A memorable act on historical soil: On Sunday, March 2, 2008, at 5 p.m. at Potsdamer Platz (Potsdamer Platz station, entrance at BahnTower, near the "Sony Center") the monument "Giordano Bruno" of Berlin artist Alexander Polzin will be unveiled by Dr. André Zeug (CEO of Deutsche Bahn Station&Service AG).

Speeches will be held by writer Durs Grünbein, Dr. Ernst Salcher (member of the Giordano Bruno Stiftung) and the ambassador of the Italian Republic to Germany Antonio Puri Purini, who is the patron of the event alongside the Ambassador of the Republic of Hungary. The six-metre-high bronze sculpture, which commemorates the philosopher burned as a heretic in Rome on February 17, 1600, and which, according to gbs spokesman Michael Schmidt-Salomon, "can be understood beyond Bruno's individual fate as a general 'memorial to the victims of religious violence'," was donated by the following institutions and persons: Giordano Bruno Stiftung, Uni Credit Italia, Humanismus-Stiftung Berlin, Ernst Salcher, Wera and Norbert Noetzel. Deutsche Bahn AG kindly provided the site for the erection of the Bruno monument. The Giordano Bruno Stiftung would like to thank all those who contributed to the realization of the monument, in particular the artist Alexander Polzin, who pushed the project forward with relentless dedication.

On the occasion of the monument unveiling, a reading and panel discussion titled "From Nola to Berlin. What does Giordano Bruno tell us today?" take place in the Senate Hall of the Humboldt-University of Berlin (beginning: 7:30 p.m.). After a brief introduction by Jürgen Renn (director at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin), actor Ulrich Matthes (Deutsches Theater, Berlin, known to the general public for his portrayal of Joseph Goebbels in the film "The Downfall") will read writings by Giordano Bruno. Christoph Markschies (president of Humboldt-Universität) will then host a panel discussion on the relationship between science, society, and religion. Participants of the panel are historian and philosopher of science Yehuda Elkana (rector and president of the Central European University, Budapest), philosopher Michael Schmidt-Salomon (spokesman of the Giordano Bruno Stiftung), Giordano Bruno specialist Paul Richard Blum (Loyola College, Baltimore), and Islamic scholar Reinhard Schulze (University of Bern).

In addition, the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, and the Central European University will host the scientific colloquium "Turning Traditions Upside Down. Rethinking Giordano Bruno's Enlightenment" at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, which gathers the most important Bruno researchers from all over the world to take an inventory of our current knowledge about Giordano Bruno.
 

Further information:

PDF document: "Giordano Bruno in Berlin - Skulptur, Podium, Kolloquium" (German)

PDF document of the colloquium: "Turning Traditions Upside Down. Rethinking Giordano Bruno's Enlightenment" (English)