Dynamic Urban Heritage: Re-establishing of a lost identity (Berlin case-study)

Ref.: 145
Key theme: 02 Functional integrity of historic urban landscapes
Date of reception: 14/11/2008

AUTHORS (*Main author)

GRUBISIC, Kristina * (Croatia) - Brandenburgische Technische Universität Cottbus

ABSTRACT

Berlin at the end of the 19th and in the beginning of the 20th century was one of the liveliest cities in Europe. This progressive metropolis shaped the contemporary perception of a modern city due to its dynamism, industry, extensive traffic system, social life and innovative architectural solutions. Unfortunately, through the course of the history, featuring WWII and GDR times, the city also suffered major damages and destruction. In the latter one in particular, the city became once more a victim of ideology and political domination that commanded presentation of desired history and urban image which resulted in stylistic restorations, rebuilding and physical repair of once prominent landmarks of the metropolis. After erasing the architectural layers of previous political systems, Berlin proved in certain cases, paradoxically enough, willingness to live with its uncomfortable heritage rather than opting to repress it. Berliners collective memory of past events has by all odds affected the new look of the city whose architecture emits ambiguous signals.
Nowadays, Berlin is facing yet another problem - the one dealing with re-establishing of a lost identity. This paper will address several issues that are a direct consequence of everything aforementioned and it will examine two key places for its case-study.
The first one, Potsdamer Platz, subsequently transformed from a magnet for the cosmopolitan and bourgeois entertainment in the "Golden Twenties" to the abandoned wasteland after the Reunification. After being severely destroyed in WWII, Potsdamer Platz was bisected by the GDR's notorious Wall and laid as a no-man's-land for decades. Around 1993 architects worldwide started construction of a new urban district commissioned by the powerful corporate investor wanting to return a cosmopolitan element to Berlin. The paper will discuss whether today's modern contemporary style, in which the square was reconstructed, can successfully articulate its former identity and function. How do people relate to or identify themselves with new urban images in this reincarnated urban space that lacks its own time layering and integrity? How is the authenticity of a place expressed through intangibility?
The second key place is Schlossplatz with its fiercely debated Royal Palace and the Palace of the Republic issue. The Royal Palace first being built in 15th century, and then extended in the 18th, got partially destructed in WWII, but completely demolished in 1950 because it didn't fit the socialist ideology of GDR. Instead, GDR's propaganda became perfectly embodied in the new building, the Palace of the Republic, erected in 1976. After the Reunification, this Palace suddenly found itself obsolete and its removal started in 2006. In the meantime, various urban planning competitions occurred and proposals were gathered for the reconstruction of the Royal Palace. In this part, the paper will address the question of selective history ­ who decides which part of the history we preserve and which one we "erase"? Erasing history equals destroying its visible manifestations, in this case ­ historical architecture, in other words - heritage. Destroying heritage in return destroys cultural identities that are anchored in it.

REFERENCES

- The Venice Charter, 1965
- The NARA document on authenticity, 1994
- The Declaration of San Antionio, 1996
- First Brazilian Seminar: About the Preservation and Revitalization of Historic Centers, ICOMOS Brazilian Committee, Itaipava, July 1987
- UNESCO Operational guidelines for the implementation of the World Heritage Convention, 2008
- Ladd B., Tthe Ghosts of Berlin, 1997
- James J., "Recovering German Nation: Heritage restoration and the search for unity" in MARKETING HERITAGE: Archaeology and the consumption of the past (edited by Yorke Rowan & Uzi Baram), 2004
- Zohlen G., Auf der Suche nach der verlorenen Stadt: Berliner Architektur am Ende des 20.Jahrhunderts, 2002
- Wise M.Z., Capital Dilemma: Germany's search for a new architecture of democracy, 1998
- Lowenthal D., The heritage crusade and the spoils of history, 1998
- Norberg-Schulz C., Genius Loci, 1982
- Flierl B., Berlin baut um ­ Wessen Stadt wird die Stadt? 1998