The Complex History of a Building With the temporary exhibition pavilion of the German Reich at
the 1929 International Exposition in Barcelona Mies van der Rohe designed an architectural
icon but also a controversial monument of the way the Weimar Republic portrayed itself. The
building is one of the most unusual success stories in the history of architecture: Despite its
short existence its reputation grew steadily in the following decades thanks in part to
magnificent photographs. It was soon considered the constructed manifesto of the Modern Age
and its spatial and ideational ambitions were called a milestone of Modern architecture. This
comprehensively broadly researched book portrays the building's complex history and its
political entanglement-up to and including its reconstruction according to van der Rohe's plans
at the original site between 1983 and 1986. Presumably the most important and influential
architectural icon of the 20th century uniquely documented and depicted On the occasion of the
50th anniversary of Mies' death and the Bauhaus centenary Many never before published
photographs from archives in the US Germany and Spain
