Preview of the Close-to-Complete Glass Courtyard at the Jewish Museum Berlin

The Glass Courtyard Designed by Daniel Libeskind Will be Opened on 25 September

The Glass Courtyard at the Jewish Museum Berlin will be opened on 25 September 2007 with addresses by Museum Director W. Michael Blumenthal, Minister of State Bernd Neumann, and the architect Daniel Libeskind. Prominent figures from the worlds of politics, business, and culture will attend. Work on the glass and steel construction of Daniel Libeskind’s design entitled "Sukkah" was begun in December 2005 and is now nearing completion, as is the work on the technical infrastructure. Museum Director W. Michael Blumenthal is delighted about the completion of Daniel Libeskind’s unusual addition to the building: Berlin will gain another architectural attraction which will draw Berliners and tourists alike. The complexity of the Glass Courtyard and its fascinating play on light are impressive. Furthermore, the Museum will finally have a large hall in which to hold its diverse educational and cultural events.

We are pleased to invite you to a press preview of the Glass Courtyard prior to its completion: 

When: Friday 3 August 2007 at 11 am*

Where: Jewish Museum Berlin
            Auditorium, ground floor of Old Building
            Lindenstraße 9-14, 10969 Berlin 

*Please plan sufficient time for security checks at the entrance to the Jewish Museum Berlin.

Attended by: 

Dr. Ulrich Klopsch, managing director, Jewish Museum Berlin

Dipl.-Ing. Arch. Matthias Reese, Reese Architekten, contact architect at the Daniel Libeskind; Studio and project director for the glass-roofed courtyard

Dipl.-Ing. Arch. Ulrike Filter, project manager, Jewish Museum Berlin

The New Glass Courtyard at the Jewish Museum Berlin

Daniel Libeskind’s design for the glass roofing over the courtyard of the Old Building is based on a “Sukkah” (Hebrew for tabernacle) and was presented to the public at the exhibition "BUILDING! Jewish Identity in Contemporary Architecture" in spring 2005. The glass roof, which will cover the 670 m² u-shaped courtyard of the Old Building, is supported by four freestanding bundles of steel pillars based on the model of a tabernacle: They tower up to the sky like trees, crowned by the roof. Thus Daniel Libeskind seizes an important image in Judaism: The “Sukkot” Feast of Tabernacles remembers the Jewish exodus from Egypt. The bundles of pillars extend to form a steel network in the roof. A glass facade, of which a wide section can be opened at ground level, looks onto the spacious Museum Garden. 

It is very fortunate for the Jewish Museum Berlin and its building ensemble in Lindenstraße that it was able to win Daniel Libeskind as the architect for the glass roof. There is a creative and a notional connection between the zinc-coated Libeskind Building and the Glass Courtyard, expressed through the networks of lines in particular, so that the new addition harmonizes with the existing building. At the same time, the light-flooded Glass Courtyard has its very own distinctive feel. While the Glass Courtyard’s »tabernacle« theme is one of social gathering, the Libeskind Building’s zigzag form is a metaphorical reference to the tensions and fractures in German-Jewish history. 

The Glass Courtyard will provide the Museum with a hall in which to hold events for up to 500 people year round. Moreover, it will serve to extend the entrance area and therefore improve the regulation of visitor flow. Both have become a necessity due to the high visitor numbers the Museum continues to attract: Since it opened in fall 2001, over four million people have visited the Museum, of them 715,000 just in the last year. These crowds and the multitude of popular cultural and educational events have far exceeded all expectations. The building was designed with far smaller numbers in mind and therefore regularly encounters capacity limitations in the entrance area and at events. The Glass Courtyard provides a successful solution in both architectural and financial terms.

The financing of the 8.2 million Euro project is primarily through sponsors and donors. The Federal Government is contributing 2.5 million Euros to building costs. Fortunately the building project was so well received that the finances were secured in just 18 months. Moreover, despite its great complexity, building work on the Glass Courtyard will have reached completion in a surprisingly short

For further questions please contact us:
Eva Söderman / Melanie von Plocki
Press and Public Relations
Stiftung Jüdisches Museum Berlin
Lindenstr. 9-14, 10969 Berlin
Germany

Telefon: +49(0)30-25 99 34 19 / 456
Telefax: +49(0)30-25 99 34 00
E-Mail:e.soederman@jmberlin.de  m.plocki@jmberlin.de 
Internet: www.jmberlin.de