Berlin's Kaiser Wilhelm belltower near collapse

The bombed-out belltower of Berlin, a jagged and bruised symbol of the city, is crumbling fast and needs urgent restoration work if it is to survive as one of the most potent European memorials of the horrors of war.

That was the verdict yesterday of an architectural survey team, which has stirred the debate over the preservation of ruins from the Second World War. “We were stunned when we read the surveyors’ report,” said Matthias Hoffmann-Tauschwitz, building supervisor of the German Protestant Church.

Not entirely surprising: ruins are much more prone to deterioration than buildings that are intact. Read the rest here.

Posted by David on April 17, 2007 5:31 PM