probably the most significant work of mies van der rohe and a key reference in 20th century modernist architecture is the “the barcelona pavilion”, the german national pavilion for the 1929 barcelona international exhibition. it must have been avant-garde in its time. since the inauguration it has been studied several times and it has been inspiring several generations of architects, and it still does.
in 1930 after the international exhibition it has been demolished, but in 1983 it was decided to rebuild the pavilion because of its importance in architecture history. now it hosts the mies van der rohe foundation, which is a non-profit public entity devoted to fostering the cultural debate on contemporary architecture. the foundation is also entrusted with preserving and disseminating knowledge about mies van der rohe's german pavilion and organization of the european union prize for contemporary architecture -mies van de rohe award. since the rebirth of the pavilion in 1986 they’ve tried to restore the nearby environment, as it was 1929.
the only practical function of the barcelona pavilion was to host the king and queen of spain as they signed the "golden book" at the barcelona international exhibition in 1929. so it was to be whatever mies chose to make of it. mies made a statement, one about contemporary germany. |
