Object description

The Berlin Palace , formally the Royal Palace , on the Museum Island in Berlin was the main residence of the House of Hohenzollern from 1443 to 1918. Expanded by order of King Frederick I of Prussia according to plans by Andreas Schlüter from 1689 to 1713, it was thereafter considered a major work of Prussian Baroque architecture. The former royal palace was one of Berlin’s largest buildings and shaped the cityscape with its 60-meter -high dome. Damaged during the Allied bombing in World War II, it was demolished by the East German authorities in 1950, and later became the location of the modernist East German Palace of the Republic. After German reunification and several decades of debate and discussion, the Palace of the Republic was itself demolished and the Berlin Palace is being partially reconstructed to house the Humboldt Forum museum.