Embassy of France, Berlin

Coordinates:52°31′01″N13°22′45″E/ 52.51694°N 13.37917°E/52.51694; 13.37917
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Embassy of France, Berlin
Embassy of France in Berlin
Map
AddressPariser Platz 5
GermanyBerlin,Germany
Logo of French Embassy of France, Berlin

TheEmbassy of FranceinBerlinis thediplomatic missionof theFrench RepublicinGermany.Designed byChristian de Portzamparcand completed in 2002, it is at the same address,Pariser Platz5, as the former embassy which was destroyed inWorld War II.Prior toGerman reunification,France had an embassy in theGerman Democratic Republicat a different address in Berlin and an embassy in theFederal RepublicinBonn.

Palais Beauvryé, former building of the French embassy in Berlin, photographed in 1937

Palais Beauvryé[edit]

Officers of the élitePrussian Gardes du Corps,wishing to provoke theWar of the Fourth Coalition,ostentatiously sharpen their swords on the steps of the French embassy in Berlin in the autumn of 1805.

The French embassy to theKingdom of Prussiawas established in 1860 underNapoleon IIIin the Palais Beauvryé, a building in lateBaroquestyle which had been built at Pariser Platz 5 between 1735 and 1737 for Major Bernhard von Beauvryé.[1][2][3][4]Following German unification and the resumption of diplomatic relations after theFranco-Prussian War,it became the French embassy to theGerman Empire.The building was modified in the 1840s byFriedrich August Stülerwithout much change to its external appearance,[2]extensively renovated in 1879–83, including amansardroof and aManneristfaçade with a columned portico replacing the stairs leading to the entrance,[5]and modernised in 1907–14, including electrification and a telephone connection.[1]DuringWorld War I,when diplomatic relations were suspended, it was in the care of the Spanish Embassy.[1]The embassy staff were evacuated toDenmarkon August 4, 1914, after burning classified papers and would not return until after the war.[6]It was destroyed during theBattle of Berlinon 2 May 1945, a few days before the end of World War II in Europe.[1]

German Democratic Republic[edit]

The embassy site was very close to the border between the Western zones and the Soviet zone which became East Berlin and, like the nearbyBritish Embassy,it was not rebuilt.[7]The ruins were cleared in 1959,[1]and after the construction of theBerlin Wall,the site fell within the cleared 'death strip' to the east of it.[8][9]After France recognised the German Democratic Republic in 1973, an embassy was established atUnter den Linden40, next door to theFDJ.[10][11]

Wilhelmstraße frontage

Current building[edit]

The embassy has approximately 250 employees and is one of France's largest.[12]The present embassy building was designed by Christian de Portzamparc, who won the 1997 competition for the commission after German reunification and the decision to return the government of the Federal Republic of Germany to Berlin from Bonn.[13][14]It is substantially on the original site, but the northern portion was exchanged in a land swap for a piece of land onWilhelmstraße.[13]The public entrance is on this eastern side of the building, leading to theconsularand informational section; private entrances for staff and official visitors on Pariser Platz lead to the western section which includes the official reception areas and the ambassador's residence on the top floor.[13][15]An auditorium and meeting rooms are in the centre of the building.[15]The eastern section includes a public sculpture courtyard, with one bronze showing damage from having previously stood in the old embassy building; there is a private garden on an upper level in the western section, overlooked by a line of birch trees from theHimalayas.[13][14][15][16]TheRecouverte,the two-storey-high passage through the building between Pariser Platz and Wilhelmstraße, was intended to be open to the public, and is paved like the pavement outside to encourage visitors, but is closed for security reasons.[12][13][17][18][19][20][21]The interior decoration is by the architect's wife, Elizabeth de Portzamparc, withart decotouches in the ambassadorial residence.[19][22]

The foundation stone for the new building was laid in 1998.[23]The building was occupied in October 2002 and formally opened byJacques Chiracon 23 January 2003, the 40th anniversary of theÉlysée Treatybetween Germany and France.[9][12][16][19][20](The embassy was in temporary quarters inKreuzbergandCharlottenburgduring construction.[23][24]) The style is a modernneo-classicalin harmony with the other buildings in Pariser Platz, and conforms to theBerlin Senate's regulations for buildings there.[19][25][26]However, the building was much criticised by the reconstructionistGesellschaft Historisches Berlin(Society for Historic Berlin) and in the city press as resembling a "barricade" or a "bunker".[27][28][29]The narrow windows meant to enliven and give "rhythm" to the massive stone base required by the regulations and by security concerns reminded some of gun-slits.[12][16][19][28]The mayor ofMitte,Joachim Zeller,described the architecture as "wilful".[27]However, the Berlin Senate's Director of Building, Hans Stimmann, defended it as an excellent interpretation of the restrictions and praised the inclusion of a garden, up to then unique in the square.[30]The critique inDeutsche Bauzeitungwas that the façade in the Pariser Platz was for the most part too "cheap" and "banal" to withstand close examination and showed flair only in the angling of the large windows on Pariser Platz towards the nearbyBrandenburg Gate,while much of the building suffered from lack of spaciousness.[31]In contrast, a critic writing in theTagesspiegeljudged it successful in reinterpreting the architecture of the past in present-day terms, and in resembling a palace rather than an office building on the Pariser Platz side, but appropriately suiting the appearance of the Wilhelmstraße façade to its neighbours and its purpose as the entrance to a consular office. He also praised the internal articulation into multiple distinct spaces on multiple levels, the variety of treatments and colourings of the concrete used in construction and the effective use of natural light in a space awkwardly enclosed by the firewalls of adjoining buildings,[21][22]but found the interior decoration somewhat in conflict with the architectural character of the building.[21]Some have found the interior disappointingly incoherent.[32]

References[edit]

  1. ^abcdeHier—un peu d’histoire,Ambassade de France à Berlin(in French)
  2. ^abErwin Maier,Botschaftsgebäude im Diplomatenviertel (Tiergarten) und dem Pariser Platz,thesis, University of Regensburg, Munich: GRIN, 2006,ISBN978-3-638-45481-0,p. 26(in German)
  3. ^Uwe Schaper, ed.,Berlin in Geschichte und Gegenwart,Jahrbuch des Landesarchivs Berlin 2007, Berlin: Mann, 2008,ISBN9783786125693,p. 43(in German)
  4. ^Melanie Mertens,Berliner Barockpaläste: die Entstehung eines Bautyps in der Zeit der ersten preussischen Könige,Berliner Schriften zur Kunst 14, Berlin: Mann, 2003,ISBN9783786123668,p. 188(in German)
  5. ^Bénédicte Savoy, "Eine bewegte Geschichte. Die französische Botschaft am Pariser Platz, 1860–1945", in: Etienne Françoiset al.,Pariser Platz 5. Die französiche Botschaft in Berlin,Berlin: [Nicolai], 2004,ISBN9783875845198,pp. 11–53,p. 23(in German)
  6. ^Hastings, Max (2013).Catastrophe 1914: Europe goes to war(1st American ed.). New York.ISBN978-0-307-59705-2.OCLC828893101.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  7. ^T. H. Elkins with B. Hofmeister,Berlin: The Spatial Structure of a Divided City,London: Methuen, 1988,ISBN0-416-92220-1,p. 201; e-edition Taylor & Francis 2005,ISBN0-203-98402-1,p. 185.
  8. ^Stephen Kinzer,"U.S. Embassy in Berlin to Be Part of a Historic Plaza's Revival",The New York Times,4 August 1996.
  9. ^abUlrich Paul,"Der Neubau der Botschaft wurde am historischen Ort offiziell eröffnet – am Pariser Platz: Die Franzosen sind zurück",Berliner Zeitung,24 January 2003(in German)
  10. ^World Guide to Foreign Services,Weissenberg: World Guides, 1986,OCLC15075821,p. 252.
  11. ^Le Point1990,p. xli(in French)
  12. ^abcdUlrich Paul,"Die französische Vertretung am Pariser Platz will trotz hoher Sicherheitsanforderungen ein offenes Haus sein: Bald bietet die Botschaft Führungen durch das neue Gebäude an",Berliner Zeitung,24 January 2003(in German)
  13. ^abcdeFranzösische BotschaftArchived2012-07-06 at theWayback Machine,Sehenswürdigkeiten, City of Berlin(in German)
  14. ^abMichael Mönninger,"Diplomaten ziehen an den Pariser Platz / Architektur-Modell vorgestellt: Frankreichs Botschafter läßt im Hof hängende Gärten bepflanzen",Berliner Zeitung,16 September 1997(in German)
  15. ^abcLe bâtiment,Ambassade de France à Berlin(in French)
  16. ^abcChristian van Lessen,"Botschaft durch die Hintertür",Tagesspiegel,22 September 2003(in German)
  17. ^Holger Wild,"Französische Botschaft: In Augenhöhe mit dem Reichstag",Tagesspiegel,1 October 2001(in German)
  18. ^Michael Wise, "The Ugly American",Architect,26 September 2008,p. 2.
  19. ^abcde"Französische Botschaft – Die neue Residenz am Pariser Platz präsentiert sich mit sieben Gebäuden und zwei Höfen wie ein kleines Stadtviertel: Die Wahrheit des Materials",Berliner Zeitung,23 January 2003(in German)
  20. ^abChristian van Lessen,"Vive la Pariser Platz: Franzosen locken Flaneure",Tagesspiegel,23 January 2003(in German)
  21. ^abcBernhard Schulz,"Rau, aber herzlich",Tagesspiegel,30 January 2003(in German)(captcharequired)
  22. ^abBernhard Schulz,"Kraftvoll, eigenwillig, störrisch",Zeitung heute,Tagesspiegel,23 January 2003(in German)
  23. ^abClaudia Fuchs,"Richtfest für französische Botschaft am Pariser Platz: Das Gelände kaufte bereits Napoleon III",Berliner Zeitung,4 October 2001.
  24. ^Paul Geitner, "German Govt Return to Berlin Begins",Associated Press28 June 1999,online at Highbeam.
  25. ^Paris Match1999,p. 34(in French)
  26. ^Dirk Verheyen,United City, Divided Memories?: Cold War Legacies in Contemporary Berlin,Lanham, Maryland: Le xing ton, 2008,ISBN9780739118399,p. 113.
  27. ^abUlrich Paul,"Der Neubau der französischen Vertretung am Pariser Platz ist fast fertig / Die eigenwillige Architektur löst Kritik aus: Eine Botschaft wie eine Barrikade",Berliner Zeitung,26 August 2002(in German)
  28. ^abChristian van Lessen,"Ein bisschen anders: Die französische Botschaft am Pariser Platz ist fast fertig—die Meinungen über sie sind geteilt",Tagesspiegel,28 August 2002(in German)
  29. ^"Bunkerhafte Wand",Berliner Zeitung,4 September 2002(in German)
  30. ^[Christian van Lessen],"Auf sehr französische Art: Senatsbaudirektor Stimmann besichtigte Botschaftsneubau am Pariser Platz und verteidigte Architektur",Tagesspiegel,4 September 2003(in German)
  31. ^Falk Jaeger,"neu in... Berlin: Französische Botschaft"Archived2014-03-12 at theWayback Machine,Deutsche BauzeitungApril 2003(in German)
  32. ^Alan Riding,"Embassies Importing Bold Designs to Berlin",The New York Times,26 February 2005, repr. as "Designing Berlin: Embassies dress up a conformist city",International Herald Tribune,28 February 2005,online at Highbeam,.

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52°31′01″N13°22′45″E/ 52.51694°N 13.37917°E/52.51694; 13.37917

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