25T40 30 years to draping Berlin’s Reichstag

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E39, B34.

In 1995, I had just moved from Vancouver to Toronto for postgrad studies. I knew little of the world, and even less of the natural world into which I threw myself.

In 1995, Berlin had seen some big changes over the years. Yes, this is a deliberate understatement: 2 World Wars, an economic crash in between, a Cold War complete with partition of the city within the first 60 years. In 1989, the Berlin Wall fell; a year later in 1990, the two Germanys reunified into a single nation.

In 1995, the iconic legislature building, the Reichstag, was completely enveloped in white shiny fabric: this was “Wrapped Reichstag” by Christo & Jeanne-Claude. Their enormous artwork set talking heads in both cultural and political arenas on fire in Berlin and around the world.

It’s 2025, and over 14 nights in June, a light-display every evening on the Reichstag building commemorates the 1995 “wrap”. The free show runs every 20-minutes between 930pm and 1am, from 9 June to 20 June inclusive.

Room for the space (sky) above.
0.5x magnification, with room in the plaza below.
Added in 1916, the inscription at the front of the legislature building is “to the German people.” The design and font were made by renowned city architect Peter Behrens; the bronze letters were made from 2 French cannons captured during the Napoleonic Wars of 1813-15.
2.5-minutes: “covering” the Reichstag with light.
1-minute: the “draping” comes down.

I made all media above with an iPhone15 on 16 June 2025. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

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