In January 1985, nearly 41 years after its destruction, the Golden Hall in the Augsburg City Hall reached the first stage of reconstruction and work on one of the princes' chambers saw completion. It took five years to reach this point and 35 years before the decision was made to begin the work since most art historians and curators advised against it on account of the near-total destruction of the hall and chambers in the war. The experts recommended against a reconstruction of a work of art so closely tied to the hand of the artist but emotional considerations, which are beginning to assert themselves more strongly again, won the upper hand because the Augsburg City Hall was not only one of the most outstanding works of art in Germany but also a landmark and symbol of the city. It was therefore decided to proceed with the restoration in three stages, each requiring a higher degree of skill, the last stage to be completed by artists. One of the motivating elements was the fact that the Golden Hall had been completely documented with 170 color photographs just before its destruction and that many black and white photos of an earlier period were still on hand. The ceiling which was completed three years ago is already beginning to show a normal aging process and the reconstructed hall gives a surpringly successful spatial impression. The completion of the final stage will depend on the success of the samples of work submitted. Masters must be found who can bring off a satisfactory synthesis between an exact copy and a genuine work of art, even if this makes competitive bidding impracticable. Only in this way will the complete Golden Hall reemerge from its interim stage. -- AATA