The Missing House

This monument by Christian Boltanski shows the names of former residents of the middle flats on Große Hamburgerstraße destroyed by bombing. These residents, if they were still alive, could not return to the houses they had lived in after the war and the building was never rebuilt.

On the two remaining empty facades, a series of signs were affixed with the name, occupation and occupation period of the tenants who lived in the destroyed middle section. Extensive research by the two of the co-artists, Christiane Büchner and Andreas Fischer revealed the tenants of that period, their occupation and how long they had lived there.

The facades are currently (2024) being insulated so the artworks are temporarily invisible. After the work is completed, the signs will be reinstalled.

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Source

• Text: Fedor de Vries
• Photos: Fedor de Vries (1, 2), Ewoud van Eig (3, 4), Fabio de Angelis (5)