Resonanz

 

10 Reasons why we should rebuild the Potsdam Palace to house the Landtag (Parliament of the Federal State of Brandenburg)

8. Is this sort of a reconstruction project at all possible?

• The answer is very clear: yes.  Provided of course that this is done carefully and painstakingly and in accordance with the rules for the maintenance and rehabilitation of monuments.  The interior of the building must be in harmony with its façade.
• There is hardly a building destroyed of which so many original parts still exist.  (What will happen to them if an entirely new building is put up?)
• More than 600 photographs are available, taken to scale, that show the minutest details and the exact dimensions of the building.  The matrix of the Palace’s façades, the genetic code as it were, has been preserved.

9. Costs

• To be sure, reconstructing the historic façades will entail additional costs.  These covered by private donations, such as the Hasso Plattner foundation. The initiative of offering “shares” in the Potsdam Palace has shown that the chances of obtaining sufficient funding are good.  This would mean that the resolution passed by the Land Parliament on May 20th, 2005 could be implemented.  Not a single citizen will make a donation towards the construction of a new building for the Landtag.
• The amount of € 120 million corresponds to the costs of approximately fifteen kilometers of Autobahn.  The train station to be built underneath Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport will cost three times that amount.

10. Benefits

• Constructing the historical façades will mean that jobs in the qualified craft trades will be secured.
• The funds would stay in the region.
• Let’s look at Dresden: the reconstruction of the Frauenkirche was a success, and gained Dresden renown all over the world.  The marketing effect this had for Dresden, as a location for businesses and a tourist destination, cannot even remotely be translated into money.  The inner city is being reconstructed, with historic buildings as guiding structures.  Real estate prices have tripled and, in some instances, quintupled.  Neumarkt, until recently a square of fallow land, has been reclaimed as an urban center with an Italian flair.  Or let’s look at Frankfurt/Main the apartments and businesses in the reconstructed Krönungsweg were leased or sold within quite a short time.  Potsdam can replicate these success stories with its palace.
• Just as was the case with the Frauenkirche in Dresden, a Land parliament moving into the palace could bring about a change of mood, towards a more positive outlook both in the city and in the federal state.  The Potsdam Palace will provide an opportunity for Brandenburgers to develop a positive sense of identity, a sense of pride in what they have achieved, and will be a means of making peace with their history.

Dr. Hans-Joachim Kuke, Verein Potsdamer Stadtschloss e.V.
Translation: Samson-Übersetzungen GmbH