Kulturforum

The Kulturforum is characterized by its innovative modernist architecture; several buildings are distinguished by the organic designs of Hans Scharoun, and the Neue Nationalgalerie was designed by Mies van der Rohe.

Today, the Kulturforum lies immediately to the west of the redeveloped commercial node of Potsdamer Platz.

Among the cultural institutions housed in and around the Kulturforum are: After World War II, the public art collections were divided by the Berlin Wall, with particularly the Old Master paintings split between the Bode Museum in what became the east, and a temporary exhibition space in Dahlem, a western suburban district of Berlin.

Public opinion at the time of reunification strongly favored a return of the Old Masters to their historical home at the Bode Museum.

[1] The Neue Nationalgalerie became the centerpiece of the new complex, completed in 1998 when the long-planned $140 million Gemäldegalerie was opened nearby to house paintings of the 13th to 18th centuries.