The histories of certain countries are more controversial, if not explosive, in nature. As opposed to nations with more serene pasts, these countries have a collection of wars, conflicts and cases of commotion under their belt. The US is one such nation; Japan is another. And Europe has no shortage of such countries, including the UK, France, and perhaps most notably, Germany.
As architecture is nothing but a reflection of the people that create it, it is a rather straightforward assumption that historical buildings of such nations is also full of controversy, not perhaps due to their unconventional architecture, but possibly because they have been - and perhaps still are - associated with the controversies attributed to the nation itself. Take for example the White House; in addition to being a major tourist attraction in Washington D.C., it is also a target for many fundamentalists around the world with a grudge against the US, thanks to its symbolism. Obviously then, the almighty Germany, being one of Europe's most aggressive nations throughout its history, has its own architectural blessing and curse, in the form of a federal assembly building: the Reichstag.
A new building to house the Reichstag - a term which itself was coined earler during the Holy Roman Empire period to denote the national diet - was born of simple necessity: The recently unified German Republic was in need of an assembly place for the national diet in its capital of Berlin. The unification in 1871 had meant that Berlin would house the nation's assembly, and temporary solutions devised to handle this task did not suffice and satisfy Wilhelm I, the first German emperor between the unification in 1871 and his death in 1888.
However, the location selected shortly after unification in 1872 for a new assembly building at the eastern end of Königsplatz was already occupied by an abandoned palace that belonged to Athanasius Raczynski, a wealthy Polish diplomat. Political wrangling between Wilhelm I and Otto von Bismarck regarding the contruction of the building and the issues related to the acquisition of the land for the Reichstag lasted for another decade; only in 1882 was an architectural competition held for the design works of the building.
Paul Wallot, a Frankfurt based architect, was declared as the winner of the competition among almost 200 contestants with his neo-Baroque design; although he was in fact given second place by the jury after his peer Friedrich von Thiersch (who was arguably a better architect than Wallot). Wallot moved to Berlin to oversee his work after this; in fact he did not produce any other significant architectural works throughout his career.
The construction of the edifice began in 1884, and lasted 10 years. Although Wilhelm I was able to be present at the laying of the foundation, he had passed away long before at its inauguration in 1894, which was instead presided over by his grandson, Wilhelm II. Featuring sculpture works by Otto Lessing (who also worked on Neue Kirche - New Church, Technical University of Berlin, Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, Berlin Cathedral, Berlin State Library and Konzerthaus Berlin - Concert Hall of Berlin, all in the capital), the diet building did receive both acclaim for its magnificence and criticism for its arguably over-use of various architectural styles.
The words "Dem Deutschen Volke" - to the German people - were carved above the main entrance of the building in 1916, which was ironic as this call for dempcracy from the diet building of an empire was swiftly answered in 1918; the end of the World War I meant the proclamation of a republic. The Weimar Republic that rose from the ashes of German Empire would be housed in the same building from 1918 to 1933. That year was what spelled disaster for both the edifice and Germany; a huge fire ravaged the Reichstag on February 27 of 1933, resulting in two things. First was the immediate abandonment of the building as the national assembly. The second was, due to suspicion regarding the fire, the responsibility for the disaster being attributed by the Nazis to the communists - which eventually helped them increase their hold on their power and introduce more totalitarian practices.
The building fell into disuse after this period and was further damaged during Allied air raids, and throughout the period of two Germanies it stayed abandoned, save for a terrible attempt to partially restore it. Paul Baumgarten took the task of restoration to his hands between 1961 and 1964, and during this period he stripped the building of its statues, decorations inside - and partially outside - only to leave a bare-bones structure - a work much criticized later.
A much better attempt to restore the building was carried out by the renowned architect Norman Foster after the unification of East and West Germany in 1990. After the decision to house the unified capital in Berlin once again was given, an architectural contest was held in 1992 for the task of renovation. Foster won this contest, and was given the go to perform his transformation; but before he began his work, Bulgarian-American artish Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude wrapped the building in polypropylene - they had previously performed a similar exhibit at Pont Neuf in Paris - which was seen by millions of visitors.
Foster gutted the entire building, removed all modifications made by Baumgarten but left Cyrillic graffiti written by Soviet forces invading Berlin in 1945 intact. The reconstruction lasted until 1999, with first assembly of Bundestag - German diet - at the Reichstag on 19 April of that year, 66 years after the building was lost to fire. The reconstruction was such a huge success that the building became the second-most visited tourist attraction in Germany after Cologne Cathedral (with 2.7 million visitors in 2006). Visits to the Reichstag's magnificient glass dome - which offers 360 degree views of Berlin and the convening parliament down below - are possible by registration.
History is good at one thing, for certain: At repeating itself in various versions. The Reichstag building has found new life thanks to a twist of fate. Here's to hoping that the rest of its history does not repeat itself.
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