Wilhelm von Boddien's historic moment came in June 1993. At that time, the image of the former Hohenzollern residence on Berlin's Schlossplatz grew in a short construction period from six hundred tons of steel scaffolding and nine thousand square meters of painted plastic sheeting.

For fifteen months, until it was dismantled in September of the following year, the façade simulation was the talk of the town in Berlin – and with it the name of Boddiens, who had just recently co-founded the Berlin Palace Friends of the Rhineland and has since served as its chairman.

Andrew Kilb

Feature correspondent in Berlin.

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The facade coup financed by donations turned the public discussion about the redesign of Berlin's center in favor of the palace reconstruction, which took shape from 2002 onwards under the name Humboldt Forum.

Boddien also played an important role in its realization.

Because when the federal government and the state of Berlin agreed on a new building with federal funds in 2007, they gave the Schlossverein the task of raising the estimated eighty million euros for the facade and dome from donations.

In the years that followed, this sum grew to 105 million euros.

Nonetheless, Boddien and the club managed to fully recruit them.

The dome is a thorn in the side of activists

As it turned out last year, the busy Boddien also accepted money from donors on the far right.

There is, of course, another reason why most federal politicians apparently avoid showing up with him at the official meeting in the Humboldt Forum and acknowledging his role in the construction of the building.

Since the foundation stone was laid nine years ago, post-colonial activists have increasingly taken over the interpretive sovereignty over the forum.

The facade with the dome, which is crowned by a Christian inscription and a golden cross, is a particular thorn in their side.

However, Wilhelm von Boddien always defended both the baroque exterior of the palace and the modern interior.

He remains true to his historical moment.

On Sunday, the Hamburg merchant, who comes from an old Mecklenburg noble family with politically and artistically active members - one of his ancestors sat in the Paulskirche parliament, another relative was a member of the German National People's Party in the Reichstag - eighty years old.