The 

Reichstag (German: Reichstagsgebäude [ˈʁaɪçstaːksɡəˌbɔʏdə]; officially: Deutscher
Bundestag – Plenarbereich Reichstagsgebäude [ˈdɔʏtʃɐ ˈbʊndəsˌtaːk ˈpleːnaːɐ̯bəˌʁaɪç
ˈʁaɪçstaːksɡəˌbɔʏdə]) is a historic edifice in Berlin, Germany, constructed to house the Imperial
Diet (German: Reichstag) of the German Empire. It was opened in 1894 and housed the Diet
until 1933, when it was severely damaged after being set on fire. After World War II, the building
fell into disuse; the parliament of the German Democratic Republic (the Volkskammer) met in
the Palast der Republik in East Berlin, while the parliament of the Federal Republic of
Germany (the Bundestag) met in the Bundeshaus in Bonn.
The ruined building was made safe against the elements and partially refurbished in the 1960s,
but no attempt at full restoration was made until after German reunification on 3 October 1990,
when it underwent a reconstruction led by architect Norman Foster. After its completion in 1999,
it once again became the meeting place of the German parliament: the modern Bundestag.
The term Reichstag, when used to connote a diet, dates back to the Holy Roman Empire. The
building was built for the Diet of the German Empire, which was succeeded by the Reichstag of
the Weimar Republic. The latter would become the Reichstag of Nazi Germany, which left the
building (and ceased to act as a parliament) after the 1933 fire and never returned, using
the Kroll Opera House instead; the term Reichstag has not been used by German parliaments
since World War II. In today's usage, the word Reichstag (Imperial Diet) refers mainly to the
building, while Bundestag (Federal Diet) refers to the institution.

Contents

 1History of the building

o 1.1Imperial and Weimar Republic eras
o 1.2Nazi period
o 1.3Cold War
o 1.4Reunification
 2Dome
 3See also
 4Notes
 5External links

History of the building[edit]

The Königsplatz with the Raczyński Palace in 1880 (Brandenburg Gate on the right)
The Reichstag building with the Victory Column on the Königsplatz, c. 1900

Reichstag building, constitution celebration, 11 August 1932

Imperial and Weimar Republic eras[edit]

Construction of the building began well after the unification of Germany in 1871. Previously, the
parliament had assembled in several other buildings in Leipziger Straße in Berlin but these were
generally considered too small. So, in 1872 an architectural contest with 103 participating
architects was carried out to erect a new building. After a short survey of possible sites, a
parliamentary committee recommended the east side of the Königsplatz (today, Platz der
Republik), which was occupied by the palace of a Polish-Prussian aristocrat, Athanasius
Raczyński.
Work did not start until ten years later, owing to various problems with purchasing the property as
well as arguments between Wilhelm I, Otto von Bismarck, and the members of the Reichstag
over how the construction should be performed. After lengthy negotiations, the Raczyński Palace
was purchased and demolished, making way for the new building.

Memorial Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, architectural inspiration for the original Reichstag Building

In 1882, another architectural contest was held, with 200 architects participating. This time, the
winner—the Frankfurt architect Paul Wallot—would actually see his Neo-Baroque project
executed. The direct model for Wallot's design was Philadelphia's Memorial Hall, the main
building of the 1876 Centennial Exhibition.[2] Wallot adorned the building's façade with crowns
and eagles symbolising imperial strength. The building's four corner towers represented the four
German kingdoms at unification, Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony and Württemberg, and the
heraldic coat of arms of each kingdom, as well as smaller devices representing various German
city-states, flanked the main entrance, celebrating the process of unification.[3] Some of the
Reichstag's decorative sculptures, reliefs, and inscriptions were by sculptor Otto Lessing.
On 29 June 1884, the foundation stone was finally laid by Wilhelm I, at the east side of the
Königsplatz. Before construction was completed by Philipp Holzmann A.G. in 1894,[4] Wilhelm I
died (in 1888, the Year of Three Emperors). His eventual successor, Wilhelm II, took a more
jaundiced view of parliamentary democracy than his grandfather. The original building was
acclaimed for the construction of an original cupola of steel and glass, considered an engineering
feat at the time. But its mixture of architectural styles drew widespread criticism.[5]
In 1916 the iconic words Dem Deutschen Volke ("To the German People") were placed above
the main façade of the building, much to the displeasure of Wilhelm II, who had tried to block the
adding of the inscription for its democratic significance. After World War I had ended and Wilhelm
had abdicated, during the revolutionary days of 1918, Philipp Scheidemann proclaimed the
institution of a republic from one of the balconies of the Reichstag building on 9 November. The
building continued to be the seat of the parliament of the Weimar Republic (1919–1933), which
was still called the Reichstag. Up to 42 protesters died during the Reichstag Bloodbath of
January 13, 1920, when workers tried to protest a law that would restrict their rights, it was the
bloodiest demonstration in German history.[6] [7] [8]

Nazi period[edit]
Main articles: Reichstag fire and Reichstag (Nazi Germany)

DDR stamp, 1970

Graffiti left by Red Army soldiers in the Reichstag, mentioning Bashkiria and Oryol.

The building caught fire on 27 February 1933, under circumstances still not entirely known. This
gave a pretext for the Nazis to suspend most rights provided for by the 1919 Weimar Constitution
in the Reichstag Fire Decree, allowing them to arrest Communists and other enemies, and
increase police action throughout Germany.
During the 12 years of Nazi rule, the Reichstag building was not used for parliamentary sessions.
Instead, the few times that the Reichstag convened at all, it did so in the Kroll Opera House,
opposite the Reichstag building. This applied particularly to the session of 22 March 1934, in
which the Reichstag surrendered its powers to Adolf Hitler in the Enabling Act, another step in
the so-called Gleichschaltung ("coordination"). The main meeting hall of the building (which was
unusable after the fire) was instead used for propaganda presentations and, during World War II,
for military purposes. It was also considered for conversion to a flak tower but was found to be
structurally unsuitable.
The building, never fully repaired after the fire, was further damaged by air raids. During
the Battle of Berlin in 1945, it became one of the central targets for the Red Army to capture, due
to its perceived symbolic significance. Today, visitors to the building can still see Soviet graffiti on
smoky walls inside as well as on part of the roof, which was preserved during the reconstructions
after reunification.
On 2 May 1945, Yevgeny Khaldei took the photo Raising a flag over the Reichstag, which
symbolized the victory of the USSR over Germany.
The Reichstag on fire (27 February 1933)

Reichstag in postwar occupied Berlin, 3 June 1945

Cold War[edit]
When the Cold War emerged, the building was physically within West Berlin lying in the British
zone, but only a few metres from the border of East Berlin, which ran around the back of the
building and in 1961 was closed by the Berlin Wall. During the Berlin blockade, an enormous
number of West Berliners assembled before the building on 9 September 1948, and Mayor Ernst
Reuter held a famous speech that ended with "Ihr Völker der Welt, schaut auf diese Stadt!" ("You
peoples of the world, look upon this city!")

Reichstag building in 1970, before reconstruction of the dome.

After the war, the building was essentially a ruin. In addition, there was no real use for it, since
the seat of government of West Germany had been established in Bonn in 1949. Still, in 1956,
after some debate, the West German government decided that the Reichstag should not be torn
down, but be restored instead. However, the cupola of the original building, which had also been
heavily damaged in the war, was demolished. Another architectural contest was held, and the
winner, Paul Baumgarten, reconstructed the building from 1961 to 1964. He removed all
sumptuous heraldic statues, monuments, decorations, and the like that harked back to the
mythology of the German past from the inside, and also the largest ones on the outside of the
building. In effect, he created a plain building inside the historic Reichstag, retaining only the
outer walls stripped of most of their statues and decoration.
The artistic and practical value of his work was the subject of much debate after German
reunification. Under the 1971 Four Power Agreement on Berlin, Berlin was formally outside the
bounds of either East or West Germany, and so the West German parliament, the Bundestag,
was not allowed to assemble formally in West Berlin. This prohibition was obeyed even
though East Germany had declared East Berlin its capital, violating this provision. Until 1990, the
building was thus used only for occasional representative meetings, and one-off events, such as
a free concert given by British rock band Barclay James Harvest on 30 August 1980.[9] It was also
used for a widely lauded permanent exhibition about German history called Fragen an die
deutsche Geschichte ("Questions to the German history").