The construction of the Pergamon Museum lasted from 1910 to 1930. Twenty years is a long time, but it also included the First World War and the subsequent revolution. The complete refurbishment of the building ensemble in the midst of peace and prosperity will have taken around forty years, calculated from the architectural competition for the “4. Wing” along the Kupfergraben in 2000.
When it comes to the Museum Island, nothing, nothing at all, has any fixed dates and figures. Does anyone remember Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who declared in 1999 in front of the restored Old National Gallery, “The rapid reconstruction of the Museum Island is a task that we are happy to take on?” The sum he had in mind seemed enormous at the time; and yet it would have to seem like a bad joke given the numbers we’ve become accustomed to in the 24 years since then.
On Monday it was reaffirmed that the Pergamon Museum alone costs 1.2 billion euros, based on the current price level, but projected to a completion date of 2037. And that based on a competition design from the year 2000?
Bernhard Schulz is the author of the Tagesspiegel and accompanies the constant shifts in the Museum Island with quiet desperation.
The fact that it took so long is not the fault of the architect at the time, he died of old age in 2007. When the plans became more concrete, the talk was of 2018. At some point it became 2025, and then the two construction phases pulled further and further apart. The same goes for the costs: Once a total cost of 430 million euros was approved, but as early as 2017 it turned out that the second construction phase with the south wing and passageway would be three times as expensive as originally planned. Resulted in a grand total of 800 million. Now that number is 50 percent higher.
Gerhard Schröder, who never lingered long with detailed calculations, threw out the figure of one billion. For the renovation of the entire Museum Island! The factor by which this number must be multiplied will only be determined by future generations. That is, when Schinkel’s Old Museum will also be restored. That is still pending and will one day be a very big chunk.
I have been working in the news industry for over 10 years now and I have worked for some of the biggest news websites in the world. My focus has always been on entertainment news, but I also cover a range of other topics. I am currently an author at Global happenings and I love writing about all things pop-culture related.
