Monument to Freedom and Unity

The Freedom and Unity Monument on the Schlossfreiheit opposite the rebuilt Berlin Palace is a federal memorial to the 1989 peaceful revolution and German reunification – Berliners simply call it the Einheitswippe, the "unity see-saw." The Bundestag commissioned it in 2007; Stuttgart studio Milla & Partner won the 2010 competition with a 50-metre walkable dish that tips when enough people gather on one side – literally democracy through collective action. The inscription WIR SIND DAS VOLK / WIR SIND EIN VOLK quotes the Leipzig Monday demonstrations. Construction has been delayed for years by heritage disputes, costs and a colony of bats living in the pedestal. Visit today and you mostly see the granite plinth of the former Wilhelm I monument, awaiting the see-saw – an unfinished promise right next to the Humboldt Forum.