The long-awaited opening of Berlin’s Humboldt Forum took place yesterday afternoon, ending a years-long wait that saw a torrent of missives, protests, and other public backlash against the €680 million ($800 million) project hosted by the city’s Museum Island.

Franco Stella’s reconstructed royal palace stands as a "meeting place with the cultures of the world" in the city of roughly 3.8 million, maintaining within its mix of modern and Baroque styles a dual look at both the history of Germany and of its namesake. The latter being mired in controversy owing to the erstwhile Humboldt brothers’ involvement in Colonialism.

Originally set for an opening in 2019, its construction has been delayed several times because of overruns and a slate of technical issues. Faulty air conditioning, entryways that were too small, and obtrusive pipework were then followed by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to push the date back and further fuel public outcry which by then had reached a fever pitch.

Perhaps the most notable of the controversies was the fate of the so-called Benin Bronzes stolen from West Africa during the 19th-century reign of Emperor Wilhelm II. After a long-running campaign for restitution, the Forum on its own accord has said it will display only replicas of objects it has since set out to return to native countries like Namibia in a move that echoes recent repatriation efforts undertaken by the German state with the guidance of several African nations. 

The 42,000-square-meter museum hosted a partial opening ceremony to commemorate the inauguration of the building in December (although no guests were allowed in) and will now open its doors to visitors for the first time with a spate of six exhibitions about the fusion of society and the natural world that will then be followed by a staggered opening of the permanent exhibition of its more controversial ethnological and Asian Art collections at the end of September.