The Humboldt Box in Berlin is a temporary information center and exhibition space for the Humboldt Forum reconstruction project. The Forum will occupy the site of the former Berliner Stadtschloss (Berlin City Palace), http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/berliner-stadtschloss-to-humboldt-forum/, which gave way to the Palast der Republik (Palace of the Republic) in the 1970’s. http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/the-palast-der-republik-lives-on/. Both edifices were eventually razed for various reasons.

The reconstructed City Palace – renamed Humboldt Forum – will serve as a cultural center. Its exterior will resemble the former Stadtschloss; its interior will be modern. An extension of Berlin’s State Museums and Humboldt University, the Humboldt Forum is currently under construction with an anticipated completion date of 2019. Upon completion of the Forum, the Humboldt Box will be dismantled.

Why the Humboldt Box?

The idea of the Humboldt Box is based on a similar structure that once stood at the Potsdamer Platz when that area underwent extensive construction. That structure was called the “Info Box.” Its purpose was to raise public awareness of the Potsdamer-Platz-project. The plan succeeded and the Info Box attracted close to  nine million visitors. Similarly, the Humboldt Box, which opened in 2011, now ranks among the city’s top attractions.

What is on Display in the Humboldt Box?

Spread across 32,000 feet and five floors are a number of exhibition and event spaces, a video screening area, a gift shop, a restaurant and large terraces overlooking the construction site and the central city.

On the first floor, the Stiftung Berliner Schloss-Humboldt Forum, (Foundation Berlin Palace-Humboldtforum) outlines the history of the site and the plans for its development. Also highlighted is the hi-tech construction technology used in the project. A tremendously detailed, large-scale model of “Berlin around 1900” is on display. It was created and donated by Horst Duehring.

Model of “Berlin around 1900” on display at the Humboldt Box. The model was created and donated by Horst Duehring. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, April 2016, www.walled-in-berlin.com

On the second and third floors, the Ethnological Museum, the Museum for Asian Art and the Humboldt University outline their plans for the Forum and exhibit part of their collections.

The fourth floor is reserved for private events.

On the fifth floor visitors can relax in the restaurant while taking in the panoramic view across the construction site and Museum Island. http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/berlins-museum-island/

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Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.