The Palace of the Republic (, ) was a building in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

that hosted the ''

Volkskammer The Volkskammer (, "People's Chamber") was the supreme power organ of East Germany. It was the only branch of government in the state, and per the principle of unified power, all state organs were subservient to it. The Volkskammer was initia ...

'', the parliament of

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

, from 1976 to 1990. Also known as the "People's Palace", it was located across the

Unter den Linden Unter den Linden (, "under the Tilia, linden trees") is a boulevard in the central Mitte (locality), Mitte district of Berlin, Germany. Running from the Berlin Palace to the Brandenburg Gate, it is named after the Tilia, linden trees (known ...

from

Museum Island The Museum Island (, ) is a museum complex on the northern part of Spree (river), Spree Island in the Mitte (locality), historic heart of Berlin, Germany. It is one of the capital's most visited sights and one of the most important museum sites ...

in the

Mitte Mitte () is the first and most central borough of Berlin. The borough consists of six sub-entities: Mitte proper, Gesundbrunnen, Hansaviertel, Moabit, Tiergarten and Wedding. It is one of the two boroughs (the other being Friedrichshain-Kreuz ...

area of

East Berlin East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...

, on the site of the former Berlin Palace between the

Lustgarten The Lustgarten (, ''Pleasure Garden'') is a park in Museum Island in central Berlin at the foreground of the ''Altes Museum''. It is next to the (Berlin Cathedral) and near the reconstructed (''Berlin City Palace'') of which it was originally ...

and Schlossplatz, near the

West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

border. The palace was completed in 1976 to house the ''Volkskammer'', also serving various cultural purposes including two large auditoria,

art galleries An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The long ...

, a theatre, a cinema, 13 restaurants, five

beer hall A beer hall or beer palace () refers to a type of establishment that gained significant popularity in the 19th century, particularly across Central Europe. These venues were pivotal to the social and cultural life of cities renowned for their bre ...

s, a

bowling alley A bowling alley (also known as a bowling center, bowling lounge, bowling arena, or historically bowling club) is a facility where the sport of bowling is played. It can be a dedicated facility or part of another, such as a clubhouse or dwelling ...

, billiards rooms, a rooftop ice skating rink, a private gym with spa, a

casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...

, a medical station, a post office, a police station with an underground cellblock, a fire station, an indoor basketball court, an indoor swimming pool, private

barber A barber is a person whose occupation is mainly to cut, dress, groom, style and shave hair or beards. A barber's place of work is known as a barbershop or the barber's. Barbershops have been noted places of social interaction and public discourse ...

shops and salons, public and private restrooms and a discothèque. In the early 1980s, one of the restaurants was replaced by a video game arcade for children of ''Volkskammer'' members and staff. The palace also had its own subway station, secure underground parking garage reserved for Central Committee members and a

helipad A helipad is the landing area of a heliport, in use by helicopters, powered lift, and vertical lift aircraft to land on surface. While helicopters and powered lift aircraft are able to operate on a variety of relatively flat surfaces, a fa ...

reserved for

Politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the highest organ of the central committee in communist parties. The term is also sometimes used to refer to similar organs in socialist and Islamist parties, such as the UK Labour Party's NEC or the Poli ...

members. In 1990, the palace became vacant following

German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

and was closed for health and safety reasons, due to there being more than 5,000 tonnes of

asbestos Asbestos ( ) is a group of naturally occurring, Toxicity, toxic, carcinogenic and fibrous silicate minerals. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous Crystal habit, crystals, each fibre (particulate with length su ...

in the building (despite asbestos having been outlawed in construction in East Germany in 1968). In 2003, the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

voted for the demolition of the palace and replacement with a reconstruction of the Berlin Palace which had been demolished in the 1950s, after being heavily damaged by Allied air raids. The building was demolished between 2006 and 2008, and the reconstruction of the Berlin Palace began in 2013 and was completed in 2020.

History

Construction

Construction of the Palace of the Republic () began in 1973, with a cost stated at 485 million

East German mark The East German mark ( ), commonly called the eastern mark ( ) in West Germany and after German reunification, reunification, was the currency of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (East Germany). Its ISO 4217, ISO 4217 currency code w ...

s according to an internal list of Wolfgang Junker, the Minister of Construction, although other estimates suggest about 800 million to 1 billion marks. It was built on the site of the Berlin Palace (''Stadtschloss''), the former royal palace of

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

, located on

in East Berlin, less than along

from the

border at the

Brandenburg Gate The Brandenburg Gate ( ) is an 18th-century Neoclassical architecture, neoclassical monument in Berlin. One of the best-known landmarks of Germany, it was erected on the site of a former city gate that marked the start of the road from Berlin t ...

. The Berlin Palace had been controversially demolished in 1950 after suffering extensive damage during the Battle of Berlin in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, as the government had no budget in the post-war years for the restoration and it was viewed as a symbol of Prussian

imperialism Imperialism is the maintaining and extending of Power (international relations), power over foreign nations, particularly through expansionism, employing both hard power (military and economic power) and soft power (diplomatic power and cultura ...

. The site was used as a

parade ground A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually some variety ...

and

parking lot A parking lot or car park (British English), also known as a car lot, is a cleared area intended for parking vehicles. The term usually refers to an area dedicated only for parking, with a durable or semi-durable surface. In most jurisdi ...

during the 1950s and 1960s until its designation as the location for a new building to seat the ''

'', the

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly ...

legislature of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), which was provisionally seated at the Langenbeck-Virchow-Haus at 58/59 Luisenstraße. Considered a sister building to the Kulturpalast, the palace was designed in a

modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

style by Heinz Graffunder and the Building Academy of the GDR (''Bauakademie der DDR''), with distinctive bronze-mirrored windows as a defining architectural feature. It consisted of two massive outer blocks and a middle piece inserted between them, which together gave the building the shape of a

cuboid In geometry, a cuboid is a hexahedron with quadrilateral faces, meaning it is a polyhedron with six Face (geometry), faces; it has eight Vertex (geometry), vertices and twelve Edge (geometry), edges. A ''rectangular cuboid'' (sometimes also calle ...

with a length of , a width of , and a height of which was based on that of the neighbouring buildings. The new building took up the eastern half of the plot while the western half was intended as a military parade ground, though tremors from the heavy vehicles were found to endanger the glass façade on the unstable grounds of Museum Island. Instead, the western half was used mainly as a parking lot and military parades were moved to Karl-Marx-Allee. In addition to housing the ''Volkskammer'', the palace was intended as a multiple-use structure influenced by the concepts of Palaces of Culture and People's Houses popular with socialist movements. Such cultural buildings were common not only in the Eastern Bloc, but also find examples in Belgium, France (

Centre Georges Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the (), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English and colloquially as Beaubourg, is a building complex in Paris, France. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of ...

), the Netherlands and Sweden (House of Culture in Stockholm). In the young Soviet Union in particular, cultural centers became symbols of the new state power. The palace contained a large

at the lower level, from which the canal-side terrace along the River Spree could be accessed, and featured Brunswick lane equipment and a bar. The part of the palace open to the public featured numerous cameras for the surveillance of staff and visitors by Stasi officials. It was the first building in the GDR to feature a self-supporting steel skeleton and contained 5,000 tons of

used for

fire protection Fire protection is the study and practice of mitigating the unwanted effects of potentially Conflagration, destructive fires. It involves the study of the behaviour, Compartmentalization (fire protection), compartmentalisation, suppression and inve ...

Seat of the ''Volkskammer''

The palace was officially opened on 23 April 1976 and its facilities were opened to the public two days later. Numerous important cultural, political, academic, and social events of the German Democratic Republic occurred at the palace after its opening. Events were held in its Great Hall, a large hexagonal room some wide and high. The Great Hall was notable for its versatility; lifting devices under the floor allowed for a stage of variable height and size. The surface area of the stage could therefore range anywhere from , and the hall could seat between 1,000 and 4,500 attendants. Many editions of the GDR television entertainment program ''Ein Kessel Buntes'' were recorded in the Great Hall. Concerts of famous orchestras such as the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig under Kurt Masur, modern interpretations of classical music such as the ''Messiah'' of

George Frideric Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel ( ; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well-known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concerti. Born in Halle, Germany, H ...

, and performances by Bulat Okudzhava (29 November 1976),

Harry Belafonte Harry Belafonte ( ; born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927 – April 25, 2023) was an American singer, actor, and civil rights activist who popularized calypso music with international audiences in the 1950s and 1960s. Belafonte ...

(25 October 1983), Karel Gott (1983), 1986 with Dara Rolins and Heidi Janků, 1987) or of the rock-band Purple Schulz (21 January 1989). German electronic music group

Tangerine Dream Tangerine Dream is a German electronic music band founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The group has seen many personnel changes over the years, with Froese the only constant member until his death in January 2015. The best-known lineup of the grou ...

performed a concert recorded live at the palace on 31 January 1980 which also was Johannes Schmoelling's first live performance with the band.

Erich Honecker Erich Ernst Paul Honecker (; 25 August 1912 – 29 May 1994) was a German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1971 until shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. He held the post ...

Willi Stoph Wilhelm Stoph (9 July 1914 – 13 April 1999) was a German politician. He served as Council of Ministers of East Germany, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1964 to 1973, and again from ...

and other members of the Central Committee were in attendance. The concert was unique in that Tangerine Dream was the first Western group who was allowed by the GDR government to play in East Berlin at the time and was dubbed "the performance behind the

Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were countries connected to the So ...

". An album of this recorded concert was released titled '' Quichotte'' on East German record label Amiga, and later released to the rest of the world on

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), ...

six years later and renamed ''

Pergamon Pergamon or Pergamum ( or ; ), also referred to by its modern Greek form Pergamos (), was a rich and powerful ancient Greece, ancient Greek city in Aeolis. It is located from the modern coastline of the Aegean Sea on a promontory on the north s ...

''. In October 1983, the West German rock star Udo Lindenberg was permitted to perform in concert at the palace. At the concert, Lindenberg did not sing one of his best-known songs, " Sonderzug nach Pankow" ("Special Train to Pankow"), which satirized East German leader

, as he was ordered not to play it under threat of arrest and imprisonment by the

Stasi The Ministry for State Security (, ; abbreviated MfS), commonly known as the (, an abbreviation of ), was the Intelligence agency, state security service and secret police of East Germany from 1950 to 1990. It was one of the most repressive pol ...

. Additionally, in April 1987, American

Latin rock Latin Rock is a term to describe a subgenre blending traditional sounds and elements of Latin American and Hispanic Caribbean folk with rock music. However, it is widely used in the English-language media to refer any kind of rock music featurin ...

band

Santana Santana may refer to: Transportation * Volkswagen Santana, an automobile * Santana Cycles, manufacturer of tandem bicycles * Santana Motors, a former Spanish automobile manufacturer * Sailboat designs by W. D. Schock Corp ** Santana 20 ** Santan ...

performed two concerts here. The Socialist Unity Party (SED), the ruling party of the GDR, held party congresses at the palace and a state gala was held on the eve of the 40th (and final) anniversary of the GDR in October 1989, at which Soviet leader

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...

was present. During the night of 22–23 August 1990, the ''Volkskammer'' decided in the palace on the accession of the GDR to the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen constituent states have a total population of over 84 ...

with effect from 3 October 1990, known as

. The palace had many nicknames in the

Springer Springer or springers may refer to: Publishers * Springer Science+Business Media, aka Springer International Publishing, a worldwide publishing group founded in 1842 in Germany formerly known as Springer-Verlag. ** Springer Nature, a multinationa ...

press in West Berlin and among East German citizens, such as "Palazzo Prozzo" (a wordplay, as 'protzen' means 'to show off ostentatiously') or "Erichs Lampenladen" (

's lamp shop - a pun on the many tall chandeliers inside it). "Ballast der Republik" (Ballast having the same meaning as in English - burden) was popular as well.

Closure and demolition

The palace was closed to the public on 19 September 1990 by decree of the ''Volkskammer'' when it was found to be contaminated by asbestos, only two weeks before the accession date. On 2 October 1990, the ''Volkskammer'' was dissolved and the palace became vacant. By 2003, the asbestos was considered to have been removed along with internal and external fittings allowing either safe reconstruction or safe deconstruction, and the shell of the building was opened for visitors in mid-2003. In November 2003, the

decided to demolish the palace and reconstruct the Berlin Palace, leaving the area as parkland until funding could be found. The majority of former East Germans opposed the demolition and various protests were held by people who felt the building was an integral part of Berlin's culture and the historic process of the German reunification. Beginning in early 2004, the palace was used for events, such as housing an exhibition of the

Terracotta Army The Terracotta Army is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China. It is a form of funerary art buried with the emperor in 210–209 BCE with the purpose of protecting him in his aft ...

and a special concert by the famous Berlin-based band

Einstürzende Neubauten (, 'Collapsing New Buildings') is a German experimental music group, formed in West Berlin in 1980. The band currently comprises founding members Blixa Bargeld (lead vocals, guitar, keyboard) and N.U. Unruh (custom-made instruments, percussion, ...

. Afterward, the palace fell into disuse and disrepair. Demolition started on 6 February 2006, and was scheduled to last about 15 months at a cost of €12 million; however, the demolition was delayed after more asbestos was discovered in various locations, and the estimated completion date was pushed back to the end of 2008. About 35,000 tonnes of steel which once held the building together were shipped to the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

to be used for the construction of the

Burj Khalifa The Burj Khalifa (known as the Burj Dubai prior to its inauguration) is a megatall skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. With a total height of 829.8 m (2,722 ft, or just over half a mile) and a roof height (excluding the antenna, but inc ...

. Although the original structure in Berlin has been demolished, its sister building, the Kulturpalast in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

, is still intact and currently used as a symphony orchestra hall.

Berlin Palace reconstruction

In January 2006, about two years after the Bundestag decided for the rebuilding of the Berlin Palace, a second definitive vote re-approved the plans. It was decided three of its sides would be exact replicas of the original, but the fourth side and interior would be modern. Called the Humboldtforum, the rebuilt palace houses the Humboldt collection and gallery of non-European art. In November 2008, the Italian architect Francesco Stella was chosen for the project. Reconstruction began in 2015 and was completed in 2020. The building was opened to the public in 2021. Some items from the Palace of the Republic are on display, such as globe chandeliers and an original sign.

Artworks

Sixteen monumental pictures by GDR artists ( Walter Womacka, Willi Sitte, Wolfgang Mattheuer,

Werner Tübke Werner Tübke (30 July 1929 in Schönebeck, Germany – 27 May 2004 in Leipzig, Germany) was a German painter, best known for his monumental Early Bourgeois Revolution in Germany, Peasants' War Panorama located in Bad Frankenhausen. Associated wi ...

, and Bernhard Heisig) presented ''Dreams of Communists''. The pictures were shown in Potsdam 20 years later.

Gallery

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R0423-036, Berlin, Palast der Republik, Eröffnung, Tanz.jpg, Erich and Margot Honecker at the banquet-ball for the palace's opening in 1976 Image:Palast der Republik DDR 1977.jpg, Palast der Republik in 1977 with the Fernsehturm in the background File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R0706-417, Berlin, Palast der Republik, Jugendtanz.jpg, The entrance foyer of the palace and its many lights Image:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1986-0417-414, Berlin, XI. SED-Parteitag, Eröffnung.jpg, Opening addresses were given in the palace's central hall at the start of East Germany's 11th Party Congress in 1986 Image:Palast der Republik.jpg, The remains of the central hall in 2003 following the removal of all

and interior furnishings Image:Palast der Republik und Fernsehturm.jpg, The Palace of the Republic during its demolition in September 2007

References

External links

Stop motion video of the demolition of the Palace of the Republic

Opening of the Palace of the Republic in 1976

Brokedown Palast
– documentary film about the destruction of the palace
Palace of the Republic, at Schlossplatz, Historic Centre of Berlin
(with pictures)
Zwischenpalastnutzung (Temporary Palace Use)

About the Palace in Berlin
(with a lot of pictures)
Volkspalast, Special Prize of the Jury of the European Prize for Urban Public Space 2006fensterzumhof.eu: Deconstruction of the Volkspalast
(photo series)
"Dismantling, not Demolishing" (Short Ethnographic Film on the Deconstruction of PdR)
* ttps://www.orte-der-einheit.de/en/palace-of-the-republic ''Palace of the Republic: A New Parliament at the Old Location''.In
Sites of Unity
( Haus der Geschichte), 2022. {{Authority control Government buildings completed in 1976 Buildings and structures in Mitte Convention centres in Germany 1970s in Berlin Legislative buildings in Europe Seats of national legislatures Volkskammer

Republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...

1976 establishments in East Germany Buildings and structures demolished in 2008 2008 disestablishments in Germany Buildings and structures of East Berlin Demolished buildings and structures in Berlin