Schloss Köpenick

In the location's words:

The Baroque Köpenick Palace, charmingly situated on the banks of the River Dahme, houses treasures from the Museum of Decorative Arts alongside the Museum am Kulturforum.

The unfinished palace complex is located on an artificial island on the edge of Köpenick's old town. The present building was constructed between 1677 and 1690 according to plans by architects Rutger van Langervelt and Johann Arnold Nering for the Hohenzollern Elector Frederick (later Frederick III Elector of Brandenburg and Frederick I King of Prussia) to replace a former hunting lodge of the Brandenburg Electors. In addition to the palace itself, the ensemble includes a historic gateway, the palace chapel and farm buildings, which today house the museum's depots and restoration workshops as well as a café.

Köpenick Palace has been used by the Museum of Decorative Arts since 1963. During the division of Germany, the collections located in the eastern part of Berlin were exhibited here. Following extensive restoration of all the buildings on the castle island, the Museum of Decorative Arts has been showing a permanent exhibition of works of "Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo interior art" since 2004. Unique masterpieces of interior design from the 16th to the 18th century are presented on three floors.

The baroque stucco decorations preserved in almost all rooms of the castle can also be admired. In the basement, archaeological excavation finds document the building and settlement history of Köpenick Castle Island.