Berlin New Guard Building

The Neue Wache with the Zeughaus from Bebelplatz in the centuryXIX.

The New Guard (in German, Neue Wache) is a neoclassical building located in the historic center of Berlin, built between 1816 and 1818 in according to the plans of the German architect Friedrich Schinkel as a guardhouse of the Royal Palace and a monument to the German Campaign of 1813, part of the War of the Sixth Coalition.

History

Its construction began in 1816 and was completed in 1818. It is located in the city of Berlin on Unter den Linden boulevard near Bebelplatz —formerly Opera Square— and next to the Zeughaus, today occupied by the Deutsches Historisches Museum. It is opposite the opera building or Staatsoper Unter den Linden.

Originally the headquarters of the troops of the Prince of Prussia, it has been used since 1931 as a votive building in the redesign due to Heinrich Tessenow. Tessenow opened in the center an oculus or circular light to the outside.

It was a monument to the victims of fascism during the existence of East Germany.

Currently it is a memorial monument to the "victims of war and dictatorship" and under the oculus is the statue Mother with dead son by Käthe Kollwitz, also called La Pietá Kollwitz. Exposed to the sun, rain and snow, it symbolizes the suffering of Berliners during World War II.

Images

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  The Kollwitz Pietá.

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  Celebration in 1905.

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  In ruins towards 1947.