Hamburger Bahnhof secured as the location of the National Gallery

Created: 11/14/2022, 4:24 p.m

The building of the Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum for Contemporary Art in Invalidenstrasse.

The museum is part of the National Gallery.

© Jens Kalaene/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa

After long negotiations, the federal government buys the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin and the Rieckhallen.

This is intended to preserve outstanding cultural institutions in a unique location.

Berlin - After years of negotiations, the federal government and the state of Berlin have secured the site of the National Gallery in the Hamburger Bahnhof, which is known as the Museum of Modern Art.

Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth (Greens) and Berlin's Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) have announced a joint press conference for Tuesday.

It is about the acquisition of the Hamburger Bahnhof and the neighboring Rieckhallen by the federal government and the state of Berlin, it said on Monday.

With the budget decided on Monday, Berlin had made funds available for the purchase of the Rieckhallen in the amount of 78 million euros.

The Bundestag had previously decided to purchase the Hamburger Bahnhof.

This is the implementation of a declaration of intent from last year that was agreed after a long struggle.

The real estate company CA Immo Deutschland, which acquired the building and site around the turn of the century, originally wanted to demolish the Rieckhallen.

Then an exchange of land was agreed, which is now being supplemented by the financial means.

Two institutions in a unique place

Berlin's Senator for Culture, Klaus Lederer (left), sees the supplementary budget as "the definitive rescue of the Rieckhallen".

In this way, two outstanding cultural institutions for the city would be preserved in a unique place with the Rieckhallen and Hamburger Bahnhof.

The Hamburger Bahnhof, once the terminus of the railway line between Hamburg and Berlin, has large collections of contemporary art.

It is the largest house in the National Gallery, whose holdings can also be found in the Old National Gallery, the New National Gallery, the Berggruen Museum and the Scharf-Gerstenberg Collection.

In addition, there is the Museum of the 20th Century, which is under construction and should be completed in 2026.

The renowned collection of entrepreneur Friedrich Christian Flick was also withdrawn because of the uncertainties surrounding the Rieckhallen.

It has been the artistic basis for almost two dozen exhibitions since 2004.

The loan was controversial because of the Nazi past of Friedrich Flick, who benefited from forced labor as an armaments contractor during National Socialism.

His grandson did not participate in the compensation fund and set up his own foundation instead.

dpa