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41°F / 5°C
(Light Rain. Low Clouds. Nippy.)
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Schlossplatz
Berlin
10178
Hackescher Markt: S3, S5, S7, S9, S75
 Website
 Audio Website
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An intense debate has been going on for years as to whether the Royal Palace should be reconstructed, and now it finally will be. There are plans to make a hotel out of the Palace, with shops and a business center. Built in 1451, the magnificent palace was the residence of the Prussian royal family for centuries. Badly damaged during the War, the East German administration demolished the building in the 1950s, not because the structural damage was irreparable, but because the palace was a much-maligned symbol of 'imperialism'. The space created was used for the East German equivalent of Red Square, known as Schloßplatz, which is dominated by the Palast der Republik, the closest thing the East Germans had to a parliament. The only part of the palace which survived demolition is the famous portal from which Karl Liebknecht proclaimed a Free Socialist Republic in 1918. The portal was moved a few hundred metres and integrated into the Staastsratsgebäude (see photo). Otherwise, visitors can see the foundations, recently unearthed by archaeologists, but they are a poor reminder of what once was.
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