Berlin. (N)ostlagic Landscapes

The article discusses some of Berlin's recent memorial landscapes. By examining some of the ways in which the monumental engages with notions such as memory, rhetoric, nostalgia and iconoclasm, it explores different instances of the memorial landscape arena, as conveyed through monumental expressions of architecture, either as a symbol of a rejected past (Palast der Republik) or as the re-enactment of the nineteenth century as a promise for a better future (Stadtschloss). The two urban situations reflect extreme attitudes towards urban memory and renewal, that both engage the question of memory as a central theme.

 Key words: Berlin, memorial landscapes, nostalgia, Ostalgie, rhetoric, iconoclasm.