Elbphilharmonie

Although many foreigners regard German technology as top-notch, we are miserable at finishing major construction projects.

The most striking example is the Hauptstadtflughafen Berlin-Brandenburg (capital airport). Groundbreaking was in September 2005, and completion was planned for 2011. Since then, many severe planning and construction mistakes have piled up, delaying work. 

Now the airport is expected to open in one year. Costs have exploded from initially 2.5 billion to 6.5 billion euros in 2016. At present, Willy Brandt, whose name is reserved for this building site that will someday be finished, is no longer turning over in his grave but instead rotating.

Another example is Stuttgart 21, the new underground central train station in Baden-Württemberg's capital. The project was started in February 2010, and the station's commissioning was initially planned for December 2019. Meanwhile, the date was moved to December 2021, while experts consider the station's opening by the end of 2022 more likely. Initially planned for 4.5 billion euros, Die Bahn (Germany's federal railway) corrected the sum to 5.987 billion in July 2013, deliberately avoiding the 6 billion mark (not marks but euros!). Independent cost estimates put the final cost at 6.8 billion euros.

So with some pride, on November 2, a minor construction project, although significant for costs and delays, finally came to an end.

Finished (©Der Spiegel)

Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie will be the new landmark of Germany's biggest port, located within the harbor.

©Der Spiegel

News people have already started comparing the Elbphilharmonie with the Sydney Opera House.

©Der Spiegel

The cornerstone-laying ceremony for the building took place in April 2007; the initial authorized costs were 241 million euros, and the Elbphilharmonie was scheduled for completion in 2010. 

Six years later, the total costs reached 789 million euros, i.e., a more than threefold increase in money for a construction period of nearly 10 years instead of four. NDR's (North German Broadcasting) satirical television show Extra Drei rightly tweaked the exultant photo above.

Expensive (©NDR)

At the inauguration ceremony, Hamburg's mayor Olaf Scholz (Social Democrat) said that the decision to build the Elbphilharmonie was correct, indirectly praising his predecessor Ole von Beust (Christian Democrat). Scholz had to swallow the high costs. The Elbphilharmonie is not only a fascinating building, he said, but one of the best concert halls in the world.

This is the true Hanseatic spirit: Forget party lines when Hamburg's interests are at stake. With both Hamburg soccer teams ranking last in their respective national leagues, they are no longer attractive to watch. Therefore, the city needs other tourist highlights. It would like to attract more people, not only those visiting Hamburg's red-light district Reeperbahn and Große Freiheit, but also cultivated music lovers.

In connection with the inauguration, Red Baron learned that the word Philharmonie is of French origin. The two components root in ancient Greek philos, meaning friend, loving, and harmonia, euphony, music. Humanistically educated Frenchmen coined the word philharmonique, from which the English philharmonic and the German philharmonisch were derived and adopted.

The official opening concert is scheduled for January 11, 2017, and on January 18, Red Baron will already listen to Haydn's Die Schöpfung (The Creation). I truly deserve it; whenever I was in Hamburg over the last ten years, I always wondered whether I would live long enough to listen to music at the Elbphilharmonie. Let us keep our fingers crossed.

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