The State Council Building (german: Staatsratsgebäude) is a building in the former

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as West Berlin. From 13 August 1961 u ...

that hosted the

State Council State Council may refer to: Government * State Council of the Republic of Korea, the national cabinet of South Korea, headed by the President * State Council of the People's Republic of China, the national cabinet and chief administrative autho ...

(german: Staatsrat), the collective

head of state A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state (polity), state#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international p ...

of the German Democratic Republic (

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

or GDR), from 1964 to 1990.

History

The building, which lies to the south of the Schloßplatz, was constructed from 1962 to 1964 by the architects

Roland Korn Roland (; frk, *Hrōþiland; lat-med, Hruodlandus or ''Rotholandus''; it, Orlando or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the ...

and Hans-Erich Bogatzky. It incorporates in its asymmetrical facade the ''Karl-Liebknecht-Portal'' (Portal IV), a fraction of the facade of the former

Berlin Palace The Berlin Palace (german: Berliner Schloss), formally the Royal Palace (german: Königliches Schloss), on the Museum Island in the Mitte area of Berlin, was the main residence of the House of Hohenzollern from 1443 to 1918. Expanded by order ...

(''Berliner Schloss'') comprising the balcony from which

Karl Liebknecht Karl Paul August Friedrich Liebknecht (; 13 August 1871 – 15 January 1919) was a German socialist and anti-militarist. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) beginning in 1900, he was one of its deputies in the Reichstag fro ...

proclaimed a "Free Socialist Republic of Germany" on 9 November 1918, on the eve of

the end The End may refer to: Films * ''The End'' (1953 film), a film by Christopher Maclaine * ''The End'' (1978 film), a comedy by Burt Reynolds * ''The End'' (1997 film), a Canadian film of 1997 * ''The End'' (1998 film), a skateboarding document ...

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, two hours after Social Democrat

Philipp Scheidemann Philipp Heinrich Scheidemann (26 July 1865 – 29 November 1939) was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). In the first quarter of the 20th century he played a leading role in both his party and in the young Weima ...

proclaimed the "Republic of Germany" from a window of the

Reichstag building The Reichstag (, ; officially: – ; en, Parliament) is a historic government building in Berlin which houses the Bundestag, the lower house of Germany's parliament. It was constructed to house the Imperial Diet (german: Reichstag) of the ...

. After the

German reunification German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

of 1990, the building temporarily accommodated the offices of the Federal Chancellor and the Federal Chancellery. This lasted from the move of the government from the Federal Chancellery in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

in 1999 until the inauguration of the new Chancellery in Berlin in 2001. Since 2006, its premises are occupied by a higher education institution, the

European School of Management and Technology The European School of Management and Technology, also known as ESMT Berlin, is a private non-profit business school based in Berlin, Germany. The business school was founded in 2002 by 25 global companies and institutions including McKinsey & C ...

(ESMT Berlin). For the reconstruction of the Palace, a copy of the Portal IV was made and integrated into the new building.Reconstruction des façades du château de Berlin
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Gallery

File:State Council building 017.JPG, Portal IV. File:State Council building.jpg, View from backyard. File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-C0904-0002-002, Berlin, Staatsratsgebäude.jpg, The State Council Building in 1964. File:500mark-ddr-rev.jpg, 500

East German mark The East German mark (german: Mark der DDR ), commonly called the eastern mark (german: Ostmark, links=no ) in West Germany and after reunification), in East Germany only ''Mark'', was the currency of the German Democratic Republic (East Germ ...

note, 1985 (reverse).

References

{{Authority control Government buildings completed in 1964 Buildings and structures in Mitte 1960s in Berlin 1964 establishments in East Germany Buildings and structures of East Berlin

History

Gallery

See also

References