Saturday, June 1, 2019

Reichstag - Germany

The Reichstag building was completed in 1894 following German national unity and the establishment of the German Reich in 1871. 

© KARTENEDITION PAWLOWSKI SOUVENIRS & POSTKARTEN BERLIN
AT-298953, sent by Leni
The Reichstag suffered damage and destruction over the course of the 20th century. On 27 February 1933 under mysterious circumstances that still have yet to be explained, the Reichstag caught on fire, destroying the chamber and the dome. The building, having never been fully repaired since the fire, was further damaged by air raids. During the Battle of Berlin in 1945, it became one of the central targets for the Red Army to capture due to its perceived symbolic significance.

After being destroyed in the war, it was rebuilt between 1961 and 1971 in a simplified form without the dome, which was blown up in 1945, according to plans by Paul Baumgarten. After German reunification, the German Bundestag decided to use the building as a seat of Parliament again.

Foto: DBT/Axel Hartmann 
DE-8244588, sent by Andreas. 
Between 1994 and 1999, the Reichstag was redesigned and expanded by the British architect Sir Norman Foster as a modern Parliament building while retaining its extensive, historical dimensions. The accessible glass dome, which initially generated a lot of controversy, has since become one of the landmarks of Berlin. Since 1999, the German Bundestag has been convening in the Reichstag building. - in: http://www.visitberlin.de/en/spot/reichstag

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