Special Spaces, Special Places: Palais Populaire

Five fascinating buildings were on the sightseeing list of our "Architecture to go" walk in April. In the heart of Prussian Berlin, Ulf Meyer skillfully connected the State Opera by Knobelsdorff, the newly renovated, brilliantly white St. Hedwig’s Cathedral, and the Palais Populaire.

Along our path, we passed by the Neue Wache and learned that it was former Chancellor Helmut Kohl who once decided that Käthe Kollwitz's Pietà would be displayed there in an enlarged version.

We also owe the wonderful glass limestone extension to the historical museum to him. He chose the Chinese American "architect of the triangle," I. M. Pei, who also designed the glass pyramid at the Louvre, to design it.

For the Palais Populaire, the rooms of the historic Princess Palace were redesigned by the Berlin architectural firm Kuehn Malvezzi. They transformed the interior of the building into an innovative stage for contemporary art and culture. Specializing in museum and exhibition architecture, the architects also created the Rieckhallen at the Hamburger Bahnhof and the extension of the Berggruen Museum—both definitely worth a visit. There’s still much to discover in Berlin.