Damage from the fire at Scharoun's Berlin Philharmonic

Berlin - The Tuesday fire at the Berlin Philharmonic caused apparently minor damage to the building than originally thought. Although there is a large hole in the roof of the building after extinguishing the Tuesday fire, temporary roofing and resuming concert activities could be relatively soon. This was announced today by the press service of the Philharmonic.
    "The building will receive a temporary roof covering. The large concert hall was hardly affected by the fire. Due to repairs, the Philharmonic will remain closed until June 2," AFP quoted from a communiqué released this evening.
    As for the second, smaller concert hall in the building, which is dedicated to chamber music, it suffered no damage at all. "Concerts planned there for Thursday and Friday can be held," the communiqué states.
    The Philharmonic canceled some scheduled concerts that were to take place in the building near Potsdamer Platz in the city center. Instead of the concerts planned for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, there will be one concert on Saturday, and it will be at the open-air stage Waldbühne. However, this venue has a significantly larger capacity than the concert hall in the Philharmonic, and therefore additional tickets will be released for sale at 30 euros (about 750 CZK).
    The fire was finally extinguished by more than 170 firefighters last night, but fire crews remained in the building until the morning. Firefighters were concerned that hot spots could reignite on the complex and confusing roof construction.
    "The damage caused by firefighting water in the building can be considered small," a firefighter spokesman told AFP.
    The risky operation of firefighters directly on the roof of the architecturally bold building lasted many hours. They had to literally cut their way through the zinc sheet roofing to reach the flames since the fire itself originated in the insulating layers of the roof trusses. For nearly the entire Tuesday afternoon, thick smoke was billowing from the roof of the yellow building, visible kilometers away. The building is one of the architectural symbols of the German capital and one of the temples of world classical music. The worst fears of Berliners that their city would lose its symbol, however, did not materialize.
    The fire reportedly damaged about 1,600 square meters of the roof, but the concert hall itself remained spared. Concerns that expensive musical instruments would be harmed were also unfounded. Nevertheless, the Philharmonic estimates total damages to be in the millions of euros, meaning at least tens of millions of crowns.
    Determining the causes of the fire and specifying the damages will probably take several days. However, the deputy head of the Berlin fire inspection Karsten Göwecke has already confirmed earlier information that the likely cause of the roof ignition was welding work.
    As the radio station rbb-Inforadio reported, the roof of the concert hall must be newly covered. Last time it underwent reconstruction between 1991 and 1992 when the building was closed for 14 months. Experts also want to check the building's statics, but according to experts, it is almost certain that it remains intact.
    The Berlin Philharmonic was designed by the German architect Hans Scharoun. The building was ceremonially opened in 1963 by the legendary conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Herbert von Karajan.
    Classical music enthusiasts and experts appreciate not only the top level of the Berlin Philharmonic but also the reportedly nearly perfect acoustics of the main concert hall in their venue.