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Cultural life was revived in the ruins of Berlin immediately after the
end of the war. The will to build up a democratic society where culture
was to play a central role led to an atmosphere of political unrest,
which was fostered by the Allies, until East and West went their separate
ways in 1947. Most cultural buildings were in the East of the city.
In the West, the Marshall Plan and funding for Berlin from the German
state promoted the cultural upswing. Large sums of money from the US were
used for construction projects such as the Henry Ford building and the
library of the newly established Freie Universität (Free University),
the Amerika-Gedenkbibliothek (American Memorial Library) and the Congress
Hall in Tiergarten. In 1952 the Schillertheater was reopened. The
Theater des Westens served as a venue for the Städtischen Oper (Municipal
Opera) until this was able to move into Fritz Bornemann’s new building
on Bismarckstraße in 1961. Bornemann created another elegant functional
building at the beginning of the sixties in the form of the Freie Volksbühne
(Free People’s Theatre). The Academy of Music Concert Hall designed
by Paul Baumgarten had also been available for musical events since 1954.
The central cultural buildings of Berlin were to stretch along the River
Spree as a cultural belt from the Museumsinsel (Museum Island) to the West.
On the basis of this concept, resulting from the urban development competition
for the capital in 1957/58, the decision was taken to build the new Philharmonic
designed by Hans Scharoun in the Tiergarten district. The construction
of the Wall put paid to the idea of the cultural belt, and when the Philharmonic
was completed in 1963, it was further away from the centre. The area for
the Cultural Forum was developed with the aid of the Prussian Cultural
Heritage Foundation. In 1963 Hans Scharoun won the competition for the
new Staatsbibliothek (State Library). At the same time, he came up with
an overall concept for the Cultural Forum. With asymmetric buildings and
curving forms, it is based on the model for the cityscape and thus
embodies a democratic response to the urban planning of the Nazis, who
had envisaged monumental forums and parades there. In 1965 it was
decided to expand the Cultural Forum by building museums. Scharoun, who
designed the Musical Instruments Museum, shaped the Cultural Forum with
his buildings. The architecture and overall concept are in line with the
social democratic ideal of allowing wide sections of the population to
participate in cultural life. This applies to most of the cultural buildings
of the post-war era and they bear witness to the emergence of a democracy.
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