Reichstag building “re-wrapped” in homage to iconic 1995 art installation

30 years after artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude impressively wrapped the Reichstag in silver fabric, a light show will “re-wrap” the building every night until June 20.

Light show simulates Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s Wrapped Reichstag

Paying homage to Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s 1995 artwork Wrapped Reichstag, which saw the German parliament entirely wrapped in 100.000 square metres of silver fabric, a new light show has “re-wrapped” the building.

Every evening, between 9:30pm and 1am, until June 20, images of draped silver fabric will be projected onto the building’s façade. Estimated to cost half a million euros, the light installation is funded by the Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation. With both members of the Bulgarian-French artist duo now deceased, the foundation is run by their nephew, Vladimir Yavachev.

Original Verhüllter Reichstag symbolised the new Germany

Christo and Jeanne-Claude first had the idea to wrap a public building in 1961. They would wrap a fountain in Spoleto, Italy, the Kunsthalle in Bern and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago in 1968. The plan to wrap the Reichstag began in 1971.

“In the course of 24 years, we worked with six different presidents of the Bundestag and were refused three times. [...] Then finally, in 1994, it went to a vote and we won,” Christo recounted in 2017.

“As a Bulgarian refugee who fled communism, east-west relations are very important,” Christo said. Unveiled just five years after reunification, the wrapping was supposed to symbolise German unity.

When wrapping day came, the couple’s team of over 100 employees abseiled down the Reichstag building, spreading out the silver material with their hands. Crowds came to watch, and after the wrapping was complete, five million people visited the installation over the course of two weeks. 

According to Christo, Berlin wanted to keep the original installation up for longer, but the duo refused, “If you don’t see it, you don’t see it,” he said. So now is your twice-in-a-lifetime chance!