The poetic, lucid photographs in her latest project document the restoration theNeues Museum, centerpiece of the Museum Island in Berlin, which was badly damaged during World War II. The British architect David Chipperfield was commissioned to transform the ruin back into a functional museum. His plans were controversial, but the spectacular results show that he was right. Starting from a conservational approach, Chipperfield preserved the Neoclassical lines while at the same time creating modern spaces of amazing elegance. Friederike von Rauch accompanies the exciting final stage of the renovation work, capturing David Chipperfield’s determination to reveal historical breaches while reconciling them with the demands of a contemporary museum. The chill of marble and a timeless elegance predominate in the photos Friederike von Rauch has selected for our Collector’s Editions. Old and new architectural elements complement each other harmoniously, creating an intriguing overall image. Nordkuppelsaal 1 shows, among other things, two heroic frescoes by August Ferdinand Hopfgarten and Adolf Schmidt, while Griechischer Hof 1 feature sections of Hermann Schievelbein’s monumental frieze of the destruction of Pompeii.
