Even in Berlin, where revival is rampant, one building stands out

Just what the Communists had in mind when they blew up the Berlin Stadtschloss in 1950 is anybody's guess. As a political statement it was obscure—not least because at about the same time, they began rebuilding other historic sites. But Berlin's castle, which for 500 years had been the architectural heart of a thriving city, was reduced in a single moment of political folly to a heap of rubble.

A boxy Palast der Republik in shiny dark orange was built on the spot, a modern ahistoric place with a decorative crystal tree, special subsidized restaurants for festive occasions, and, as it turned out, tons of asbestos. (It's been covered in scaffolding while Berlin figures out what to do with the entire site.)

Why not just rebuild the old schloss? Thanks to Wilhelm von Boddien, an aristocratic Hamburg businessman who has made this project his personal crusade, what was once deemed an extravagantly expensive and reactionary proposal now seems to be reaching reality. At fiWrst dismissed as a harmless eccentric, later ridiculed by a skeptical press, and then viewed with alarm by his opponents (who want either a spanking modern building or to keep the Palast as a memento of communism), Boddien has emerged triumphant. Last year, Germany's parliament approved the resurrection of the schloss by a landslide vote. The Baroque facade is to be faithfully reconstructed over a ten-year period. The funds—more than $600 million—are to come from a combination of public and private sources, and the modern interior will house several museums, a convention center, and restaurants and meeting places.

When the project is finished, Berlin will finally have its old ceremonial center back. Before the war, the place for serious strutting was Unter den Linden, a café-lined avenue stretching from the Brandenburg Gate to the castle. Now that the bombed, dilapidated boulevard has been largely rebuilt, the absence of the schloss is felt like a phantom limb. All of the city's legendary buildings were designed with it in mind, and the more old Berlin comes back to life, the greater the argument for the schloss. The cost may seem immense in a city skirting bankruptcy, but what Berlin has to offer is history and culture. As Boddien said: "Ultimately, it's about art and beauty, not about right or wrong."