Empire. The exhibition begins with the artist’s early years in Berlin, describes his stays in Rome where, together with his artist friends Böcklin, Feuerbach and Lenbach, he developed the “Neo-Baroque” style, and provides insight into his studio and portrait work. A main section deals with Begas’ memorials and monuments for Berlin, commissioned by three Kaisers, and examines their politically motivated destruction after the Second World War in East and West Germany. The exhibition and catalogue enter new ground: the last display of Begas’ works took place in 1911, the last monograph appeared in 1901. The exhibition aims to reawaken public awareness of this important artist of his time. On display are 235 sculptures, paintings, photographs and documents, most of them never shown before, which provide an impressive overview of Begas’ life and oeuvre. At the same time, they reveal the political iconography of the imperial age and a broad panorama of the history of art and culture in Berlin. An exhibition on the centenary of the death of the sculptor.