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Kronprinzenpalais

Coordinates:52°31′02″N13°23′49″E/ 52.51722°N 13.39694°E/52.51722; 13.39694
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Kronprinzenpalais
Kronprinzenpalais
Kronprinzenpalais is located in Berlin
Kronprinzenpalais
Location in Berlin
Kronprinzenpalais is located in Germany
Kronprinzenpalais
Kronprinzenpalais (Germany)
Former namesKönigliches Palais
General information
TypePalace
Architectural styleNeoclassical
Town or cityBerlin
CountryGermany
Coordinates52°31′01″N13°23′46″E/ 52.517°N 13.396°E/52.517; 13.396
Completed1663 (original)
1857 (renovation)
Renovated1970 (reconstruction)
Design and construction
Architect(s)Heinrich Strack (renovation)
Richard Paulick (reconstruction)

TheKronprinzenpalais(English:Crown Prince's Palace) is a formerRoyal Prussianresidence onUnter den Lindenboulevard in thehistoric centreofBerlin.It was built in 1663 and renovated in 1857 according to plans byHeinrich StrackinNeoclassical style.From 1919 to 1937, it was home to the modern art collection of theNational Gallery.Damaged during theAllied bombing in World War II,the Kronprinzenpalais was rebuilt from 1968 to 1970 by Richard Paulick as part of theForum Fridericianum.In 1990, theGerman ReunificationTreaty was signed in thelisted building.[1]Since then, it has been used for events and exhibitions.

Earliest uses

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Johann Arnold Neringcreated the building in 1663–69 as the private residence of Cabinet Secretary Johann Martitz, converting an existing middle-class house.[2][3]From 1706 to 1732, it was the official residence of the governor of Berlin.[4]

Remodelling and use as a royal palace

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Kronprinzenpalais after its first rebuilding
Kronprinzenpalais after remodelling byJohann Heinrich Strack,c.1890
Kronprinzenpalais in ruins, 1947

In 1732,Philipp Gerlachremodelled the building inbaroquestyle with a protruding central bay and a carriage drive rising to the front entrance, to serve as a residence for the Crown Prince, the future KingFrederick II.[2][4]He and his wifeElisabeth Christinestayed there only intermittently before his accession to the throne in 1740, after which he took up residence in part of theroyal palace.He gave the Kronprinzenpalais to his brotherAugustus William;after Augustus William's death in 1758, his widow continued to use it until 1780.

The building was then renovated and refurnished in Neoclassical style (with furniture from Prussia rather than France) and became the residence of Crown Prince Frederick William (the futureFrederick William III) and his wifeLouise,who lived there with their children andCountess Voss,who had an apartment near the entrance.[4][5]They remained there after he became king and the Palace was now calledKönigliches Palais(Royal Palace).[6]Johann Gottfried Schadowcreated his double statue of Crown Princess Louise and her sisterFrederica,thePrinzessinnengruppe,in the palace in 1795–97. The futureEmperor William Iwas born there on 22 March 1797.[7]In the early 19th century,Karl Friedrich Schinkelrenovated several rooms in the palace; he also designed an extension over the Oberwallstraße connecting the palace to theKronprinzessinnenpalais(Crown Princesses' Palace), where the king's three daughters were living; this was built in 1811 byHeinrich Gentzin association with his remodelling of the exterior of the Prinzessinenpalais.[8]After Louise's early death, Frederick William maintained a family shrine to her in the palace.[9]The main building was known as theKönigliches Palais(Royal Palace) until 1840; after 1840, when the king died, it was known as the former Royal Palace, and was not used by any members of the royal family; during the reign ofFrederick William IV,it housed court officials, andRudolf Lepke,who founded a major auction house, grew up there.[10]

In 1856–57,Johann Heinrich Strackextensively rebuilt the palace for William I's son, Prince Frederick William (the futureKaiser Frederick III), giving it substantially its present appearance. Strack replaced themansard roofwith a third storey withCorinthianpillars, and added neo-classical details to the façade, whose columns he changed fromTuscanto Corinthian.[4]The four statues above the entrance remained,[5]but he added a tall columnedporticosurmounted by a balcony. He also built a setback addition on the east side of the building, with acolonnadeon its Unter den Linden and Niederlagstraße sides.[4]After 1861, when Frederick William's father acceded to the throne and he became Crown Prince, the building was once again known as the Kronprinzenpalais; he resided there with his wifePrincess Victoria,daughter of England'sQueen Victoria.

Their eldest son, who would be the last German Emperor asWilhelm II,was born in the palace on 27 January 1859.[11]Princess Victoria welcomed artists and scholars to the palace, includingHeinrich von Angeli,Anton von WernerandAdolph von Menzel.[12]However, after Frederick III's death in 1888 following a 99-day reign, she was usually at her new residence,Schloß Friedrichshof,and the palace was rarely used. Beginning in 1905, it was used as a winter residence by Wilhelm II's heir,Crown Prince Wilhelm,and his wifeCrown Princess Cecilie.During theNovember revolutionin Berlin in 1918, revolutionary leaders addressed the crowd from the entrance ramp of the palace.[13][14]

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After the dissolution of the monarchy, the palace became a possession of the State of Prussia, which gave it to the National Gallery in 1919 to house its drawing collection.[15][16]The director,Ludwig Justi,used this annexe to the existing building (now known as theAlte Nationalgalerie) to house a new department devoted to living artists, theGalerie der Lebenden,something which he had proposed the previous year and which contemporary artists themselves had been demanding.[6][16][17][18][19]This opened on 4 August 1919[20]with approximately 150 paintings and sculptures including naturalistic and FrenchImpressionistworks, a sculpture byRodin(in a room retaining the old palace décor, which also featured paintings byCézanne,Van Gogh,andManet), works representing both the establishmentVerein Berliner Künstlerand theBerlin Secession,and on the top floor in a temporary display, works by members ofDie Brückeand otherExpressionists.[16][19][21]This was the first state promotion in Germany of Expressionist works, which were unpopular with large numbers of the public.[22]The gallery was a pioneer of the museum of contemporary art; in the judgement of the assistant director of the National Gallery at the time, the collection was superior to that of all other German galleries then collecting modern art.[23]It served as a model for later institutions,[21]notably theMuseum of Modern Artin New York, which opened two years after its first director,Alfred H. Barr Jr.,visited the Kronprinzenpalais in 1927.[16][24][25]On the other hand, the art criticKarl Scheffler,who favoured Impressionism and disliked Expressionism, attacked Justi for opening the contemporary art gallery, publishing a book in 1921 with the titleBerliner Museumskrieg(Berlin Museum War).[26]

After the Naziscame to powerin 1933, there was an initial period of tolerance of modern art, but then Hitler ordered the galleries to be "cleansed" of it, in particular the Kronprinzenpalais.[27]In May 1936, works from the Ismar Littmann collection of Expressionist art which had been confiscated by theGestapofrom a Berlin auction house were burnt in the furnace.[28][29]Eberhard Hanfstaengl,the then director of the National Gallery, was ordered to set aside only a few "historically valuable" works and saved five paintings and ten drawings.[29][30]The Expressionist gallery was closed in October 1936, after theBerlin Olympicshad ended, as a "hotbed ofcultural Bolshevism".[31][32][33]

In the 1937 Nazi operation againstEntartete Kunst(degenerate art), the National Gallery lost a total of 435 works.[34][35][36]The Kronprinzenpalais contributed far more works than any other institution to theexhibition by that namewhich opened in Munich on 19 July.[37]The majority of the Expressionist works were officially labelledVerfallskunst(art of decay) the same month. National Gallery Director Justi had been forced out in the 1933 purge of ideologically suspect academics and civil servants; his successor,Alois Schardt,was forced to resign afterBernhard Rust,the Nazi Minister of Education for Prussia, who had responsibility for museums, visited the modern art gallery;[38]he was in turn succeeded by Hanfstaengl, who was also forced to resign after refusing to meet withAdolf Zieglerand his commission charged with identifying and removing the "degenerate" artworks.[39][40]The commission made two "cleansing" visits to the Kronprinzenpalais: on 7 July before the exhibition opened[40][41]and again in August.[37]Some members of the commission were at first reluctant to purge the works ofAugust MackeandFranz Marc,both of whom had died fighting in the First World War; they were ultimately also removed, but works by Marc includingTower of Blue Horseswere removed from theEntartete Kunstexhibition before it moved from Munich to Berlin.[42]The National Gallery was compensatedRM150,000 forThe Garden of DaubignybyVan Goghand RM 15,000 for four paintings byPaul SignacandEdvard MunchbyGöring,who took a group of 13 modern paintings to offer them privately for sale through an art dealer he knew,[43]and roughly one sixth of its total loss of over RM 1 million after the official auctions of "degenerate art" in Switzerland.[44]

Later in 1937, the building became the seat of thePrussian Academy of Arts,whose building inPariser Platzhad been requisitioned byAlbert Speer's office.[45]The Director of theSchauspielhaustheatre in theGendarmenmarkt,Gustaf Gründgens,also temporarily had his office in the building.[46]

In March 1945, the Kronprinzenpalais was gutted in an Allied bomb attack. Until 1958, a ballet school used a remaining rear section, but the site was entirely cleared in 1961.[47]

Reconstruction and postwar uses

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Reconstructed Palais Unter den Linden, 1980

In 1968–69, to complete the restoration of the south side of Unter den Linden and make a suitable visual transition to the newly completedForeign Ministryskyscraper (since demolished) and the rest of the East German government district immediately to the east, the Kronprinzenpalais was rebuilt with approximately the same exterior appearance as after Strack's work byRichard Paulick,a former associate ofWalter Gropiuswho had already rebuilt the Kronprinzessinnenpalais and theState Opera,[48]and Werner Prendel.[4][47](Paulick had originally intended to rebuild it as it had been in 1733, for use as a modern museum, music school, or performance space, but conceptions of the role of the area changed in the 1960s.[47]) However, the top floor was extended to include the east wing to improve the building's proportions,[4]and the interior (1968–70) was modern.[47]As thePalais Unter den Linden,it was used as a guest house by the Magistrat, the governing executive ofEast Berlin.[4][47]TheUnification Agreementwas signed there on 31 August 1990,[47]after which theSenate of Berlintook possession of the building.

The garden, which extends from Oberwallstraße to Niederlagstraße and has underground parking garages under part of it, was newly laid out in 1969–70 by W. Hinkefuß and descends in terraces to a central lawn, and then rises again in further terraces to a restaurant called the Schinkelklause, which incorporates pieces of terracotta and an entrance from Schinkel'sBauakademie,which was partially destroyed in World War II and demolished around 1960. The sculptures in the garden are bySenta Baldamus[de],Gerhard ThierseandGerhard Lichtenfelds[de].[4][47]

From 1998 to 2003, the Kronprinzenpalais was used as temporary exhibit space by theDeutsches Historisches Museumwhile its primary building, theZeughausacross the street,[49]was under renovation. It continues to be used for exhibitions and other cultural events. For example, in 2005 it housed an exhibition onAlbert Einstein,[50]and in spring 2006Joshua Sobol's polydramaAlma,onAlma Mahler,played scenes simultaneously in various rooms, which required temporarily reconstructing the historical appearance of the interior. In 2006 the building housedErzwungene Wege—Flucht und Vertreibung im Europa des 20. Jahrhunderts,a controversial exhibition on expulsions of Germans in 20th-century Europe organised by theFederation of Expellees,[51][52]and in March–June 2012 it housed a three-part exhibition dealing more broadly with forced exile and includingErzwungene Wegeas one of its components.[53]The building is a Berlin historic landmark.[4]

The four statues over the entrance

References

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  1. ^Kronprinzenpalais(in German) Landesdenkmalamt Berlin
  2. ^abHans Reuther,Barock in Berlin: Meister und Werke der Berliner Baukunst 1640-1786,Berlin: Rembrandt, 1969,OCLC476510798,p. 129(in German)
  3. ^Paul Wietzorek,Das historische Berlin: Bilder erzählen,Petersberg: Imhof, 2005,ISBN9783865680501,p. 148(in German)
  4. ^abcdefghijKronprinzenpalaisArchived2015-07-05 at theWayback Machine,Denkmale in Berlin, Senatsverwaltung für Stadtentwicklung und Umwelt(in German)
  5. ^abDaniel Schönpflug,Luise von Preußen: Königin der Herzen; eine Biographie,Munich: Beck, 2010,ISBN9783406598135,pp. 109–11(in German)
  6. ^abBrian Ladd,The Companion Guide to Berlin,Woodbridge, Suffolk/Rochester, New York: Companion Guides/Boydell & Brewer, 2004,ISBN9781900639286,p. 32.
  7. ^Helmut Seier, "Wilhelm I. Deutscher Kaiser (1871–1888)", inDie Kaiser der Neuzeit, 1519-1918: Heiliges Römisches Reich, Österreich, Deutschland,ed.Anton SchindlingandWalter Ziegler,Munich: Beck, 1990,ISBN9783406343957,pp. 395–409,p. 395(in German)
  8. ^Ingrid Nowel,Berlin: die alte neue Metropole; Architektur und Kunst, Geschichte und Literatur,Dumont Kunst-Reiseführer, 6th ed. Ostfildern: DuMont, 2009,ISBN9783770155774,pp. 123–24(in German)
  9. ^Eva Giloi,Monarchy, Myth, and Material Culture in Germany 1750–1950,New studies in European history, Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University, 2011,ISBN9780521761987,p. 54.
  10. ^Giloi,p. 196.
  11. ^John C. G. Röhl, "Wilhelm II. Deutscher Kaiser (1888–1918)", inDie Kaiser der Neuzeit, 1519-1918: Heiliges Römisches Reich, Österreich, Deutschland,ed. Anton Schindling and Walter Ziegler, Munich: Beck, 1990,ISBN9783406343957,p. 419(in German)
  12. ^Kaiserin Friedrich als Künstlerin: Künstlerische Bestrebungen am preußischen Hof in BerlinArchived2013-10-02 at theWayback Machine,Kaiserin Friedrich.de(in German)
  13. ^"Nach der Ausrufung der Republik in Berlin",photograph by Otto Haeckel, 9 November 1918, atGerman Historical Museum[dead link]
  14. ^"Revolution in Berlin 9 November 1918"Archived6 January 2013 atarchive.today,the same picture at Wissenschaft am Abgrund: Weltkrieg und Revolution, slideshow with instructional captions.
  15. ^According to Giloi,p. 345,the Prinzessinnenpalais as well.
  16. ^abcdJesús Pedro Lorente, tr. Rosa Anía and Noel Murphy,The Museums of Contemporary Art: Notion and Development,Farnham / Burlington, Vermont: Ashgate, 2011,ISBN9781409405863,p. 112.
  17. ^Staatliche Museen zu Berlin,Art treasures of the Berlin State Museums,New York: Abrams, 1965,OCLC475266,p. 65.
  18. ^Françoise Forster-Hahn,Spirit of an Age: Nineteenth-Century Paintings from the Nationalgalerie, Berlin,Exhibition catalogue,National Gallery, London,National Gallery of Art, Washington,London: National Gallery, 2001,ISBN9781857099607,p. 55.
  19. ^abJoan Weinstein,The End of Expressionism: Art and the November Revolution in Germany, 1918–19,Chicago: University of Chicago, 1990,ISBN9780226890593,p. 85.
  20. ^Annegret Janda,Das Schicksal einer Sammlung: Aufbau und Zerstörung der Neuen Abteilung der Nationalgalerie im ehemaligen Kronprinzen-Palais unter den Linden, 1918–1945,in association with exhibition, Nationalgalerie (East Berlin),Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst,Staatliche Museen (East Berlin), Berlin: Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst, 1988,ISBN9783926796011,p. 3(in German)
  21. ^abUwe Prell, "Berlin—Bühne des Wandels—Ein Reisebericht", PhD dissertation,Free University of Berlin,Chapter 3(pdf) p. 284(in German)
  22. ^Elizabeth M. Grady, "The Popular Opposition: Politicizing Modern Art in the National Gallery in Berlin, 1918–1933", in Julie F. Codell, ed.,The Political Economy of Art: Making the Nation of Culture,Cranbury, New Jersey: Fairleigh Dickinson University/Associated University Presses, 2008,ISBN9780838641682,p. 96.
  23. ^Stephanie Barron,Degenerate Art: The Fate of the Avant-Garde in Nazi Germany,Exhibition catalogue,Los Angeles County Museum of Art,Art Institute of Chicago,New York: Abrams, 1991,ISBN9780810936539,p. 116.
  24. ^Forster-Hahn,p. 16.
  25. ^Modris Eksteins,Solar Dance: Genius, Forgery and the Crisis of Truth in the Modern Age,Toronto: Knopf Canada, 2012,ISBN9780307398598,n.p.:Barr wrote to the head of the National Gallery,Ludwig Justi:"Our institution seeks to fulfil the function of a Kronprinzenpalais!"
  26. ^"Scheffler, Karl"Archived2012-07-22 at theWayback Machine,Dictionary of Art Historians,retrieved 27 August 2012; Karl Scheffler,Berliner Museumskrieg,Berlin: Cassirer, 1921,OCLC251357313(in German)
  27. ^Jonathan Petropoulos,Art as Politics in the Third Reich,Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 1996,ISBN9780807822401,p. 48:Goebbels wrote in his diary on 15 December 1935: "With the Führer at midday.... The crap must be cleansed from the Kronprinzenpalais."
  28. ^Janda,p. 69.
  29. ^abAnja Heuss,Das Schicksal der jüdischen Kunstsammlung von Ismar Littmann. Ein neuer Fall von Kunstraub wirft grundsätzliche Fragen auf,Neue Zürcher Zeitung,17 August 1998(in German)(online atKulturartikel 2Archived2008-03-27 at theWayback Machine,B'nai B'rithAugustin Keller Loge, Zurich).
  30. ^Jonathan Petropoulos,The Faustian Bargain: The Art World in Nazi Germany,New York: Oxford University, 2000,ISBN9780195129649,p. 287, note 68, p. 68.
  31. ^Petropoulos,Art as Politics,pp. 60–61.
  32. ^"Magere Schultern",Der Spiegel,9 September 1968(in German)
  33. ^Mortimer G. Davidson,Kunst in Deutschland, 1933–1945: eine wissenschaftliche Enzyklopädie der Kunst im Dritten ReichVolume 1Skulpturen,Tübingen:Grabert,1988,ISBN9783878470892,p. 15(in German)
  34. ^Ecksteins,n.p.
  35. ^Nationalgalerie: Verzeichnis der Vereinigten Kunstsammlungen Nationalgalerie (Preussicher Kulturbesitz) Galerie des 20. Jahrhunderts (Land Berlin),(West) Berlin: Mann, 1968,OCLC23118365,p. 5(in German)
  36. ^According toDer Spiegel,it lost a total of around 500 works, 170 of them paintings.
  37. ^abTessa Friederike Rosebrock,Kurt Martin und das Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg: Museums- und Ausstellungspolitik im 'Dritten Reich' und in der unmittelbaren Nachkriegszeit,Ars et scientia 2, Berlin: Akademie, 2012,ISBN9783050051895,p. 74(in German)
  38. ^Petropoulos,Art as Politics,p. 20.
  39. ^Petropoulos,Faustian Bargain,p. 16.
  40. ^abRosebrock,pp. 73–74.
  41. ^Petropoulos,Art as Politics,p. 56.
  42. ^Petropoulos,Art as Politics,p. 57.
  43. ^Petropoulos,Art as Politics,pp. 79–80.
  44. ^Petropoulos,Art as Politics,p. 81.
  45. ^Petropoulos,Art as Politics,p. 73,p. 335, note 100.
  46. ^"Tanz auf dem Vulkan",Der Spiegel,28 September 1981(in German)
  47. ^abcdefg Nikolaus Bernau, "Das Kronprinzenpalais Unter den Linden. Ein Denkmal der DDR-Moderne",Museumsjournal Berlin1 (1999) 4–9 (online at Schlosdebatte.de)(in German)
  48. ^Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Historische Kommission,Neue deutsche Biographievolume 20Pagenstecher - Püterich,Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 2001,ISBN9783428002016,p. 125(in German)
  49. ^Christiane Kruse,Berlin Heute / Today / Aujourd'hui,Munich: Prestel, 2002,ISBN9783791326467,p. 56, photo p. 57.
  50. ^The Location: The KronprinzenpalaisArchived2011-05-11 at theWayback Machine,Albert Einstein—Chief Engineer of the Universe,Max Planck Institute,2005, retrieved 27 August 2012.
  51. ^Severin Weiland,"Ausstellung 'Erzwungene Wege': Auf schmalem Grat",Der Spiegel,10 August 2006(in German)
  52. ^Pressestimmen zur Ausstellung 'Erzwungene Wege—Flucht und Vertreibung im Europa des 20. Jahrhunderts'Archived2009-03-20 at theWayback MachineZeitgeschichte-online, 7 September 2006, retrieved 22 August 2012 (pdf)(in German)
  53. ^Katharina Klotz, "Kronprinzenpalais:Heimatweh—Eine Trilogie",Museumsjournal2 (2012) p. 90(in German)

Further reading

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  • Paul Seidel. "Zur Geschichte des Kronprinzen-Palais in Berlin, insbesondere der ehemaligen Wohnung der Königin Luise".Hohenzollern-Jahrbuch11 (1907) 206–57(in German)
  • Jörg Haspel. "Rekonstruktion als städtebauliche Denkmalpflege? Das Kronprinzenpalais in Berlin". InRekonstruktion in der Denkmalpflege. Überlegungen, Definitionen, Erfahrungsberichte.Ed. Juliane Kirschbaum and Annegret Klein. Schriftenreihe des Deutschen Nationalkomitees für Denkmalschutz 57. Bonn: Deutsches Nationalkomitee für Denkmalschutz, 1998.OCLC470203880.pp. 75–81(in German)
  • Crown Prince’s Palace: Contract Signing in a Magnificent Building.In:Sites of Unity(Haus der Geschichte), 2022.
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52°31′02″N13°23′49″E/ 52.51722°N 13.39694°E/52.51722; 13.39694

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