The Berlin State Monument Office has placed the leisure and recreation center (FEZ-Berlin, formerly Pionierpalast “Ernst Thälmann”, opened in 1979) in the Wuhlheide in Treptow-Köpenick under monument protection. This decision recognizes the architectural and historical significance of the building complex, which is a unique testimony to the history of the GDR. At today’s press event, Christian Gaebler, Senator for Urban Development, Building and Housing, Dr. Christoph Rauhut, State Conservator and Head of the Berlin Monument Office, Dr. Antonia Brauchle, Head of the Treptow-Köpenick Lower Monument Protection Authority, symbolically presented the monument plaque to Dr. Margrit Witzke and Chris Berghäuser, Managing Director of FEZ-Berlin.
Dr. Antonia Brauchle, Head of the Lower Monument Protection Authority at the Treptow-Köpenick Urban Development Office: “We are delighted that a further building block of recent history has been added to the district’s diverse heritage landscape with the FEZ. One of the core ideas of monument protection and conservation is preservation. But this approach is not synonymous with standstill and a ban on change. Listed buildings are always caught between the conflicting priorities of preserving certain qualities on the one hand and adapting and building on the other. With its use as an open house for participation, movement, creativity and exploration from the time of its construction until today, the FEZ has already proven that it is capable of change and always invites new appropriation.”
Further information and images can be found here: https://www.berlin.de/landesdenkmalamt/aktivitaeten/fez-unter-denkmalschutz-gestellt-1560083.php
