Reichstag Building

The Reichstag Building at Platz der Republik in central Berlin has served as the seat of the German parliament since its completion in 1894 and again since the reunification government relocated from Bonn in 1999. Paul Wallot designed the building in an eclectic neo-Renaissance and neo-Baroque style; construction took ten years from 1884, and the inscription Dem Deutschen Volke (To the German People) was added to the facade in 1916 over Kaiser Wilhelm II's objections. On 9 November 1918 Philipp Scheidemann proclaimed the German Republic from one of its windows during the German Revolution, ending the Hohenzollern monarchy. On 27 February 1933, just weeks after Hitler became Chancellor, the Reichstag was set on fire, and the Nazi government used the arson as a pretext to suspend civil liberties through the Reichstag Fire Decree — communist Marinus van der Lubbe was convicted and executed, though the question of broader responsibility remains contested. The building fell into disuse under the Nazi dictatorship, sustained severe damage in the Battle of Berlin in 1945, and stood as a gutted shell in West Berlin through the Cold War, used intermittently for exhibitions. After reunification it was selected as the seat of the reunited Bundestag. British architect Sir Norman Foster won the renovation commission and transformed the building while crowning it with a new glass dome (Kuppel), completed in 1999. The dome's double-spiral walkway ascends to the roof terrace at approximately 40 metres, offering 360-degree views across Berlin, while a central cone of mirrors directs natural light into the plenary chamber below, a deliberate architectural metaphor for parliamentary transparency. Preserved Soviet soldiers' graffiti from the 1945 capture of Berlin, protected under glass panels in the interior, serves as a permanent reminder of the war's conclusion. Visits to the dome and roof terrace are free but require advance registration via the Bundestag's official visitor service.