The Zeughaus is one of the oldest and most important baroque buildings in Berlin. It is home to the German Historical Museum(Deutsches Historisches Museum).
The Zeughaus was constructed as an artillery store in 1706. Construction supervisor was originally Nering, the architect of Schloss Charlottenburg; after his death, Grünberg took charge of the shell, and Andreas Schlüter took on the overall supervision. The four-winged building, whose sides are around 90m long, is built around a courtyard (Schlüterhof). Its total appearance reflects the harmony between the strict classical divisions of the façade, and richly ornamented. baroque sculptural reliefs.
The Zeughaus was transformed into a "Hall of Fame for the Prussian Army", a military museum, in 1875. From 1949-65 the building was restored following extensive war damages, and the interior was completely redesigned. In 1952, it became the Museum for German History. After a long closing and extensive restaurations the permanent exhihition of the German Historical Museum in the Zeughaus is since 2006 open to the public.
In May 2003 opened the extension building of the famous architect I.M. Pei well known for the pyramids he created at the Louvre. The elegant building made of sand stone and glass is very harmonic to the historic buildings in Mitte. The temporary exhibitions of the Deutsches Historisches Museum (Museum for German History) are now presented here.