Berlin-Mitte Kommandantenhaus UdL asv2023-10

The Kommandantenhaus (Commandant's House), also called Alte Kommandantur (Old Commandantura), on

Unter den Linden Unter den Linden (, "under the Tilia, linden trees") is a boulevard in the central Mitte (locality), Mitte district of Berlin, Germany. Running from the Berlin Palace to the Brandenburg Gate, it is named after the Tilia, linden trees (known ...

boulevard in the historic centre of

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

is the former headquarter of the city's

commandant Commandant ( or ; ) is a title often given to the officer in charge of a military (or other uniformed service) training establishment or academy. This usage is common in English-speaking nations. In some countries it may be a military or police ...

. It was built in 1654 and renovated from 1873 to 1874 in Renaissance Revival style. Damaged during the Allied bombing in World War II and later demolished, it was rebuilt from 2001 to 2003 as part of the Forum Fridericianum. Since then, it has been home to a representative office of

Bertelsmann The Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA, commonly known as Bertelsmann (), is a German privately held company, private multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation based in Gütersloh, North Rhine-Westphalia, ...

.Bertelsmann in Berlin
Bertelsmann The Kommandantenhaus was the workplace of the French writer

Stendhal Marie-Henri Beyle (; 23 January 1783 – 23 March 1842), better known by his pen name Stendhal (, , ), was a French writer. Best known for the novels ''Le Rouge et le Noir'' ('' The Red and the Black'', 1830) and ''La Chartreuse de Parme'' ('' T ...

, the German politician

Otto Wels Otto Wels (15 September 1873 – 16 September 1939) was a German politician who served as a member of the Reichstag from 1912 to 1933 and as the chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) from 1919 until his death in 1939. He was military com ...

and the German Resistance member

Paul von Hase Karl Paul Immanuel von Hase (24 July 1885 – 8 August 1944) was a Nazi Germany, German career soldier and figured among the members of the German_resistance_to_Nazism, resistance against Adolf Hitler's Nazism, Nazi regime. Life Von Hase was bo ...

History

The Alte Kommandantur is a building in the historic center of

, which had been heavily damaged during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and destroyed in order to make room for the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

. The original building was in the

baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

style, built by architect Johann Gregor Memhardt (b. 1607, d. 1678), and enlarged in 1795, and modified again in 1873 in a

neo-Renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th-century Revivalism (architecture), architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival architecture, Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival ar ...

style. In 1995, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of East Germany itself was demolished in order to recreate the Werderscher Markt area. The Alte Kommandantur was rebuilt by media conglomerate

and the

Bertelsmann Stiftung The Bertelsmann Stiftung is an independent Foundation (nonprofit), foundation under private law, based in Gütersloh, Germany. It was founded in 1977 by Reinhard Mohn as the result of social, corporate and fiscal considerations. The foundati ...

foundation to become its joint Berlin liaison office with the prestigious address

1. Since no plan was available, the building was designed based on historic pre-war photographs and testimonies. The building was completed in November 2003.

Notes and references

External links

Alte Kommandantur (in French)
Buildings and structures in Berlin Rebuilt buildings and structures in Berlin {{Berlin-struct-stub

History

Notes and references

See also

External links