- Type
- Palace / château
- Built
- 1677 · 17th century
- Style
- baroque architecture
- Commissioned by
- Frederick I of Prussia
- Architect
- Johann Arnold Nering, Rutger van Langevelt
- Coordinates
- 52.4439°, 13.5728°
History
The island where the Dahme meets the Spree was settled in prehistoric times, and a Slavic stronghold stood here by the 8th or 9th century; in the 12th century it was ruled by the Slavic prince Jaxa of Köpenick, and around 1245 the Ascanians took the site. In 1558 Elector Joachim II Hector built a Renaissance hunting lodge in place of the old castle, and in 1631 King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden made it his headquarters while trying, without success, to bring his brother-in-law Elector George William into the Thirty Years' War. From 1677 the present Baroque palace was built for the electoral prince Frederick, later King Frederick I, to designs by Rutger van Langevelt and then Johann Arnold Nering, together with a palace church consecrated in 1685. In 1730 the Hall of Arms hosted the court martial of Crown Prince Frederick, the future Frederick the Great, and his friend Hans Hermann von Katte, accused of desertion. In the 19th century the building served among other things as a prison for political detainees and as a teacher training college; it has housed a museum since 1963 and reopened in 2004 after lengthy restoration.
What to see
The palace is a branch of the Kunstgewerbemuseum (Museum of Decorative Arts) of the Berlin State Museums. The permanent exhibition fills 21 rooms on three floors with interior furnishings from the 16th to the 18th centuries – furniture, panelling, stoves and decoration – and the grandest room is the Baroque Hall of Arms. Until October 2027 there is also an exhibition of pewter from the Middle Ages to Art Nouveau. The palace is surrounded by a park with a path along the Dahme, the building next to the church houses a restaurant, and in summer the courtyard is used for concerts.
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