Berlin City Palace
Posted: 15:09:49 Saturday, 15 October, 2016
The Berliner Stadtschloss is a dreary sight, by European royal standards. Rebuilt by the "Frederick Irontooth" after the Thirty Years War, on the foundations of an ancient medieval fortification, the days when architects like Nicodemus Tessin, Johann Nering and Martin Grünberg laboured on its facades and columns are now long gone. Frederick the First, the first "King in Prussia", took great interest in its expansion - his son, Frederick William, less so. The Soldier King, at times dressed in a simple uniform like the common men, sold off his father's horses, jewels and furniture upon gaining the throne in 1713. Dismissing the craftsmen, having no interest in marble luxury, he ensured that the plans of the last court architect - Johann Friedrich Eosander von Göthe - remain uncomplete. Scaffolding cling to the palace backside, and the grand complex is treated more as a military headquarters and a relatively warm place to spend the long winter months.
His Majesty Frederick William I, the King in Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg, of the House of Hohenzollern.
