Story Highlights
- Historical event:
- 19 April 1999
- Interestingly, in 1999 the Bundestag in Berlin moved into the same building where the parliament was located in the era of Adolf Hitler. This was the famous Reichstag building, which in the meantime had to be reconstructed in detail.
On this day in 1999 the parliament of the united Germany met in Berlin after a hiatus of about 56 years (actually almost a full 57).
In fact, the last German parliament in Berlin before that met back in 1942, at the time of Adolf Hitler. After World War II, West Germany (The Federal Republic of Germany) had a parliament in Bonn, called the Bundestag (Federal Parliament).
When the two Germanys united in 1990, the Bundestag became a common parliament, which at first still met in Bonn. Only in the year 1999, on this day, was the parliament transferred to Berlin, which also became the capital of the united Germany.
Interestingly, the Bundestag in Berlin moved into the same building where the parliament was located in the era of Adolf Hitler. This is the famous Reichstag building, which in the meantime had to be reconstructed in detail, because it was burned back at the beginning of Hitler’s reign (the famous “Reichstag fire” that Hitler used to frame and outlaw the communists).
During restoration, the Reichstag building received a new dome, designed by world renowned architect Norman Foster (now Lord Foster). Thus the restored building is now one of the biggest tourist attractions in Germany. Specifically, according to the number of visits is the second most visited building in Germany, after the famous cathedral in Cologne.
