Recently I visited the Reichstag here in Berlin and took a tour. The Reichstag is the main governmental building in German, something similar to the Capital building. The Parliament meets there and also lots of Federal governmental business is conducted there as well. The Reischstag itself as a building has a long and turbulent history, it was built under a monarchy, used by a democracy, burned by communists (supposedly), symbol for fascists and eventually after years of disuse restored under a reunited Germany, so as you can see it has born witness to the sea changes that have occurred during the last 120 years of history in Germany. In 1894, under the then monarch and last official "Emperor of Germany" Wilhelm II, the Reichstag was completed. Until the end of WWI it served as the Parliament building with the King's consent, which was limited, but upon his abdication in 1919 was the official seat of Government during the Weimar Republic at least until 1933. In 1933 the Reischstag suffered a disastrous fire, which was blamed on the communists by Hitler, and used as a reason to suspend the Parliament and seize power. Hundreds of political opponents of the Nazi's were rounded up under the "Reichstag Fire Decree" and imprisoned. When Berlin was invaded by the Russians in 1945 the Reichstag was occupied by the Russians, although after the bombing of Berlin in WWII it was really only a shell of a building, eventually the control of the area which encompassed the Reichstag was seceded to the Allies and was literally right next to the Berlin wall for almost 40 years. After reunification in the 90's the modern Government of Germany wanted to bring the operations back to Berlin, during the time of East and West Germany the government was moved to Bonn even though Berlin was still listed as the official capital of Germany. Finally after restoration of the Reichstag in the 90's it was reopened in 1999.
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| Reichstag in 1945 after bombing |
Whew okay, now that you have a good idea of the history we can move ahead with the tour. One of the major new things added during the restoration was a large glass cupola that is meant to symbolize openness in government, it is directly over the chamber where Parliament meets.
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| Chamber where Parliament meets, the Eagle is a symbol of Germany, notice the German and European Unions Flags |
The interior of the building fascinated me because it has some really modern art and
architectural accents next to soaring neo-classical columns and baroque carvings. Throughout the building there is art from modern artists as well as classical, and even graffiti, which was put there by the Russian soldiers during their occupation.
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| Preserved Graffiti from the Russian Soldiers during 1945 |
The modern Reichstag building attempts to present the past of this highly contested building and come to terms with the changes that have been wrought on the country during the last 120 years.
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| Modern view of the Reichstag |
There are installation pieces dealing with the police state in the GDR, the victims of the Holocaust, the fledgling democracy of the early 1920's and finally a unified and (mostly) open modern Democracy. Inside the Reichstag one thing I was not expecting was a church, Germany is a very secular country and being that the restoration was completed just a mere 12 years ago, thought they would have left this out, but this chapel was unlike anything I have ever seen. There were references to all religions and was built as an area where members of Parliament could meditate on important decisions and pray if they wanted to. It was carved from stone and has only carved wood chairs inside, very little sunlight comes into the room giving it a solemn feeling.
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| Modern Sanctuary |
From the top of the Reichstag you can walk up the glass cupola and get a great view of the city, would recommend the tour for anyone visiting Berlin. All in all I enjoyed my tour and learned more about the history of the government here in Germany.
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| People's Garden in the courtyard |
