The construction of the Berlin Palace will be extended, by at least two years

Berlin - Berlin will have to wait for its city palace, which is set to rise on the site of the demolished socialist Palace of the Republic near Alexanderplatz. The completion of the construction, originally planned for 2014, has been postponed. The palace will therefore be completed no earlier than 2016. According to the DPA agency, this was announced today in Berlin by German State Secretary for Construction Engelbert Lütke Daldrup.
The palace in the center of Berlin used to exist. It was home to Prussian kings and German emperors. It was damaged during World War II, leading to its demolition in 1950. In the 1970s, a rectangular Palace of the Republic with a glass facade was built on its site, where communist party congresses and entertainment events took place. Due to a dangerous amount of asbestos, the building was ultimately demolished last year, much to the regret of many East Germans.
Lütke Daldrup did not want to provide details about the delays in the construction of the palace, due to the ongoing court proceedings. The German antitrust authority has declared the contract with Stella invalid. The upper regional court in Düsseldorf must decide on the complaint.
Plans for the construction of the palace have sparked disputes from the beginning. Some demanded that an exact replica of the historical building rise in the center of Berlin across from the Berlin Cathedral. Others opposed this. A panel of experts in the architectural competition chose Italian architect Francesco Stella, who incorporated modern elements into the building. The project includes three baroque facades, with the eastern facade being new. These conditions were set by the Bundestag. However, a survey by the magazine Super Illu showed that 61 percent of Berliners opposed the construction of an almost exact replica.
The construction of the palace is expected to cost around 552 million euros (about 14.3 billion crowns). The Humboldt Forum is to be located in the building, which will house museum collections, archives of Humboldt University, and a library.