Attitudes toward Architectural Reconstructions

Samuel Billaud Feragen

The completed Berliner Stadtschloss/Humboldt Forum, showing the “old” reconstructed facade meeting the new-looking facade facing the river Spree, Berlin. Photo edited by author. (Source: Wikimedia Commons, photo by Christian Vollmer 2021 under CC license).

The completed Berliner Stadtschloss/Humboldt Forum, showing the “old” reconstructed facade meeting the new-looking facade facing the river Spree, Berlin. Photo edited by author. (Source: Wikimedia Commons, photo by Christian Vollmer 2021 under CC license).

The topic for the research project is architectural reconstructions and, more specifically, how different understandings of heritage values lead to different attitudes towards the idea of reconstructing buildings that have been destroyed. To explore this question, I will look at how selected reconstruction projects have been received and debated in professional and mainstream media. My research stay in Rome will be divided between ICCROM (International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property) and the Bibliotheca Hertziana.
The study will be based on examples of reconstruction projects in selected countries in Western Europe. To assess attitudes, it is useful to look at high profile cases that have triggered public and professional debate. The scope will be limited to cases where the reconstruction in question is total or quasi-total, because these are the most controversial cases. One interesting and relevant example is the reconstruction of Berlin Palace that was completed in 2020.
Theoretically, the concept of authenticity is at the core of the topic. Are the differences of opinion on reconstructions due to different understandings of authenticity? Or is the disagreement on whether authenticity is important?