“The opening will be a … By then, it was confronting the aftermath of its more recent history.“The public historical debate in Germany was completely absorbed by consideration of the Nazi past and of the ramifications of division,” said Nicholas Thomas, director of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at Cambridge.
As modern Germany seeks to define itself in a more complex way, the urge is surfacing to discuss past glories of scientific achievement, history, art and exploration as well as to confront an uncomfortable part of its past.At the center of these convulsions, the Forum has pitted those who want to move on and celebrate national accomplishments against those who caution that Germany risks forgetting what it was. Must we all convert to Christianity as requested by religious inscription in gold on blue background? Geburtstags von Alexander von Humboldt© Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss / David von BeckerMixed Reality-Anwendung „Juyeco Humboldt“ von 4Direcciones Audio Visionaries aus Bogotá, 2019.Mit der zweiteiligen Arbeit „Statue of Limitations“ fordert der Künstler Kang Sunkoo zur permanenten kritischen Auseinandersetzung mit der Kolonialgeschichte und dem Humboldt Forum auf. Ob Mondkrater, Intercity- Express, Klinikum oder Segelschiff – sie alle teilen den Namen Humboldt.
Displaced by war and the division of the city, the two museums had homes for decades in the suburb of Dahlem.But over the past few months, these collections have begun to return to the center of the city in preparation for the forum’s opening in 2019. Exhibition of Berlin city history is to be among the first to openKang Sunkoo’s bronze Statue of Limitations shows a black flag at half-mastFire service says one person was injured in the blaze caused by a gas cylinder explodingJoint projects will include exhibitions, exchanges and education programs focussed on post-colonialism and sustainabilityThe opening festivities were to begin this year, but the final stage of construction is behind scheduleThe French academics Bénédicte Savoy and Felwine Sarr urge President Macron to return African artefacts.
Humboldt Forum with a golden Christian cross,Berlin,Germany. Juni 2013 fand die Grundsteinlegung für das Museum statt, im Juni 2015 folgte das Richtfest. Berlin Humboldt Forum opens in stages On Alexander von Humboldt's 250th birthday, everything will be ready and will gradually be on display in Berlin's new city … TRISTRAM HUNT, HARTMUT DORGERLOH and NICHOLAS THOMASVast sum outstrips budget for reconstruction of city’s royal palace and creation of Humboldt Forum The former British Museum director, who steered the project for three years, discusses its Enlightenment roots and ambition to engage a wider publicHartmut Dorgerloh says institution will discuss presentation of non-Western art “together with critical friends and the communities”If appointed, Dorgerloh, who currently manages the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation, will replace the three founding directors Subscribe to The Art Newspaper’s digital newsletter for your daily digest of essential news, views and analysis from the international art world delivered directly to your inbox.Find out how The Art Newspaper’s content platforms can help you reach an informed, influential body of collectors, cultural and creative professionals. Some have wondered how his experience equips him to cope with the big debates unleashed in part by the Forum, but others regard him as a capable and connected administrator, an insider who will make sure it opens on time.Historically, Germany came to empire building later than other European countries like France or Britain.But its colonial activities involved atrocities such as the genocide of Herero and Nama ethnic groups in what was then German South West Africa, and is now part of Namibia, and hundreds of thousands of deaths in the Maji Maji revolt in German East Africa, in what is now Tanzania.Germany’s colonialism was linked to what came next, according to Professor Zimmerer: Colonial officers developed ideas on racial purity, and the colonial expansion foreshadowed the Nazi push for land in Eastern Europe, for example.Germany lost its overseas territories in the Treaty of Versailles at the end of World War I, and so it was not swept up in the great postcolonial self reckonings of other European nations after World War II. Dort sollen viele Kulturen der Welt einen neuen Ort bekommen und zugleich die Geschichte des Ortes erlebbar sein. History,” he said “is not just black or white. Germany has addressed World War II and Nazi atrocities, although these achingly difficult parts of its history may be impossible to atone for fully, but it still has not even begun re-examining its colonial era properly, critics say.“For too long the colonial period was a blind spot in our culture of remembrance,” Monika Grütters, Germany’s federal culture minister, said in a statement.Jürgen Zimmerer, a University of Hamburg professor and expert on African history and colonialism, said, “There is a lot more at stake than just the museum.” Professor Zimmerer, who is a critic of the museum’s approach, said, “The political colonial debate has become the defining debate in Germany,” adding, “and the Humboldt Forum is at the center of it.”The centuries-old Schloss, the original building at the heart of the debate, is seen as a link to an era of philosophers by its supporters; to its critics it symbolizes a seat of imperial power from a time of militarism and national expansionism — traits that ultimately brought down the Allied bombs on the castle in 1945.Then there was a worry, made more sensitive by the far-right’s recent inroads into German politics, that recreating the Schloss signaled a concerning nostalgia for an age when Germany was great, a view of the past that skimmed over the horrors of the 20th century.In another sense, the project, which will be completed soon, will make the center of Berlin aesthetically whole again, Wilhelm von Boddien, who helped raise the money to rebuild it, said.