Germany's long-planned national photography institute is in doubt before it has even opened. The Deutsches Fotoinstitut, intended for Düsseldorf, was conceived as a centre to preserve, promote and disseminate the country's photographic heritage, with archiving and digitisation of holdings and exhibitions among its tasks. Now its realisation hangs on a funding decision in Berlin.

North Rhine-Westphalia's culture minister, Ina Brandes, warned on 10 November that the institute cannot be built without a National Photography Fund to finance its specialist work. The fund was expected to provide 500,000 euros a year from the start, and Brandes insists that money must come from the federal government. Without it, she said, there can be no photo institute at all. Neither the state nor the city of Düsseldorf can step in, she added, because budget rules bar them from covering the cost.

Federal culture minister Wolfram Weimer has said his budget contains no provision for the fund, leaving the Bundestag's budget committee as the last hope. The committee is due to decide on the funding on Thursday 12 November, and Düsseldorf's mayor, Stephan Keller, has also demanded a binding commitment from Berlin.

The stakes are considerable. Construction of the institute was budgeted at 86 million euros, half of it federal, yet an expert report has already put the building cost at 125 million. The federal government is also not covering annual running and staffing costs of four to five million euros, which the state and the city would split. Operations were supposed to begin in 2026, with the building completed by 2031.