Germany opens new Chancellery

Architect Axel Schultes, right, presents Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder with a symbolic key to the new building

BERLIN, Germany -- The German government has inaugurated its new chancellery amid an ongoing dispute over its size.

Against a backdrop of the building's sandstone-and-concrete façade, architect Axel Schultes presented Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder with a symbolic key to the front doors.

The chancellery has fallen foul of critics who say its colossal proportions are too monumental for a nation that has made a point of exercising self-restraint in the aftermath of the Nazi era.

But Schroeder, who himself has joined in the criticism, moved to put an end to the discontent in his opening speech, said the Associated Press.

He described the chancellery as "a magnificent and impressive building," and referring to two of Germany's famous royal palaces, said: "We're not moving into Sanssouci or Neuschwanstein today.

"We're not going to rule from here, we're going to govern. That's something completely different."

The chancellor has been working from the former eastern Berlin headquarters of the leaders of East Germany prior to the move from Bonn, which began in 1999.

With the inauguration of the building, "the move of the government to Berlin is finally complete," he said.

Schroeder also maintained that the completion of the new government quarter finally banished the ghost of Adolf Hitler's ambitions to build the focal point of his remodelled Berlin on the site.

"This 'bombastic runway of evil' as a clever critic called it, has finally been overcome," Schroeder said. "That's a great achievement."

Architect Schultes said his building was meant to generate "enthusiasm" for Germany's post-war democracy, reported the Associated Press.

The new Chancellery is 118 feet high, faces the landmark Reichstag parliament building and is close to Berlin's signature Brandenburg gate.

Schroeder began working in the new building on Monday, and the first Cabinet meeting there immediately followed Wednesday's inauguration.

Federal German Parliament

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