The placement of the buildings corresponds to the placement of the Nordic countries on the map.
15:31•Updated 15:45
Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Iceland are opening a joint embassy in Berlin today.
The ceremonial opening can be watched live via the main image of the article starting at 3:40 p.m.
Representatives from all Nordic countries will participate in the event.
The party is hosted by the President of the German Federation Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
According to the program, the guests arrive in the following order
Berlin’s culture senator arrives first Joe Cialo and Secretary General of the Nordic Council of Ministers Karen Ellemann.
After this, the Swedish Crown Princess Victoria and the prince Daniel, Crown Prince of Norway I’m hooked and the crown princess Mette-MaritPresident of Iceland Halla Tómasdottir and his spouse Björn SkulasonPresident of the Republic Alexander Stubb and mrs Suzanne Innes-Stubb and the king of Denmark Frederick X and the queen Mary.
After them, the German foreign minister arrives Annalena Baerbock.
The last to arrive is the President of the Federal State of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Mrs Elke Büdenbender.
The presidents, the king, the crown prince and the crown princess take the stage and alternately give a short speech in English.
Plot already from 1912
The embassies of Finland and Sweden were originally built on the site of the current embassies already in 1912.
These buildings were destroyed in World War II. The property was more or less wasteland for 50 years.
Over the decades, the Nordic countries had already often planned a joint embassy abroad. In 1995, the idea was decided to be implemented in Germany, when East and West Germany were united and the capital changed from Bonn to Berlin.
It was decided to organize an architectural competition, in which 223 architects from all EU countries eventually participated. It was won by Austrian-Finnish architects Alfred Berger and Tiina Parkkinen.
The building complex has a Felleshus community center and each country has its own embassy.
The motto behind the complex is “all independent, but together”. As a sign of unity, the plot is surrounded by a turquoise copper grid, which is almost 230 meters long.
Each country’s own materials have been used in the buildings of each country.
The buildings are located in the same places as on the map, and the three water basins between them depict the North Sea, the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia.
The Finnish building has larch on top of the glass. The Danish embassy has an open glass facade. Sweden also has large glass surfaces and Gotland’s limestone. The facade of the smallest house, i.e. Iceland, is made of red rhyolite stone formed during volcanic eruptions.
The most visible part of the embassy is the 15-meter-high and 120-ton granite slab raised on the facade of the Norwegian embassy. It is 900 million years old and transported to the site from Iddefjord in southern Norway.