REICHSTAG, Introduction

Hi, my name’s Rick, and I’m your personal guide. Along with MyWoWo, I’d like to welcome you to one of the Wonders of the World: the Reichstag.

The Reichstag is the seat of the German Parliament.

Following centuries during which it was divided into a number of small states, German Unification officially occurred in 1871, and Berlin became the capital. The decision was thus taken to build the Reichstag, which means “imperial parliament”; the name was maintained even after the monarchy was abolished following the First World War. It was here, in fact, from one of the windows you can see before you, that the member of parliament, Philipp Scheidemann, proclaimed the birth of the German Republic on November 9, 1918. 

Designed by the German architect Paul Wallot, the building was not inaugurated until 1894. It remained the seat of parliament until it was destroyed by fire on February 27 1933, an event that altered both the fate of the edifice and of Germany itself: Hitler accused the Communists of setting fire to the building, using this as a pretext to get rid of the opposition and establish a dictatorship.   ...