Prussian Classicism

Museumsinsel – © Scholvien

The Hohenzollern dynasty has given Berlin its very special architectural character. “Prussian’s glory” was also supposed to mirror itself in the urban planning. Locations and places such as the Gendarmenmarkt or the Pariser Platz bring well done Italian flair to the Spree.
The most magnificent palace of Berlin was built faraway however, in Charlottenburg. Planned as a small garden castle for Sophie Charlotte, the Charlottenburg Castle, in its close to 100-year period of construction, became under significant contributions by Eosander from Göthe, Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff and Carl Langhans to the dome-tower, east and west wings, great orangery and castle theatre, a landmark of the city.
However, the leading example of Prussian architecture is without a doubt the Museumsinsel—something like the acropolis of the arts. They used almost all of the important architects of the city—Schinkel, Langhans, from Knobelsdorff, Stüler and Nering—are tightly linked with the island.
The former Opernplatz, the today’s Bebelplatz Unter den Linden, forms in its annexure the Centre of the Forum Fridericianum, which goes back to the designs of King Friedrich II and his architect Knobelsdorff. The Forum came into being after Friedrich II accession to power, starting 1741 as the new science-centre and the central artistic point of the Prussian Kingdom. The former royal court opera, the today’s Staatsoper Unter den Linden, rises up as the first and oldest construction of the Forum Fridericianum.
Directly behind the opera, between 1747 and 1773, arose St. Hedwig’s Cathedral, with its impressive 40-metre in diameter large dome, a house of God in the style of the Roman Pantheon. Precisely the diverse build styles, from Classicism over to the Baroque up to Rococo, make up the beauty of the place.
The Prussian King Wilhelm IV wanted to create and know a “sanctuary for art and science” on the land of the Spree island, north of Schinkels old museum. The architect Friedrich August Stüler, who after Schinkels early death in 1841 was in charge of carrying out the royal wishes, saw in his designed and in 1855 founded Neue Museum “a middle-point for the folk’s highest interests of the mind”; no minor demands then, which oriented themselves onto the Museumsinsel.
The Museumsinsel was however only built to completion and finished for a short time: for the nine years between the opening of the Pergamonmuseum in 1930 and the closing of all museums with the start of the war in 1939. The restoration of the Museumsinsel, with more than 2.5 million Euros, is thus Germany’s largest cultural investment project. The Neue Museum, out of all the collections on the island, was hit the hardest by aerial bombs and artillery-fire, and was only opened again in 2009.