It was one of the greatest ideas Berlin’s then Senator for Culture Joe Chialo (CDU) was allowed to take up and ventilate in the summer of 2023. The Central and State Library (ZLB), according to his sensational drumbeat, could move to the Galeries Lafayette after all. The debate about a new location for the library suddenly took off again.
All suggestions from the past as to how the ZLB could be helped with its three dilapidated locations in the America Memorial Library (AGB), Breite Straße and the external magazine at Westhafen were forgotten. Liven up the city palace, ICC or the former Tempelhof airport building? A new building at the Red Town Hall or at Blücherplatz next to the General Terms and Conditions? Forgot everything in one fell swoop. Yes, it would be expensive, they said. Maybe around 600 million euros.
But what is 600 million euros for a place for three million visitors a year, young, poor, rich, old, German, non-German, female, male, diverse and hungry for reading?
What are 600 million for a third place for urban society beyond consumer terror and hustle culture, and in one of those city centers that can no longer be saved by shopping for a long time?
Other libraries are also expensive
Many people argued that the construction of the next section of the A 100 would be more expensive. And flagship libraries like the Deichman Library in Oslo or the Oodi Library in Helsinki didn’t exactly cost a penny either. It’s just that different priorities are set there than in our small Prussian province.
The Lafayette idea not only immediately enchanted the library and cultural scene, but also large parts of politics and urban society. At a tolerated occupation at the end of 2024 After all, even the authors of this newspaper were on fire, who until then had not been known as promoters of a better library system in this city.
All of that is now a thing of the past. Not a beautiful, large library, but the music company Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) will be the main tenant in the “Lumina” office and commercial building on Berlin’s Friedrichstrasse, in the former Lafayette, at the beginning of 2027. The company announced this in a press release on Tuesday.
Berlin has to save now
This means that the Lafayette idea has also symbolically arrived on the ground of facts, on which it has actually been trolling for a long time. Because as we all know, Berlin has to save money. At a time when youth clubs and senior citizens’ facilities in the districts are fighting for survival, as are the majority of cultural workers 600 million for building a library is simply very difficult to justify. The suggestion that the ZLB move into the Galeria Kaufhof on Alexanderplatz doesn’t help much.
Still, it’s sad. Anyone who still associates BMG with a record label that not only benefits from the creative location but also discovers and develops interesting acts on their own doorstep is no longer quite up to speed with how the music industry works today. BMG is now a rights and publishing company.
Many Berlin musicians won’t even know that the company is based in Berlin. It won’t change the meditative flair of Friedrichstrasse if a few music administrators go there for lunch in the future.