The word Reichstag indicates the Imperial Diet, the name given to the general assembly during the German Empire in the 19th century, which it was built to house. Planning started in the 1870s and construction work was slow to start due to several disagreements between Emperor Wilhelm I, chancellor Otto Von Bismarck and members of the Reichstag themselves. Finally, an agreement was made to purchase an aristocratic palace, demolish it and replace it with the Reichstag. The foundation stone was laid down by the Emperor in 1884, with the building being completed in 1894. The iconic inscription for the German People, the 'Dem Deutschen Volke' that can still be read on the Reichstag’s façade was added in 1916, much to the displeasure of the then Emperor, Wilhelm II, who was considerably less democratically inclined than his predecessors.