After growing up as two separate
cities, the suburbs developed naturally on the border between. When unification
took place, the two suburbs became unexpectedly the city center. The Communist
blocks of flats were covered in aluminum, the suburb was all of the sudden
improved and monuments emerged on the former border. Probably the most
important of these is Daniel Libeskind`s fabulous Jewish Memorial, built as an
extension of the Berlin Museum.
But, the most unexpected event of
my visit was the meeting with the chief of historical monuments. The former
Stalin Alley was being restored, and even more, its original Meissen china
architecture was being improved. I, on one hand, claimed punishing the
monuments; he, on the other hand, claimed the democratic feature of the
boulevard that opened a road equally consistent from the suburb to the center.
I, on one hand, boosted the Wester Berlin`s park-district designed by the great
architects of the `50s; he, on the other hand, supported the anti-modernism
that was making a time bridge between Hensellman`s architecture and
postmodernism. So, things were being done and the city was united under Helmuth
Kohn`s modern-imperial architecture. Except the Reichstag wonder (architect Sir
Richard Rogers), only the stunning scale of the new constructions perturbs the
scenery. The transparent cupola of the Parliament restores the building’s
figure, but is less present than an actual reconstruction. The graffiti made by
the Russian soldiers are brought to light, as a reminding co-presence of the
new and old times. The transparency is democratic, said the architect, meaning,
the people step on the cupola, the symbol of power and see how the elected ones
are working. Sometimes they even see too well: it seems that there was at least
one espionage case due to hyper-transparency: photographs were taken of the
documents placed on the parliamentarians` table. The queue for transparency is
huge.
The huge mass of the new erases
the past with innocence; the past remains in the present only as a trace, a
guide, a pale remnant. In Berlin, guides are nonchalantly being sold to lead
you to the new buildings erected after the unification or to what has still
remained (a lot!) from the Nazi architecture. Speer`s son restores the stadium
that has hosted the 1936 Olympics. Göring`s Ministry of Air is being used as
ministry still, because the architecture in itself cannot be punished for the
sins of the ones who have designed it. But these sins could be
counter-balanced. The Holocaust Memorial designed by Peter Eisenman is a field
made of concrete prisms (significantly reduced in surface compared to the
initial project). Silent graves, gathered in a labyrinth-like cemetery, in
which you dive in as you go towards its absent center. Some have even
criticized the intentional silence of the memorial and its non-significant
character. The architect replied that yes, this is exactly what it is all
about: what is there to be said about something that is incomprehensible?
