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Wrapped Reichstag, Project for Berlin is a 1995 environmental artwork by artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude. The wrapped up Reichstag building is one of the most well-known public art projects. Aluminum-coated propylene was used for a wrapper.
A German citizens' group had advocated unsuccessfully for the project in 1978. The focus on a building, which still held deep German national identity symbolism prior to reunification, would have required unavailable political will. In 1989 Rita Süssmuth, the newly elected President of the Bundestag, expressed interest in a project, [1] that meanwhile had been rejected three times across six Bundestag presidents over a period of 24 years. On 26 February 1994 the vote count was 296 for and 228 votes against the project.
Wrapped Reichstag mounted in 1995 for two weeks as 100,000 square meters of the silvery looking fabric fastened with blue rope draped the building. The Reichstag, which had not been in legislative use since the ominous Reichstag fire of 1933, was later reconstructed for parliamentary use in 1999. [2]
Christo described the Reichstag wrapping as autobiographical. [3] The art project became symbolic of unified Germany and marked Berlin's return as a world city. [4] The Guardian posthumously described the work as Christo's and Jeanne-Claude's "most spectacular achievement". [5]
Media related to Wrapped Reichstag at Wikimedia Commons
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