Description

The historical significance of Schönhausen Palace in no way ranks behind the outer appearances of this complex. Through unusually good fortune, the palace was spared the ravages of war. Though the building was frequently remodelled in the following years, due to intensive use for high offices of state and for administration, the Frederician Baroque architecture as well as the vestiges of history are still visible. The three-winged complex with the double stairway was not only the residence of Queen Elisabeth Christine, the spouse of Frederick the Great, but was also later used as an exhibition space, a depository for "Degenerate Art", a casino, a boarding school, the official residence of the president of the GDR, and a place for political negotiations during the peaceful revolution in 1889. The park, through which flows the river Panke, was once designed as a pleasure garden by Elisabeth Christine. Commissioned by Friederike von Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Peter Joseph Lenné transformed it into an English landscape park.