Stark memories
Authors
Citation
Hinge, v.83, 2002, pp. 56-57
Abstract
After a long and tortuous evolution, Berlin's Jewish Museum Finally opened to the public in the autumn of 2001. Architect Daniel Libeskind first won the competition for the building in 1989, months before the fall of the Berlin Wall; the event and its aftermath delayed the project for some time. Finally completed in 1999, the building remained exhibit-less for two years, but accommodated paying visitors nonetheless (over 350,000 in two years), and became a tourist destination-not to mention cause celebre-simply as a vacant structure. Some even argued that it would remain more powerfully eloquent by foregoing permanently its intended contents, but the institution is not a Holocaust museum; it is meant to record the history of the Jewish people in Germany. Clearly the Holocaust punctuates that history unequivocally, and it would be difficult to argue that it didn't heavily influence Libeskind's projects, yet the museum's permanent exhibits will not concentrate solely on those dark events.
Description
Building Name: Berlin Jewish Museum
Building Type(s): Museums
Architect: Libeskind, Daniel
Subject
Type
Article
Format
Date
2002
Language
en