Max Lingner, Aufbau der Republik, 1950-1953
© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2026
10 Sonnenallee
Building the Republic
The mural Aufbau der Republik (Building the Republic) was designed in 1952 by Max Lingner in response to a commission by the GDR government and to this day decorates the open porchway of the Detlev-Rohwedder-Haus facing Leipziger Straße. The building – now housing the Federal Ministry of Finance – had been constructed by the Nazis and originally served as the Reich’s Ministry of Aviation (RLM). The mural was intended to help lend it a new political identity within the still young GDR. During the design process Lingner was required to follow strict political instructions, as a result of which the work – painted on tiles of Meissen porcelain – had to be redone a total of six times.
The mural displays an ideological cross-section of society: alongside demonstrating workers and young people, there is a group of young women, musicians, workers, motifs of heavy industry as well as construction and agriculture and a young family. The original designs had to be supplemented with blue FDJ shirts, Young Pioneer neckerchiefs, and an architectural reference to the Stalinallee, the largest construction project in the GDR of the early 1950s. The picture gained an additional historical dimension when demonstrators gathered on the day before the popular uprising of 17 June 1953. Wolfgang Rüppel alludes to these multiple layers of meaning in a photographic memorial which was set into the forecourt floor in 2000, reflecting Lingner's work formally while at the same time commenting on the contradictions between political vision and social reality. Despite its strong symbolic appeal, Lingner’s frieze – in common with many mosaics from the GDR – has now largely faded into obscurity.
Max Lingner, Aufbau der Republik, 1950-1953
© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2026
For What If Berlin, Akira Takayama transposes unrealised projects from the archives of the Berliner Festspiele and other Berlin cultural institutions, as well as from architects and artists, into the present and asks us which vision we want to realise in the future.
The future vision for the project Building the Republic, that will be presented in the frame of What If Berlin from 28 August 2026 onwards, will respond to the following question: What if Berlin never finished building the republic?
Which of the 27 visions for the future is the most exciting? Which project does Berlin need in future? Which idea should actually be realised?
Until 30 September 2026, you can vote for up to three of the 27 visions for the future. The results will be displayed live to give the latest impression of the public’s reactions.