In the years to come are we going to see more German landmarks restored?

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frackledJJ

No, because the city centers are all already re-made, and no one is going to tear down a building from back than to re-erect an old picture book house on valuable building ground. Besides, to really rebuild them in the classical way, with woodworking and stuff, would be insanely expensive, if you would be able to find someone who actually can do all the carving and stuff. And even if you would go to such length, German people know the difference between what is really old, and what is re-made. And they don't like the re-made kind of thing, because if you know the real deal, that stuff looks like Disneyland. Fake.

The "Frauenkirche" was something special in so far as that is was a real historic landmark that no-one had dared touch. The space where the original "Frauenkirche" had been standing had never been remade or taken up by something else. It couldn't. It belonged to the church, who refused to sell the spot, wanting to keep the ruins as a memorial for the people who died during the bombing of Dresden. Also, the DDR, which Dresden was a part of until Germany's reunification, did not support plans of re-erecting the church.

The medieval city centers cannot be restored. The houses were structures of wood, which has burned up and is gone. Trying to redo them would be like erecting a fake Disneyland version of a town, with straight edges and 90Â° corners, which real medieval houses almost never had. It would not work. Besides, like I said, the building ground is taken up by modern buildings. And no one would seriously suggest building brick houses like they had in Old Amsterdam on Ground Zero, now would they?

down_under_lover_forever2006

It's all a question of money.
If you'll find a sponsor or collect the money somehow it's going to happen faster.

ARRGH!!!

The problem is the things now being restored like the Wasserkunst in Hannover and the castle in Berlin are not really historic. They have been destroyed because of a lot of reasons ( not necessarily war also convenience) and now they try to rebuild them as exact as they can. But they lost their identificatorial value for the people when they were pulled down. So what they build now is nothing than a shell with no connection to History whatsoever, therefore lacking all value. With the Frauenkirche it is different because it always was a great beacon of the city of Dresden, and, of course, it was a religious center. As it was only partly destroyed it was kept in use and never lost the value for the people like buildings that have been pulled down 50 years ago. (you could visit the crypt of the Frauenkirche even during reconstruction). So it is actually a matter of historic and identificatorical value when it comes to deciding wether a historic site should be rebuilt. But, to be clear, it will never be "a mediaval center of historic value" ever again, once it has been completely destroyed. It just is a new shell for a memory lost in the fights and turmoils of History.
But if there is a historic site that only needs a little bit of help to be valuable again, we will hopefully see a lot more of that :)

Nantucket

The possible restoration of historical landsmarks is only a question in parts of Germany which were part of the former communist German Democratic Republic (GDR) which is no longer existing since 1990. The GDR never had enough money and probably interest in rebuildling landmarks like the Frauenkirche.

In the former Federal Republic of Germany there has been no need to restore city centers or landmarks since end of the 60ies.

agavemike

After WWII, a lot of the city centers were restored to a close resemblance of what they looked like before the war. A lot of buildings in East Germany suffered more from neglect during communism than they did from WWII.

Living in Munich, I can tell you that there is constant construction going on to maintain the old churches and landmarks, but the old buildings are what give this city character and attract millions of tourists a year.

Orla C

A lot of the cities in what was the Federal Republic of West Germany were rebuilt soon after WWII, but the cities in what was the Soviet German Democratic Republic were pretty much left as they were after the rubble was cleared away, and many places were not rebuilt until the 1990s or later.

Not sure if city councils want to replace everything, but I would imagine they would prefer to keep the best bits if they can.

Lear

The German government is going to rebuilt a former Prussian Royal Residence in the city center of Berlin.

The "Stadtschloss" (City Palace) was damaged in WW2 and teared down by the socialist Eastern German regime 60 years ago.

The German government revealed last week the winner of an architecture competition. The chosen architect is the Italian Franco Stella.

Reconstruction costs are estimated at 600 million Euro, critics believe it will be more than 1 billion (1.3 billion dollars).

The reconstruction follows mainly historical blueprints and includes one facade in a modern frame (the side shown at the image).

Alwin E

I don't think it's necessary to rebuild (or rather: reconstruct) any more historical landmarks in Germany. There are many historical buildings here that have been reconstructed and whose maintenance costs a lot. In some towns (and I'm not talking about the big cities now) it costs a lot more than their revenues from tourism are and can only be financed by subsidies from the federal government and/or the European Union. But as European economy doesn't go so well these days, I'm sure reconstruction will be delayed, if not abandoned, and necessary maintenance will be kept at the lowest level possible. Simply speaking, we have better things to do than care about ancient buildings.

Except for Berlin. Like always, they're the great exception. They're rebuilding their city castle (or at the very least, its facade), come what may. They're bankrupt, but who cares? Someone always paid for their debts; but, hell: When do they realize that they're no longer an island but the frickin' German CAPITAL? Sorry, Berliners: No airlift this time. No raisin bombers. We western Germans are fed up with financing your nonsense. They might say "Yes we can"; but what if we say "No we won't"?

celebrate_me_home_2000

Germany is having the same financial problems as the USA. Maybe not at the same scale, but the same problems. I think first at the top of the list is formula one costs. Those old buildings will probably have to wait.

silk

Most likely but it will depend on the German economy. Germany uses their historical buildings as tourist places. They are definitely money makers.

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