Overview

• After roughly 25 years idle, the fountain at the former Staatsratsgebäude was switched back on Sunday for the Tag des offenen Denkmals.
• Conservation authorities and ESMT opted for a full reconstruction because the 250,000 glass tesserae and the 16×10 meter basin were too deteriorated to restore.
• The original mosaic stones are now archived in storage, and new tiles recreate the floral design with two operating jets.
• The project cost about €500,000, funded by the federal government (€200,000), Berlin (€100,000), ESMT (€100,000) and small donors (€100,000).
• The garden will be accessible to the public during ESMT’s regular hours, with the reopening attended by Mayor Kai Wegner and heritage chief Christoph Rauhut.