The return of Berlin's City Palace

It's 580 years since its cornerstone was laid, 63 years since it was torn down and 20 years since the debate over its reconstruction heated up. Now, Berlin's City Palace is finally going to make a reappearance in the capital. The cornerstone was laid on June 12 in a ceremony with German President Joachim Gauck.

It will take at least until 2018 for the site to regain not only its countenance, but also its cultural and historical significance. The Berlin Palace will complete the ensemble that is comprised of the Berlin Cathedral, the Museum Island, the Lustgarten park and the Zeughaus, an old arsenal building. The project carries a hefty price tag of 590 million euros ($780 million).

The story behind the Berlin Palace began in 1443. Prince-elector Frederick II of Brandenburg, nicknamed "Irontooth," began building a castle directly on the River Spree in order to gain control of the trade routes. Floor plans of the original structure have been lost. This painting depicts the second building constructed on this site, an impressive Renaissance-style castle from the 16th century.

Dating from 1652, this is the oldest existing map of Berlin. At the time, it consisted of two cities: Berlin in red and Cölln in yellow. When the map was drawn, Cölln-Berlin was an insignificant, run-down village. Destruction caused during the Thirty Years' War from 1618 to 1648 had set the town back to the Middle Ages.

In 1701, Frederick III of Brandenburg was crowned King of Prussia and took the name Frederick I. He was in need of a dwelling that suited his new status, so he commissioned architect Andreas Schlüter to turn the Palace into Germany's largest Baroque residence.

Schlüter built a 120-meter tower in 1706, but the foundation wasn't strong enough to support it. The tower had to be laboriously deconstructed, and Schlüter was fired. His successor, Eosander, wanted to crown the west gate with a large dome. Before he could finish it, the king died and Eosander was chased out of court. Finally, architects Stüler and Schinkel managed to build a dome in 1850.

For nearly 500 years, the Palace was a permanent construction site. Every ruler had it rebuilt according to the current fashion, at least on the inside. But the outside was more stable: the outer structure remained largely true to Schlüter's plans of 1700. In the late 19th century, William II commissioned the last major renovations, including modern plumbing, heating and lighting.

Tens of thousands of people gathered in front of the Berlin Palace when Germany declared war on Russia on August 1, 1914. A few minutes after this picture was taken, William II stepped onto the balcony to prepare the people for war. "I know no political party and no denomination; today we are all German brothers," he said in the historic speech.

Emperor William II resigned on November 9, 1918. At the Reichstag, Social-Democrat Philipp Scheidemann declared the new German republic. Two hours later at the Berlin Palace, communist Karl Liebknecht declared a socialist republic. Revolutionaries occupied the Palace until the army pushed them out on December 24. Pictured are the spectators who came to gawk at the havoc left behind.

Hit by Allied bombs on February 3, 1945, the Palace burned for four days, but its outer walls remained intact. When Berlin was divided up in the aftermath of World War II, the Palace was located in the Soviet sector, which would become part of communist East Germany. With the approval of the communist party, the SED, head-of-state Walter Ulbricht had the Palace demolished in 1950.

In 1974, the Palace of the Republic, seat of the East German parliament and a cultural center, was built right next to the where the Berlin Palace had stood. The building was constructed with a skeleton made of steel - and 5,000 tons of poisonous asbestos to protect it from fire.

After German reunification in 1990, it was easier to once again refer to the site as Palace Square (Schlossplatz). The asbestos used in the Palace of the Republic was cause for concern and the building was closed in September 1990. It was too dangerous to demolish it quickly, since that would release cancer-causing asbestos into the air. Instead it was slowly gutted and finally torn down in 2008.

Shortly after reunification, in 1991, a passionate debate began over the possible reconstruction of the Berlin Palace. Should it be rebuilt true to one of the historical versions, or should a new, modern palace be placed on the historical site? Design contests were held and architectural models were made, but it wasn't until 2002 that the German government decided to go ahead with reconstruction.

This version by Berlin model builder Pascal Lenhard was constructed in only 1,000 hours and with a relatively small budget. Made of some 400,000 Lego pieces, his miniature Palace is a model of Italian architect Franco Stella's design for the life-size reconstruction. Stella won the international contest since, according to the jury, his design provided a modern response to a historical building.

Three sides imitate the former Baroque facade of the Berlin Palace, while the fourth wall bridges the past and the present. The resulting complex is to be called Humboldt Forum, in the spirit of the famous German explorer. It will house important academic collections and host events that further intercultural dialogue.