Berlin’s Jewish Museum gets new Libeskind extension

Berlin Jewish Museum gets Libeskind extension

BERLIN — The Jewish Museum in Berlin will get a new extension designed by architect Daniel Libeskind, who also designed the zigzag-shaped main exhibition hall.

Museum spokeswoman Melanie von Plocki told the German news agency DAPD on Tuesday that a 19th century market hall for flowers, across from the original museum, would be turned into exhibition space by autumn 2011.

Construction will begin this summer. The cost is estimated at euro10 million, to be funded by the federal government and private donations.

The first building, which opened in 2001, has become a tourist destination. It has been celebrated as a memorial to Jews in Germany: its jagged structure evoking a deconstructed Star of David, suggesting the dramatic break in history wrought by the Holocaust.