Press release , 21 June 2017

The Gate is Open! Days of the Open Construction Site on 24 and 25 June 2017

The is holding its Days of the Open Construction Site for the second consecutive year on 24 and 25 June 2017. On those two days from 10 am to 6 pm (last admission 5:30 pm) the public will be able to walk through the building site of the Humboldt Forum in the and see for themselves the fascinating progression of the construction work. A programme curated by the members of the Steering Committee, Neil MacGregor, Horst Bredekamp and Hermann Parzinger, will provide an overview of the interaction between the actors involved in the Humboldt Forum.

On the side of the Berlin Palace, a 30-metre section of scaffolding has already been removed, revealing a stretch of facade between Gates 4 and 5 to be admired in all its glory. The pale yellow plasterwork and the somewhat darker sandstone cladding on the window architraves offer a glimpse of how the whole building will eventually look. Instead of the “dark box” on historical photos, this will be a light and cheerful newbuild.

In front of this facade is the info stand of the friends’ association Förderverein Berliner e.V. Here the Palace Workshop and its director Berthold Just will be demonstrating how the beauty of the past can be recreated with loam, plaster and sandstone in combination with considerable sensitivity and, above all, outstanding expertise and sculptural skill.

The biggest surprise awaits inside: the Eosander Gate in the main foyer is finished! The triumphal arch under the palace cupola is astonishingly large from the inside. With sandstone columns towering 33 metres into the air, the entrance hall is nothing less than overwhelming. There is no other space like it in Berlin or even in . How did the gate get its name? When Andreas Schlüter had to be dismissed after the ill-fated construction of the cathedral for Friedrich I in , his successor Eosander von Göthe built this gate in the west wing of the palace.

One of the cornerstones of Italian architect Franco Stella’s concept for the Palace was that the new “old” courtyards and passages should be enjoyed as public spaces in the heart of Berlin. And so to the third main attraction on the Days of the Open Construction Site: the view into the Schlüterhof. Three

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Baroque facades are being re-erected here, while the west side of the inner courtyard will feature a contemporary facade – true to the idea that the work of Schlüter and Stella is being built here, rather than a reconstruction of the Palace’s older historical layers. The architect’s use of modern architecture states with confidence that the building is new.

The Schlüterhof is still under construction and the facades remain behind scaffolding, but it is already possible to sense that Franco Stella has created a splendid city square for us all. And gracing the viewing area in the courtyard is a beautiful youth from Emperor Hadrian’s time, the statue of Antinous, which will eventually adorn one of the tallest columns of the Schlüter Gate on the eastern side of the courtyard. Together with Borussia, who has also been carved in sandstone, we now have two of the colossal statues, which have been financed by donations – but the remaining six statues have yet to find donors.

The Humboldt Forum in the Berlin Palace is not just opening its gates to visitors, it is also revealing more about its contents. The packed two-day stage programme of all actors and participating partner institutions will get under way in the foyer in front of the Eosander Gate at 10:30 am, under the curatorial aegis of Steering Committee members Neil MacGregor, Hermann Parzinger and Horst Bredekamp, and presented by Bettina Rust. Following a welcome address by the executive board, visitors can enjoy spoken-word performances, concerts, pop-up cinema as well as talks and presentations. Live speakers will be positioned at various locations around the construction site, and the walk around the building will offer plenty of opportunities for dancing and listening to music, while assorted culinary delights can be sampled from the food trucks in the forum itself.

Can the Humboldt Forum succeed in garnering strength and self-confidence from the dynamic contradiction between the building’s interior and exterior? After a welcoming address by the Steering Committee at 11 am, a conversation between Neil MacGregor, Elisabeth Schweeger, artistic director and managing director of Akademie für Darstellende Kunst Baden- Württemberg, and author Florian Illies will tackle this very question.

The programme that follows will deliver fascinating insights into the Berlin collections, the palace’s eventful history and the work of the Palace Workshop. In four thematic blocks engineers, archaeologists, ethnologists, medics, botanists, historians, zoologists, city planners and poets will illuminate the interaction between nature and culture, society and politics as well as architecture, art and spirituality. Right in the middle of the construction process, and at the very heart of the building site, visitors will have the first every opportunity to witness all the actors and partner institutions of the future Humboldt Forum working together.

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Pupils at two Berlin elementary schools are also tackling the construction project. In the Demo Room on the construction site the first results of the Humboldt von Forum – Children Experiment workshop will be on show. Visitors can admire fabulous facade designs, conduct conversations with young reporters and set the Palace facade in multimedia motion.

On Saturday evening at 10 pm, the Humboldt Forum is celebrating Wilhelm von Humbolt’s 250th birthday (22 June) in a late-night literary salon with two prominent linguists, Mandana Seyfeddinipur from London and Jürgen Trabant from Berlin, accompanied by star slam poet Bas Böttcher. On Sunday evening the Pop-Up Cinema opens at 9:30 pm with a film programme curated by the Humbolt Forum and Berlinale NATIVe. The series of films relating to indigenous issues will be screened across Berlin, opening with the Indian film Road, Movie. This will be preceded by a discussion between curator Maryanne Redpath and guests. Both events are free of charge but require prior registration at humboldtforum.com.

The Days of the Open Construction site will also see the publication of the first edition of the Humboldt Forum Zeitung, a thirty-two-page newspaper introducing the topics of the Humboldt Forum from a variety of angles. Pick up a copy at the construction site, in the and at participating institutions of the other actors: Humboldt-Universität, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Stadtmuseum Berlin and Kulturprojekte Berlin.

Full details of the programme for the Days of the Open Construction Site including all participants and timings can be found at humboldtforum.com.

If you want to understand the world, the Humboldt Forum is the place to be. In the run-up to the completion of the Berlin Palace, the Humboldt Forum will be expanding the scope of its activities with an extensive programme. The actors are the Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss, the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz (SPK) with the Ethnologisches Museum and the Museum für Asiatische Kunst of the Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin, Kulturprojekte Berlin with Stadtmuseum Berlin, the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss. The Humboldt Forum is up and running!

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Zitate Quotes

Johannes Wien “I’m really looking forward to this year’s Days of the Open Construction Site for the Humboldt Forum in the Berlin Palace. In revealing the first completed section of the facade, we are sending out an important message to the city. The facade will have a magnificent impact on the city. All reconstructed facades have been financed almost exclusively by donations, but a lot remains to be done and we still need large sums. We would like to say thank you in advance to everyone who contributes toward recreating this architectural monument, however big or small your donation. This year we will also be providing exciting insights into the future programme at this centre for world cultures, stoking further excitement about the opening in late 2019.”

Lavinia Frey “On the Days of the Open Construction Site the Humboldt Forum will present a programme curated by the Steering Committee Neil MacGregor, Hermann Parzinger and Horst Bredekamp, which will give an idea of how all the actors and partner institutions involved in the Humboldt Forum will work together. Right in the middle of the construction process, and at the very heart of the building site, visitors will be able to experience the Humboldt Forum’s new approach of interweaving nature and culture, science and research, society and politics as well as architecture, art and spirituality. This is what I am excited about.”

Hans-Dieter Hegner “On the Days of the Open Construction Site this year we will be unveiling the completed Eosander Gate in the entrance hall, a brilliant prelude to the Berlin Palace which, as the Humboldt Forum, will shape the new cultural heart of the German capital. The gate and the first completed section of facade are tangible signs of how far construction has progressed. But the technical fitting of the interior is also coming on in leaps and bounds. The project is on schedule and within budget – and here I wish to thank everyone involved both on-site and in our offices, who are working so incredibly hard to ensure that this remains the case.”

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The Gate is Open! Days of the Open Construction Site on 24 and 25 June 2017

Dates 24 and 25 June 2017 Times 10 am to 6 pm, last admission 5:30 pm Location Northern entrance, Schlossplatz 5, 10178 Berlin Admission Free of charge

Detailed schedule at humboldtforum.com and in the Humboldt Forum Zeitung

Participants Dr Peter Bartsch, Museum für Naturkunde, Dr Ferdinand Damaschun, Museum für Naturkunde, Dr Dorothea Deterts, Ethnologisches Museum – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Martin Düspohl, Kulturprojekte Berlin and Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin, Dr Maria Gaida, Ethnologisches Museum – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Dr Nicole Hegner, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Alexander Hofmann, Museum für Asiatische Kunst – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Dr Fritz-Eugen Keller, Prof. Dr Bernd Wolfgang Lindemann, Dr Daniel Morat, Kulturprojekte Berlin and Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin, Dr med. Thomas Picht, Charité Berlin / Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Dr Judith Prokasky, Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss, Dr Patricia Rahemipour, Botanischer Garten and Botanisches Museum Berlin, Uta Rahman-Steinert, Museum für Asiatische Kunst – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Dr Lilla Russell-Smith, Museum für Asiatische Kunst – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Dr Andrea Scholz, Ethnologisches Museum – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Paul Spies, Kulturprojekte Berlin and Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin, Prof. Dr phil. habil. Peter Stephan, FB Architektur und Städtebau/Potsdam school of architecture, Prof. Johannes Vogel, Museum für Naturkunde, Dr Manja Voß, Museum für Naturkunde, Monika Zessnik, Ethnologisches Museum – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Live acts Gemma Ray, Seraleez, Il Civetto, Muckemacher, Nadine Khouri, The Zap Show, Teresa Bergman

Presented by Bettina Rust, journalist

Coordinator Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss humboldtforum.com

Actors and partners Staatliche Museen zu Berlin with the Museum für Asiatische Kunst and the Ethnologisches Museum – Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Kulturprojekte Berlin and Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin, Förderverein Berliner Schloss e.V., Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss with the Site Museum and Palace Workshop, Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, and the Botanischer Garten and Botanisches Museum Berlin

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Press contacts Bernhard Wolter, Head of Communication for Construction & Fundraising Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss +49 151 14001199, [email protected]

Michael Mathis, Press Officer Cultural and Digital Communication Humboldt Forum Kultur GmbH +49 151 1617 97 27, [email protected]

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