Charlottenburg Palace
Charlottenburg Palace is Berlin's largest and most important royal complex — a summer residence of the Prussian kings from 1701 to 1888, now a museum. Construction began in 1695 and continued in stages until 1791, with architects Johann Friedrich Eosander, Knobelsdorff, and Carl Gotthard Langhans each adding their mark; the result is a single building that spans Baroque, Rococo, and Neoclassical styles under one roof. The gardens running down to the Spree were first laid out as a formal French garden from 1697. The palace was heavily damaged in World War II and rebuilt to its original appearance. Inside, every corner rewards a closer look: gilded figures above the entrance, an orangery tucked into the west wing, a garden pavilion with its own story.
Germany · 6 The overlooked corners inside
The overlooked corners inside
The Great Orangery
Standing before this long, slender building on the palace's west side, it is hard to picture its original purpose: a winter home for plants. Each cold season the gardens' tender potted trees — oranges, lemons, and bitter oranges — were carried into the Great Orangery to wait out the frost. In summer, once the plants moved back outdoors and the hall stood empty, it transformed again into a venue for court festivities. One building: half the year a nursery, half the year a banqueting hall. It still keeps to that hospitable trade today, hosting events of every kind.
Sources: de.wikipedia.org
Charlottenburg Palace Garden
Berliners simply call this 55-hectare park the "Schlosspark." Its first form was quite different from today's rolling lawns: from 1697, Siméon Godeau laid it out as a strict French Baroque garden. The garden front of the main building was lined with Baroque parterres, and among the groves to the east and west, near the River Spree, stood three fishing houses and a small harbour, from which two barges set out for Berlin each day. The grounds also held ponds, a bowling alley, and even a pheasantry.
Sources: de.wikipedia.org
New Pavilion (Schinkel Pavilion)
Right beside the palace's east side stands a small, squared white building — the New Pavilion, also known as the Schinkel Pavilion. In 1822 the Prussian king Frederick William III travelled to the seaside at Naples and stayed in a villa he could not forget; the following year he commissioned the architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel to build him a Classicist house here in the manner of an Italian villa, completed in 1824–1825. It was raised not for affairs of state but as a home for the king to share with his second wife.
Sources: de.wikipedia.org
Käthe Kollwitz Museum Berlin
In the Theatre Building at the western end of the palace is an artist's museum devoted to the work of the Berlin artist Käthe Kollwitz. It was not always here — only on 24 September 2022 did the museum reopen in this Theatre Building at Spandauer Damm 10, beside Charlottenburg Palace. For anyone touring the palace, it is an easily missed but rewarding stop.
Sources: de.wikipedia.org
Schloss Charlottenburg
The main palace building is a relay race through Prussian architecture. In 1695, Elector Frederick III — later King Frederick I of Prussia — commissioned Johann Arnold Nering to build a modest summer residence west of Berlin; it was completed in 1699. When his wife Sophie Charlotte died suddenly in 1705, the king named both the palace and the nearby town after her — that is where the name Charlottenburg comes from. What stands today dwarfs that original design: between 1709 and 1712, Eosander von Göthe extended the central block into a domed projection rising 48 metres, topped by a gilded figure of Fortuna; between 1740 and 1747, Frederick II had Knobelsdorff add a Rococo wing on the east side; between 1786 and 1791, Frederick William II had Langhans append a theatre wing and a smaller orangery. The finished palace holds Baroque, Rococo, and Neoclassical architecture simultaneously.
Sources: de.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · wikidata.org
Statue of Fortuna, Goddess of Fate
Look up to the top of Charlottenburg Palace's dome and you will see a gilded figure — Fort… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: de.wikipedia.org
FAQ
What overlooked corners are worth seeing inside Charlottenburg Palace?
The Great Orangery, Charlottenburg Palace Garden, New Pavilion (Schinkel Pavilion) and more — 6 spots in all, each with sources and a guide in your language to read or listen to on the spot.
Is the Charlottenburg Palace guide free?
The first 5 spots are free to read; the other 1 unlock with a one-time purchase (not a subscription).