Series by the Issue 1/2014 Brief history of the new Landtag building The long road from city to Landtag palace View of the new Brandenburg Landtag building. Table of contents

05 06 07 08 Twenty-Two Years to From Medieval Castle The Era of the Great The Palace and Find the Parliament a to the Renaissance Elector Frederick Prussian Permanent Home Palace of Katharina, William (1640-1688) Monarchy Electress of

10 11 12 13 The End of the City The Demolition Vote A New Beginning with Policy Decision Palace the Reconstruction of the Fortuna Gate

15 16 17 17 Fight of ’s The new Landtag Handover of Keys Architect and Building Citizenry for “Their Takes On Shape to the Parliament’s Design Palace” President

20 The New Building and Surrounding Areas in Facts and Figures

Table of contents 3

Brief history of the new Landtag building: The long road from city palace to Landtag palace1

By Katrin Rautenberg

1. Twenty-Two Years to Find the On 16 January 1991, the Landtag re- Parliament a Permanent Home solved that the Brauhausberg was to be used as the site of the future parliament. Following the reunification of The decision was preceded by the rumour on 3 October 1990 and the Branden- (unfounded, as it turned out) that the burg Landtag elections on 14 October structural safety of the plenary chamber 1990, the Landtag and the Land govern- at Heinrich-Mann-Allee used up that point ment were at first jointly housed in the could not be guaranteed.3 Even though former cadet school , previously the of- experts would not recommend the in- fices of the Potsdam District Council definite use of Havelblick 8 given its in- at Heinrich-Mann-Allee 107, now home adequacy as a parliament building, the to the State Chancellery. These are the MPs nevertheless moved into the build- same premises at which the Landtag of ing (dubbed the “Kremlin”) as soon as 1946 had previously met. However, ac- the most essential construction work had commodating the regional parliament been completed; the first plenary session on these premises would have meant of Landtag Brandenburg on the Brau- housing the Land government on the hausberg was held on 25 September Brauhausberg, a proposal that immedi- 1991. ately met with considerable misgivings, After protracted discussions about a in particular due their previous use as permanent home for the parliament and the regional offices of the SED (Socialist thanks to the dedicated efforts of citi- Unity Party).2 zens, organisations and sponsors who had already enabled the rebuilding of the “Fortunaportal” (Fortuna Gate), the 1 Based on Hans-Joachim Giersberg: “Das Potsdamer Stadtschloss” (Potsdam City Palace) Landtag passed a policy resolution on (1998) and the “Baudokumentation Neuer Landtag 20 May 2005 paving the way for a new Brandenburg” (Building Documentation: New building in the heart of Potsdam City Landtag Brandenburg), published in 2014 by the Ministry of Finance. I would like to thank the city that would retain the façade of the old archaeologist Gundula Christl for valuable correc- tions. 3 see also: President of Landtag Brandenburg 2 Press release from the Head of the State Chancel- (publisher): “Von der Kriegsschule zum Parlament” lery Dr. Jürgen Linde on 19 April 1991. (From military academy to parliament) (2000).

The long road from city palace to Landtag palace 5 city palace which had been destroyed 2. From Medieval Castle to the Re- in a British air raid in April 1945 and de- naissance Palace of Katharina, molished in 1959/1960. The new building Electress of Saxony took three-and-a-half years to complete The site of the Palace is part of the ear- and was handed over to Landtag Presi- liest settled areas of Potsdam. Archae- dent Gunter Fritsch by the Minister of Fi- ologists have discovered that the site nance of the State of Brandenburg, Dr has been settled repeatedly since the Helmuth Markov, on 10 October 2013. Stone Age, due to the location offer- In the 25th year of the Peaceful Revolu- ing safety from flooding. The city of tion, the opening of this modern parlia- Potsdam grew out of this site over the ment building, set in its historical shell, course of time. signalled the closure of a gaping scar on The first recorded mention of the the urban landscape of the state capital Slavic fort “Poztupimi” dates back to since 1959. 933. The area west of the Slavic fort Completion of the Landtag was initially (at the present intersection of Heiligen- scheduled for late 2012 and the move into Geist-Strasse and Burgstrasse) was the new premises for early 2013. The move marked out with streets and residential eventually took place from 12 to 16 Decem- quarters as early as 1200. Directly be- ber 2013 enabling the Parliament to start neath the carriage drive, archaeologists its work in the new building still in the very found evidence suggesting a moated same year. castle built around 1320. In 1528, Elec- The 6th Landtag was constitut- tor Joachim I built a fortified castle with ed on 8 October following the Landtag five towers on the site. In 1598/99, Elec- elections of 14 September 2014. In her tor Joachim Friedrich then replaced this speech, newly elected Landtag presi- with a small palace intended for his wife dent Britta Stark pointed out among Katharina. The Palace was 60 m long other things: “For the first time we are and measured 14 m across. Its three celebrating the constituent Landtag as- floors contained a total of 38 rooms, in- sembly in our new Landtag building. It cluding a large hall and what was known stands here right in the middle of Pots- as a Tafelstube (dining room) on the sec- dam, in the midst of life. Since its open- ond floor. ing in early 2014, we have been able to However, the premature death of draw almost as many visitors as the old the Electress had as a result that the Landtag did in 20 years! Our Landtag is a new building was never fully completed. very open house. This openness I wish to After the equally premature death of his retain and I suggest that we hold an open second wife Eleonore, the Elector even- house weekend once a year, and turn it tually lost all interest in the Palace and into feast of . What I want is spent his time in Joachimsthal to the that we offer our visitors not only a beau- north of . The Palace lost its at- tiful building but also a site of democracy traction and was eventually pledged as in action.” collateral.

6 Brief history of the new Landtag building Saved by archaeologists: 500 square metres of stone floor from the dining hall of the Great Elector dating back to the 17th century. An “archaeological window” in the new Landtag building provides a view of its historic heritage.

3. The Era of the Great Elector vaulted hall used as a pleasantly cool din- Frederick William (1640-1688) ing hall during the summer months while also serving for funeral wakes for mem- The Great Elector Frederick William ac- bers of the Elector family. quired the Palace in 1660. He had a new The Great Elector issued the “Pots- palace built between 1664 and 1669 damer Toleranzedikt” (Edict of Pots- based on the Dutch model, but this rap- dam) from the City Palace in 1685: he idly proved to be too small and between invited Protestant Huguenots then per- 1679 and 1682 was extended to twice the secuted in France on religious grounds original length. The main building extend- to live in Brandenburg in freedom and ed over three floors. With its enlarged and remodelled “” (Pleasure Gar- den), the Palace became a prestigious residence and a dominant feature at Alter Markt in the centre of town. The City Pal- ace by then assumed the space it would occupy until its demolition in 1959/60, and which today is taken up by the Landtag. The first floor of the main wing, the “Corps de Logis”, housed a prestigious hall , the latter-day “Marmorsaal” (Mar- ble Hall). Situated on the ground floor be- Comparison of the original Fortuna Gate and the low and level with the “Lustgarten” was a replica made in 2002.

The long road from city palace to Landtag palace 7 safety, and refugees were given gener- Frederick William I, the “Soldier King” ous privileges. (1713 – 1740) Given the extremely perilous state of the 4. The Palace and Prussian finances left behind by his predecessor, Monarchy the Soldier King decided to sell as many of his as possible and keep only Frederick I, First King of a few. The Potsdam City Palace was one (1688 – 1713) of the few to remain in the king’s posses- The Elector Frederick III succeeded his sion. In contrast to Charlottenburg Pal- father, the Great Elector, to the throne ace, however, it was used as a family in 1688. The new residence rather than on state business. was created on crowning himself King The vaulted basement was converted Frederick I of Prussia at Königsberg in into a wine cellar in 1726. Only minor re- 1701. In preparation for the coronation pairs were undertaken to the rest of the and to reflect the new royal status, sev- Palace while Potsdam was converted to eral striking changes were made to the a garrison city instead. As the city ex- exterior of the Palace and the “Lustgar- panded, the regular division into districts ten”. A new entrance gate in the French resulted in a distinct chessboard pattern style was built whereby the figure on and followed the lines of the main arter- top, Fortuna (or goddess of good for- ies from the time of the Great Elector run- tune) subsequently gave rise to the ning towards the Palace. Urban develop- name “Fortunaportal” (Fortuna Gate). ment thus centred entirely on the Palace The Palace became a place of lav- whose location between the town cen- ish celebrations and even the site of a tre in the north and the Havel River in the meeting between the Saxon and Dan- south turned it into an important land- ish kings in 1709. mark visible from all directions.

The historic Potsdam City Palace.

8 Brief history of the new Landtag building Frederick II, also known as “Freder- Frederick William II, ick the Great” or “The Old Fritz” (1740- “the Fat Scallywag” (1786 – 1797) 1786) and his new residence The new occupant of the City Palace did In 1740, Frederick II became King of Prus- not share his uncle Frederick II’s love of sia. He used Charlottenburg Palace as his Baroque and Rococo forms. He therefore residence during his first years in office. handed over his apartment in the north- In 1743, the king moved into the Potsdam western corner of the Palace to his sons City Palace, taking up quarters east of the Frederick and Ludwig, and had the “Mar- Marble Hall. In spite of renovations to the morpalais” (Marble Palace) in the Early façade, Frederick II was dissatisfied with Classical style built at the “Neuer Garten” the overall appearance of the City Palace. (New Garden) between 1787 and 1792. He With the help of architect Baron Georg also moved his residence back to Char- Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff, the Palace lottenburg Palace in Berlin. He was not was extended between 1744 and 1751, greatly respected due to his hedonistic in- taking on its final shape which 250 years clinations. The people of Neuruppin nev- later would become the blueprint for the ertheless erected a statue to him in 1829 new Landtag building. (reconstructed in 1998) in gratitude for the Fundamental changes were made to reconstruction of the town in the Classical the façade to give it a uniform structure. style following a city-wide conflagration. The magnificent staircase was designed to accentuate the central part of the Pal- Frederick William III (1797-1840) ace and the section leading up to the Although Charlottenburg Palace remained Great Hall. the royal residence after the change of go- Frederick II outfitted the building with vernment, Frederick William III still kept an exquisite furnishings. Ongoing construc- apartment in the City Palace even after his tion work around the City Palace was a marriage to Princess Luise of - further demonstration that Potsdam had Strelitz which was the object of numerous been chosen as the home of the royal alterations after 1799. The couple enjoyed family, with the Knobelsdorff Palace in staying there until Luise’s death in 1810. the style of Frederician Rococo at the very heart of the city. The interaction be- Frederick William IV (1840-1861) also tween the Palace and the buildings at Al- used the City Palace as a winter residence ter Markt gave rise to one of the finest during his reign. However, his ideas for re- town squares in Europe. Whilst the City designing it, in particular the façade to the Palace was accordingly used on state “Lustgarten”, no longer came to fruition business and occupied by Frederick II in due to his illness. the winter, another palace – also in the Rococo style – was built between 1745 William I (1861 – 1888), Frederick III and 1747 as a summer residence. This (1888), William II (1888 – 1918) was the Palace to which only Interest in Potsdam dwindled considerably the King’s personal guests were invited. under the last three Prussian kings who

The long road from city palace to Landtag palace 9 were also Emperors of Germany. They The Palace served as the seat of the usually resided in Berlin whilst the Palace municipal authorities during the Weimar served solely as a second residence. Out ; the City Assembly (Stadtver- of respect for the achievement of Freder- ordnetenversammlung) held its meetings ick II, no of them sought to alter the design in the new palace hall from 10 Septem- of the building realised during the latter’s ber 1920 onwards. Accommodations for reign. council staff were put up inside the build- ing which also housed the local labour ex- 5. The End of the City Palace change and parts of the city’s administra- On 9 , people gathered tion. on the site of the City Palace, disarmed The Yellow Saloon, the living room of the castle guards and forced their way Queen Luise, was reconstructed in 1932 into the building without ransacking it, and reopened to the public at Whitsuntide however. This symbolically brought the 1932. The museum remained in operation rule of Prussian monarchy to an end. until 1941. In the wake of the 1918 revolution and The City Palace burnt down to the en- the end of the monarchy, the Palace be- closing walls following a British air raid on came a ward of the body administering the the city on 14 April 1945. As only few of crown estates (Krongutverwaltung), itself the sumptuous interior fittings had been the successor to the imperial and royal of- removed to air raid shelters or other build- fice of Lord Chamberlain (Hofmarschall). ings for safekeeping, most furnishings left Under the agreement on the apportion- in the Palace were irretrievably lost in the ment of Prussian assets and liabilities, ensuing fire. The exterior façade of the the Palace was included in the properties Palace also suffered severe damage dur- managed by the State Heritage Office, the ing the raid. High-explosive bombs left a Verwaltung der staatlichen Schlösser und trail of destruction through the West Wing Gärten, founded in 1927. and virtually destroyed the “Fortunaportal”

The destroyed Potsdam City Palace.

10 Brief history of the new Landtag building (Fortuna Gate). By contrast, almost the en- planned demolition. At the “Schaustelle tire expanse of the remaining façades sur- Landtag” (Landtag Showcase) exhibition, vived up to the level of the cornices, albeit long-serving former director of the Pots- damaged by the fire. dam Museum Hartmut Knitter provided a highly graphic illustration of how out of 6. The Demolition Vote touch the GDR authorities were. He still Following deliberations over whether to had a very clear recollection of a poster rebuild or to preserve the ruins, on 13 No- with the inscription “Fort mit dieser Brut- vember 1959 the Potsdam City Assem- stätte des Feudalismus” (‘Away with this bly voted for their demolition. Prior there- hotbed of feudalism’). The former head to, the reigning Socialist Unity Party (SED) of the GDR Agency for the Preservation had already sealed the fate of the ruins on of Monuments, Ludwig Deiters, was able 12 May 1959 at the highest politbureau to list 368 preserved items. Citizens, too, level. had helped salvage individual pieces of The remains of the City Palace were the demolished ruins in spontaneous acts demolished between November 1959 and of rescue. April 1960. At the very start of the demoli- Once the demolition work had fin- tion works, the “Fortunaportal” was blown ished, multi-lane roads were deliberately up in what was a deeply symbolic act. The laid over the area around the City Palace South Wing, with walls that incorporated and a major intersection was built on the earlier buildings and thus were massively site of the Palace itself to erase any re- oversized, was blown up towards the end minders of it. The Alter Markt situated to of the works and the rubble carted off to the northeast of the former Palace, too, many different places. Loose debris and waned in importance as a result. parts of the West Wing were used for a Next to new buildings surrounding stadium built between 1947 and 1949 on the Nikolai Church, a new hotel (today the the grounds of the former “Lustgarten”. “Mercure”) was intended to overlook the Artists, architects and Potsdam resi- “Lustgarten” site. dents protested against the demolition. The only building in the immedi- Fifteen architects and engineers from ate vicinity to have survived air raids and the city’s building planning agency [VEB demolition works more or less unscathed Hochbauprojektierung Potsdam] ex- were the former royal stables. Original- pressed their displeasure with the demoli- ly intended to be torn down as well, they tion ruling in a letter of protest to the Pots- were eventually preserved due to urban dam District Council. They did not see any planning changes. need for it in terms of urban planning and Also preserved was a section of the felt the demolition would destroy architec- “Ringerkolonnade” (Wrestlers’ Colon- tural harmony. nade) which originally linked the stables They were summoned to the District with the West Wing of the Palace. This Council on 17 November 1959 and strictly was incorporated into the redeveloped enjoined from further protests against the “Lustgarten” near the banks of the Havel

The long road from city palace to Landtag palace 11 River, being the last remaining part today intersection before major reconstruction of an area of open space created at the works could begin. end of the 1960s from parts of the Palace grounds. 7. A New Beginning with the In one of the final prestige projects Reconstruction of the Fortuna undertaken in the GDR, work began at Gate the end of the 1980s to build a major new The debate on shaping the Potsdam city theatre on the site of the former City Pal- centre never died down after the demoli- ace. However, opposition to this scheme tion of the City Palace because the open grew steadily after the fall of the Berlin area left behind was felt to be a gaping Wall and the events of 1989/1990. Con- wound. As early as 1990, the city com- cerns were initially voiced that the new mitted itself to ensuring that the develop- theatre could block the view of the Nikolai ment of the centre would be in keeping Church. However, the real reason that with its historical appearance. An initial the shell of the unfinished theatre at Al- spark for the scheme was provided by ter Markt was pulled down in 1991 was the “Potsdam Project” run by the Sum- because it had become increasingly un- mer Academy for Young Architects of the popular with residents and policymakers, Prince of Wales’s London Institute of Ar- being one of the last major projects of the chitecture (“The Prince of Wales’s Urban SED regime, and people saw an opportu- Design Task Force, Potsdam and Born- nity to restore the area to its original ap- stedt 1996”).4 An association for the re- pearance. construction of the “Fortunaportal” was With the demolition of the theatre in set up on 25 March 1999. After the dem- 1991, the City Palace site once again re- olition, all that remained of the gate were verted to open parkland and years of the foundations and a few soil-covered debate on how to revive the centre of floor slabs. Traditional building tech- Potsdam ensued. Mindful of the expe- niques and intact original parts were riences during the GDR era, voices in- used in the reconstruction. The ground- creasingly called for the restoration of breaking ceremony was held on 8 Sep- the City Palace. For many, the only solu- tember 2000 and the official inauguration tion worth considering was one that filled took place on 12 October 2002. in the large gap in the urban landscape A 2 June 2001 report in the Berlin- between Alter Markt, Lange Brücke and er Zeitung stated: “Television presenter Breite Strasse in an appropriate man- Günther Jauch hopes to carry on until ner. Initially, no viable concept for either the old Potsdam City Palace is restored the use or the financing of the building at its original location.” 5 The people of was put forward. The large intersection in Potsdam were particularly grateful to front of the “Mercure” Hotel alone threw up problems. Since it had been laid over 4 see http://www.avoe.org/taskforce.html and http://luciensteil.tripod.com/katarxis02-1/id44. parts of the Palace complex, considera- html. tion had first to be given to relocate the 5 Berliner Zeitung, 2. 6. 2001, Julia Schmidt.

12 Brief history of the new Landtag building the Havel River or on the site of an indoor swimming pool. The number of mem- bers in favour of a new building on the site of the former City Palace grew stead- ily, however. In 2001, the City arranged for a pre- liminary archaeological survey to be car- ried out on parts of the former Palace, the first one since its demolition. Inves- tigating an area of nearly 1,000 square metres, a 12-person team found evi- dence of over 700 years of building his- tory. A relatively extensive section of The Fortuna once again highlighted against the Potsdam sky. the preserved structures of the City Pal- ace and of its architectonic predeces- Jauch, a staunch supporter of Potsdam, sors was examined in the process. Given and to Jürgen Lose, from the Federal As- the good condition of the archaeologi- sociation of the German Cement Indus- cal finds, the monument conservationists try whose generous donations had made suggested preserving as many of the ar- rebuilding the “Fortunaportal” possible. tefacts as possible and to integrate them Realising this project rekindled the hope into the redevelopment of the area. of actually implementing the City Assem- Also in 2001, during the Federal Gar- bly’s 1999 resolution which had declared den Show the special display “Minervas the centre of Potsdam to be a redevelop- Mythos” (Minerva’s Myth) exhibited the ment area, with the aim of “redeveloping original parts, plans and photographic the former City Palace to an approxima- documentation of the City Palace that tion of its historical size and layout, and had survived. its subsequent use by the public”. Since a new building needs an oc- 8. Policy Decision cupant and the inadequate housing of Tensions grew when the Landtag passed the Land Parliament was plain for all to a resolution on its permanent home on see, the connection was made fairly rap- 12 July 2001 whilst leaving open the idly in the public mind. Given that there question of its location: 6 were more pressing problems in the “After weighing up the political, finan- new federal state, the MPs bid their time cial and town-planning aspects of a per- with a decision that would entail mas- manent home, the Landtag advocates the sive costs “for their own benefit”. The op- construction of a new parliament building tions looked at by the cost analysis thus in the state capital of Potsdam under the also included refurbishing the Brauhaus- following conditions: berg building, and a new building either in Potsdam’s warehouse district along 6 Printed matter 3/2991-B.

The long road from city palace to Landtag palace 13 1. the Land government shall, after under planning law for a new building by having taken due note of available drawing up a land development plan en- documents and reports, prepare a titled “Potsdamer Stadtschloss” (Pots- model for the Landtag offering op- dam City Palace). tions in terms of possible sites for After the Landtag elections, the SPD a new parliament building ready for and CDU coalition agreement stipulated subsequent adoption. that “…the accommodation of the Land- 2. Should Brauhausberg not be includ- tag must be lastingly improved”. In March ed in a concept for a new building, 2005, the Ministry of Finance presented the Land government shall provide a report on behalf of the Landtag giving the Landtag with a concept for its fu- a cost breakdown and a site comparison ture use so as to result in a concen- for the redevelopment of the Brauhaus- tration of properties for government berg and a new building at Alter Markt. activities on the one hand and a sub- On 20 May 2005, the Landtag finally stantial reduction in rental costs to passed a definite resolution on the prob- Land authorities for properties not lem of its location7: a new Landtag was to owned by the Land on the other. be built by 2011 within the perimeter and 3. to secure the investment, the Land outlines of the historical Potsdam City government and the Court of Auditors Palace. The city of Potsdam was asked shall act in close cooperation to review to carry out the necessary preliminary available private financing and the use work and thereafter sell the site to the of private management models. Land. There was an initial lack of clarity 4. With a view to consolidate Land concerning the design of the building al- budgets, only the requisite planning though a budget limit of 80 million Euros funds and – where necessary – funds was to be observed in any case. for property acquisitions may be dis- On the basis of a layout and function bursed until 2004. The plans must be schedule agreed with the Presiding Com- drawn up in such a way as to ensure mittee of the Landtag on 16 November that no expenses for building works and 7 December 2005, the Finance Min- are incurred before 2004. ister commissioned a feasibility study 5. Companies based in the region are to designed to assess the practicalities of be involved in the planning, execution the size and functional requirements of and monitoring of the project as far as the Alter Markt site. The study was also possible, within permissible legal limits. to examine the conflict of interest be- 6. the plans must ensure that the new tween the desire to reconstruct the parliament building may also be Palace and the requirements for run- used by the parliament of a joint fed- ning a modern parliament. The Feb- eral state of Brandenburg-Berlin.” ruary 2006 findings showed that a fully functioning modern parliament building Likewise, in July 2001, the city of Potsdam created the conditions required 7 Printed matter 4/1092-B, ParlDok.

14 Brief history of the new Landtag building was possible while at the same time pre- interest in the layout of Potsdam’s histori- serving the original proportions and per- cal town centre and that citizens feel re- mitting a historically faithful reconstruc- sponsible for their city and want to be in- tion of the northern head-end section. volved. It has become clear that urban Initially, only the northern section on development should go hand in hand with Alter Markt was to be modelled on the a new Landtag building. This is also a call original. This displeased many Potsdam to action for the City Assembly.” City councillors responsible for approv- Meanwhile, supporters of the old City ing the development plan. A similar dis- Palace continued to campaign for the orig- pute broke out among city residents as inal façade and started ­donation drives. well as among the policymakers in the The Landtag resolution of 20 May Potsdam City Assembly (Stadtverord- 2005 stated that the new building project netenversammlung) between those sup- should take the form of a public-private porting the original and those in favour partnership (PPP). In accordance with the of a modern façade. In spite of the clear rules of procedure of the Land govern- choice as the site of the new Landtag, ment, the Minister of Finance was put in the Alter Markt location was once again charge of implementing the arrangement. in question and the Project at a serious The ongoing discussions placed the Min- risk of coming to naught. ister under significant time pressure dur- ing the contract award procedure. On 27 November 2007, Rainer Speer, the Fi- 9. Fight of Potsdam’s Citizenry for nance Minister at the time, and Prof Has- “Their Palace” so Plattner issued a public announce- The findings of a public opinion poll among ment that the Hasso Plattner Trust had Potsdam’s citizenry between 16 and 31 donated 20 million Euros to the Land of December 2006 were clear: the number of Brandenburg. In the light of the public de- those in favour of the “site in the centre of bate, the agreement stated that the do- Potsdam on the grounds of the former City nation was “to be used to ensure that the Palace” was 24,172, or 42.8 %. Only 7,212 Landtag building conforms to the great- respondents, or 12.8 %, expressed a pref- est possible extent to the structure and erence for the site of the former “Palais appearance of the historical outer façade Barberini” at Alte Fahrt. The location at the of the Potsdam City Palace, using exist- warehouse district was favoured by 16,089 ing original construction components, and respondents or 28.5 %, and an entirely replicas if necessary.” different site by 8,287 or 14.7 % of those Whilst this donation was good news, polled. A total of 56,473 Potsdam citizens it also required amending the tender doc- took part in the public survey, equating to uments correspondingly. This allowed 46.1 per cent of the 122,407 city residents meeting the wishes of many Potsdamers entitled to vote. Mayor Jann Jakobs de- unhappy with a modern façade. When re- clared: “I take this extremely high number constructing the façade, the plan was to of responses as a sign that there is a keen incorporate fragments of the original build-

The long road from city palace to Landtag palace 15 ing fabric – including some large original of around 15,000 m� began in 2006 and sculptures – that had survived demolition. was completed in January 2011 after a The Royal BAM Group consortium of number of interruptions. Numerous, often bidders under architect Prof Peter Kulka surprising findings dating from the meso- was awarded the contract. The project lithic period up to the time of its last occu- agreement which provides for special fi- pancy were made in the process. Neolithic nancing under a public-private partner- graves and earthworks, a Germanic settle- ship was signed on 2 September 2009. ment where iron was smelted, the remains The investor was commissioned with the of crop sites dating back to the Slavic fort planning, construction, financing and op- of “Poztupimi”, a previously undiscovered eration of the Landtag building for a pe- medieval defensive system with a wood- riod of 30 years. Starting with the hand- en tower and moat, and completely new over of the building the contractually findings relating to the castle and palace agreed instalments and building manage- complex from the 16th – 18th centuries were ment fees are paid. Under the provisions examined and documented by archaeolo- of the agreement, the Land will remain the gists although a scientific assessment is owner of the property throughout the en- still pending. tire term. Foundations of the castle and palace complex over an area of around 3,000 m2 10. The new Landtag Takes On below the new Landtag building and in Shape the inner courtyard have remained intact. The preliminary archaeological survey of Landtag President Gunter Fritsch, Minis- the City Palace site which covers an area ter President Matthias Platzeck, Finance

View of the construction site for the new Landtag building.

16 Brief history of the new Landtag building Minister Dr Helmuth Markov, architect Prof Peter Kulka and Mayor Jann Jakobs held a groundbreaking ceremony on 25 March 2010. The foundation stone was laid on 16 February 2011 in the presence of Prof Hasso Plattner who in November 2011 had funded the replacement of the pro- posed zinc roof with a copper roof mod- Landtag President Gunter Fritsch (centre left) recei- elled on the original. The topping-out ves the symbolic transponder key to the new Landtag ceremony was held in the North wing on building. From left to right: Land Court of Audit Pre- . sident Christoph Weiser; Elona Müller-Preinesberger, 24 November 2011 Deputy Mayor of Potsdam; Landtag President Gunter Fritsch; Finance Minister Dr Helmuth Markov; 11. Handover of Keys to the architect Prof Peter Kulka; Alexander Naujoks, CEO Parliament’s President of BAM Deutschland AG. After three-and-a-half years of construc- as well as energy-saving considerations tion, the new building was handed over made it necessary for the outer walls to the Landtag President by the Minis- of the building to be more than 1 metre ter of Finance on 10 October 2013. The thick. President praised the work of the archi- The architect also managed to de- tect who, he said, had succeeded in im- sign the inner courtyard façades to plementing the compromise solution of match their historical models as far as erecting a modern Landtag in a historical possible even though the building was shell in a masterly fashion. given a totally new floor plan. For func- tional reasons, the changes to the inner 12. Architect and Building Design courtyard are greater than those to the Prof Peter Kulka faced the enormous outer façades of the building. challenge of having to accommodate the The shade of the red ochre select- substantially larger dimensions of the ed recalls the colour scheme typical of Landtag building within the given cubic buildings in 18th century Potsdam. volume of the Palace. He nevertheless decided to reconstruct the entire exterior Entrance Area and the “Historical of the Knobelsdorff façade including the Staircase” inner courtyard. Prof Peter Kulka’s concept provides for The main building and the two side entering the Landtag via the “Fortuna- wings were widened to accommodate portal” (Fortuna Gate) and proceeding the plenary chamber, causing the inner from there to the inner courtyard which is courtyard to be reduced by a quarter to be a citizens’ forum open to the gen- of its former size while retaining the origi- eral public. nal proportions, however. The combina- The entrance area of the building tion of historical and modern elements – known as the Knobelsdorff Stair-

The long road from city palace to Landtag palace 17 case – was designed to resolve the con- flict between the history-laden façade of the building and its modern minimalist in- terior. A dispute arose about the design of the historical staircase in June 2012 when the Mitteschön Action Group called for the original balustrade to be re- installed. Prof Kulka on the other hand pre- sented the Landtag Arts and Ameni- ties Commission with plans for a curved white wall with a bronze handrail instead of the forged cast-iron balustrade of The Knobelsdorff Staircase in the new Landtag the original Knobelsdorff staircase, and building. the Commission adopted his propos- for visiting groups and press conferences, al. Although it had previously been an- and the Land Press Conference, which nounced that the staircase would as far is also now housed in the Landtag build- as possible retain the historical style and ing. The floor of the left of these three mul- use original elements, the House was ti-purpose rooms features an archaeo- swayed by the architect’s argument that logical window under a 4.2 x 8 metre glass the staircase marked the transition be- panel revealing part of the Swedish lime- tween the historical Knobelsdorff façade stone floor from the 1660s in what was outside and the modern parliament with- then the Garden Room and later a wine in, or, to use his own words, “the transi- cellar during the rule of the Electors. tion to the plain and simple world”. Directly above, on the firstfloor , lies Another reason for the decision was the centrepiece of the building, the ple- the safety concerns voiced over install- nary chamber (formerly the Ballroom/ ing the remaining sections of the original Marble Hall), together with the area of balustrade. By contrast, even at the ad- the Presidency which houses the office vanced stage it still proved possible to of the Landtag President. A heated dis- reinstate the historical vaulted ceiling. pute was caused by the decision of the The four Atlas figures and panels Landtag Arts and Amenities Commis- built into the staircase are originals. The sion to follow the architect’s suggestion architect insisted on retaining the figures of mounting a white eagle in the plena- in unrestored state so as not to erase the ry chamber rather than a red one as is traces of their history. the emblem of the Land of Brandenburg. On the ground floor of the main While the CDU parliamentary group ta- building, the southern section of the Land- bled the motion at the Plenary to have tag lobby contains the exhibition the white eagle then installed above the area, cafeteria, cloakroom as well as rooms bronze door replaced by the state coat

18 Brief history of the new Landtag building The second floor houses the main part of the parliamentary fraction DIE LINKE, likewise with a large committee room which also functions as a group meeting room. On this floor, three offices are occupied by three MPs on the BVB/ FREIE WÄHLER List not belonging to any parliamentary group. This layout is repeated on the third floor which is occupied mainly by the CDU parliamentary fraction.

East wing Presentation of the white eagle originally installed in The ground floor of the East Wing the Plenary Chamber. houses the administrative department of arms, the majority resolved on 15 May of the Landtag, and the first floor the 2014, at the request of the government parliamentary group BÜNDNIS 90/ supporting coalition and after consulting DIE GRÜNEN with some offices of the the architect, to take down the white ea- Land Court of Auditors in the rear sec- gle and install a red one with the lettering tion towards the “Fortunaportal” (Fortu- Landtag Brandenburg on the lectern.8 na Gate). The second floor houses a visitor’s Situated on the second floor are the gallery and two press galleries. An office rooms of the AfD parliamentary group, for the Minister President and the RBB again with offices of the Land Court of public broadcaster premises are also lo- Auditors offices at the rear. cated on this floor. The main co-user of the third floor The fourth floor houses the Land- premises is the State Audit Office. tag restaurant which seats 160 people, a large terrace and a library.

West wing The ground floor of the West Wing is home to the parliamentary services of the Landtag administration. Located di- rectly above on the first floor, are the main rooms of the SPD parliamentary fraction with the group and committee room in the head-end of the building fac- ing southwest.

The lectern in the plenary chamber since August 8 Printed Landtag Paper 5/9021-B 2014.

The long road from city palace to Landtag palace 19 The east wing facade viewed from the inner courtyard.

13. The New Building and Sur- According to an April 2014 arrange- rounding Areas in Facts and ment between the Landtag President, Figures the Lord Mayor of Potsdam, the Director- General of SPSG and the Potsdam City Construction Costs Palace Association, to implement the € 119.7 mio. resolutions on Landtag reconstruction, a Façades and Monuments concept is to be worked out for the grad- The façades were modelled on the origi- ual restoration and re-erection of the fig- nal building and again feature ornamen- ures on the outer façades. The realization tal sandstone decorations; any surviving of the concept will also be dependent original parts of the Palace, such as the on the success of the Potsdam City Pal- 307 remnants, were incorporated. The ace Association to secure the necessary western side of the outer façade bears an funding by way of donations.9 inscription in gold lettering with the words “Ceci n’est pas un château”, expressing Inner Courtyard an idea of Potsdam artist Annette Paul. The inner courtyard of the former Potsdam The parapets of the outer façades City Palace covered an area of 6,325 m2; were designed and equipped to take the courtyard of the new Landtag existing decorative sculptures as well Brandenburg occupies around 4,800 m2 as additional figures to be recreated in on a plot size of 11,500 m2. The courtyard keeping with the original models. Origi- is the site of two illusionist pavillons de- nally, the parapets housed 76 sculptures rived from the central oval of Sanssouci of heroes and gods of antiquity, the so- Castle by Cologne artist Florian Dombois called Attica figures. who won the first prize of the 2011 Per- 17 surviving Attica figures are lo- cent-for-Art-Contest (Wettbewerb “Kunst cated in the sculpture repository of the am Bau”).10 Berlin-Brandenburg Castle and Gardens The inner courtyard which is sur- Heritage Foundation (SPSG) while anoth- rounded by magnificent façades in keep- er eight have been on permanent loan on 9 also see http://www.stadtschloss-potsdam.org the roof of Humboldt University at Berlin 10 Also see the pamphlet Art in the Palace for Landtag since 1966. Brandenburg from the Landtag Brandenburg series.

20 Brief history of the new Landtag building The public inner courtyard. ing with the original appearance thus ing spaces (including 9 parking bays for remains largely free of any structural im- the disabled) and 100 parking spaces for pediments. bicycles. The inner courtyard open to the public, the sweeping entrance area and Royal Stables and Wrestlers’ the roof terrace emphatically underline Colonnade the Landtag building’s claim to be an The Palace complex also included the open house for all citizens. royal stables which today are home to the Potsdam Film Museum. The stables Plenary Chamber were built in 1685 as an orangery to the The centrepiece of the Landtag is the west of the former City Palace in the his- 472 m2 plenary chamber. It provides seat- torical centre of Potsdam, and are the ing for 88 members, a further 31 seats for city’s oldest preserved structure. They government members, the Landtag ad- were given their modern-day form in the ministration and stenographers, and has 18th century by master builder Georg a gallery for 160 visitors. In the event of a Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff. He ex- merger of the states of Brandenburg and tended and improved the building which Berlin coming about, the existing 88 par- had by then been converted into horse liamentary seats can be extended to ac- stables for Prussian royalty. commodate 150 members. The stables were connected to the City Palace by the Wrestlers’ Colonnade. Utility Area This colonnade was erected in 1746 to The building’s utility area, including the a design of von Knobelsdorff, and origi- underground car park, measures around nally consisted of 14 pairs of pillars that 19,000 m2, its gross cubic volume around served as an open, clearly-demarcated 150,632 m3 and its gross floor space pedestrian route set apart from the area around 34,525 m2. The building meas- of the pleasure gardens. The colonnade ures about 94 m x 123 m and has a height got its name from the eight groups of of approximately 21.40 m. The building wrestlers and fencers created by famous has a total of 390 office workstations. Potsdam sculptors and erected between The underground car park has 166 park- pairs of pillars.

The long road from city palace to Landtag palace 21 Square Under the patronage of then Land- tag president Gunter Fritsch, a pro- ject was inaugurated in memory of Otto Braun. Except for brief interruptions, from 1920 – 1932 / 33 Otto Braun was the prime minister of the of Prussia which during his time in office rose to become a „bastion of democracy“ against its en- emies from both the Left and the Right. It gave rise to both functionally competent government institutions staffed by per- sonnel steady of principle and steeped in democratic values who resisted upcoming View of the visitor gallery from the chair. National Socialism up to the end. On 19 December 2012, the municipal Approximately half of the length of assembly of Potsdam resolved to name the Wrestlers’ Colonnade was destroyed the open square between Landtag, Alte in the British air raid on Potsdam. After Brücke and Alte Fahrt within urban rede- the demolition of the City Palace ruins, velopment area SAN-P13 and resulting the preserved section was moved a few from the new Landtag construction „Otto hundred metres from its original spot, Braun Square“. This was the first time that near today’s “Mercure” hotel. It now the democratic traditions of Prussia were stands on the edge of the New Pleasure publically recalled here in Potsdam. Garden (Neuer Lustgarten) alongside the On 19 March 2013, Lord Mayor Jann “Neptunbecken” (Neptune Basin) near Jakobs, Landtag President Gunter Fritsch, the landing pier of the White Fleet. State Prime Minister Matthias Platzek and This relocated section, currently in the Chairman of the Municipal Assembly dire need of restoration, consists of six Peter Schüler installed a signboard on the pairs of pillars and four groups of wres- banks of the Havel River between Lange tlers or fencers. Brücke and the newly risen Landtag bear- Since the new Landtag building has ing the words „Otto Braun Square“. been completed in the image of the for- The project was successfully com- mer City Palace, discussions have been pleted on 30 September with the display going on regarding the need for resto- of a bust for the new square and an ac- ration and the subsequent return to its companying publication detailing the life original site. The full length of the Wres- and times of Otto Braun 11. The bust is a tlers’ Colonnade cannot be reinstated replica of the Otto Braun bust erected in on the original site, however, because a tram line now runs between the stables 11 Manfred Görtemarker (Publ.) Otto Braun, a Prus- and the Landtag building. sian Democrat, Berlin 2014

22 Brief history of the new Landtag building the Otto Braun Hall of Berlin State Library today we must once again defend against Building on Potsdamer Street. Before extremism from the right. The new Land- its erection on newly named Otto Braun tag with its historical shell and modern in- Square, it had been given a worthy place terior will act as the focus of parliamen- of rest in the lobby of the new Landtag tory consensus for the land as whole and building. a point of attraction for visitors from near Said Landtag President Gunter and far.“ Fritsch: „For the open square created by That is behind the wish of Landtag the construction of the new state parlia- President Fritsch that in future people ment, there can be no more appropriate should no longer speak of the City Palace name than that of the great democrat Otto but rather of the Landtag Palace.12 Braun. His life and work represents a ma- jor part of our democratic tradition which 12 Potsdamer Neueste Nachrichten of 12. 10. 2013

Published by: Landtag Brandenburg, Department of Public Relations

Edition: 2nd reviewed and supplemented edition, December 2014

Photographs: Bildarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz (Visual Archive of the Prussian ­Cultural Heritage Foundation) Berlin (p. 10); Landtag Brandenburg (pp. 2, 7 (top), 7 (bottom), 8, 13, 16, 19 (top), 19 (bottom), 20, 21, 22); Hans-Christian Schink (pp. 18)

Produced by: Druckerei Arnold, Großbeeren

This publication is published by Landtag Brandenburg as part of its parliamentary public relations work. It is available free of charge. It may not be resold. It must not be used for the purposes of an election campaign. Landtag Brandenburg Alter Markt 1, 14467 Potsdam

Telephone +49 331 966-0 Fax +49 331 966-1210 [email protected] www.landtag.brandenburg.de