German Chancellor Angela Merkel attended the official opening ceremony of the James-Simon-Galerie on 12 July which opened to the public the following day. In her speech, the Chancellor said the new entrance building has given Museum Island a new structure that is sympathetic to its historic context, as part of the five buildings forming the “universal museum of human history”.
The Chancellor stressed the importance of museums as a place for education and exchange, where the past and future can come together. Through their exhibits, museums can show that far more connects than divides us.
The completion of the last new building on Museum
Island is not only a landmark in the history of this World Heritage site, but
also marks the end of 20 years of work by David Chipperfield Architects on the
Museum Island, which began with the task of rebuilding the Neues Museum.
Image © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin / David von Becker