The original building was completed in 1894 to house the Reichstag, the parliament of the German Empire. In 1916, the words "Dem Deutschen Volke" (To the German People) were added to the facade. A fire in 1933 significantly destroyed the building and not until after the reunification of Germany did the reconstruction begin and then completed in 1999. During the Cold War, the Reichstag was on the West side of the dividing line which ran just behind it by a few feet. Today it is the meeting place of the German parliament.