Berlin - Culture Forum

The creation of a new Culture Center in the west of Berlin (in the Tiergarten district) was the result of a plan for urban development devised by the architect Hans Bernhard Scharoun (1873-1972). During the Second World War the area of the city between the southernmost edge of the Tiergarten and the Landwehrkanal was completely laid waste. First to go up as part of the rebuilding program was the Philharmonic Hall at the eastern corner in 1960-63, followed by the National Berlin Library of Prussian Cultural Heritage in 1966-78 and the New National Gallery on the southern edge in 1965-68. The State Institute of Musical Research building northeast of the Philharmonic Hall was erected in 1979-84, together with the Musical Instrument Museum, the massive building intended for the Museum of Applied Art in 1978-85 and the new Hall of Chamber Music opposite the Philharmonic Hall to the west and adjoining the latter on the south side ("Little Philharmonic Hall", 1984-87).

The western side of the Culture Forum was scheduled to be completed in summer 1993 by means of a multiple group of buildings to house four museum departments of European art belonging to the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (its main administrative offices being in the von der Heydt Villa on the western side), namely the Art Gallery, Sculpture Gallery, Print and Engraving Cabinet and Library.