Berliner Schloss is the building that took centuries to create, days to destroy, and years to rise again. It’s the most intriguing architectural story in Berlin’s history, because much of it was driven by politics.

The Berlin palace at Schloßplatz, also known as Stadtschloss, now has a new form. But the Baroque facade rebuilt in recent years belies its contents. It restores the balance in Berlin’s historical streetscape while taking on a new cultural mission – diversity.

The German-born British broadcaster Matt Frei said that all Berlin buildings are political. The new Berliner Schloss proves it.

The Hohenzollern electors of Brandenburg in 1443 developed a strategic fortress at the Spree crossing that they gradually enlarged into a Renaissance palace.

This Berlin palace was followed by an early 18th century Baroque building designed by Andreas Schlüter as part of a project elevating the Prussian rulers to royal status. At the time of its completion it contained the dazzling and now disappeared Amber Room designed by Schlüter and Gottfried Wolfram and later gifted to Peter the Great by the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm I.

But one of Schlüter’s showpiece palace towers, the 60-metre Münzturm, collapsed in 1706 due to the failure of his foundations in the marshy soil that is often a problem for Berlin buildings. Schlüter, an inspired and sensitive sculptor, was sacked as court architect. The foundations were hit by engineers of the U5 metro line 300 years later.

Later work, notably the main portal, was done by Johann Friedrich Eosander von Göthe and the great Karl Friedrich Schinkel worked on the design of the 19th century giant dome, one of his last architectural concepts. This brought the peak height of the palace back to 60 metres.

The castle was at the centre of Berlin’s revolutionary chaos in 1848 and again in 1918 after Germany’s World War I defeat, when fighting spilled out onto city streets. The Marxist leader Karl Liebknecht unsuccessfully declared a Socialist republic from a palace balcony. Amid the chaos, the last Hohenzollern, Kaiser Wilhelm II, abdicated and left Berlin. The palace became a museum.

Berlin was heavily bombed in World War II, wiping away a long architectural heritage. The old Berlin palace suffered grievously, along with buildings such as Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.

The communist East German government, which took over in 1949, did not like the building’s associations with empire and in 1950 decided on demolition of what remained. Until the 1970s the palace site stood as open space called Marx-Engels-Platz.

But one section of the old palace survived - the balcony where Liebknecht delivered his speech was later preserved and reused in the nearby Staatsratsgebäude, now the ESMT building, facing Schloßplatz.

Berlin’s palace of pleasure

The East German leader Erich Honecker had a vision of pacifying his people with inducements designed to mimic Western consumerism. In 1976 the Postmodern Palast der Republik, a marble, concrete and glass house of national assembly, was completed on the Schloßplatz site.

It was also intended to be a palace of the people and had large areas designed for entertainment, even a bowling alley. It was loved by some East Berliners, although others saw an object for their characteristically impertinent humour. For the building’s constellation of spherical glass light sources, they christened it "Erich's lamp shop".

But after German reunification this palace in turn fell foul of changed political tastes and was found to be full of asbestos. From 2006 to 2008 it was demolished and Berliners debated whether to resurrect the old palace in an attempt to refill Berlin’s architectural void. A friends group backed reconstruction and a canvas representation of the old Baroque facades was strapped on scaffolding to encourage feedback.

Palace of compromise

Resistance to reconstruction of the palace was countered by a proposal to create museums, an exhibition space, and facilities that could be used by Humboldt University. The east facade of the new complex was designed by Franco Stella to have a modern look, while three sides would represent facades of the old Baroque palace. Parts of the courtyard also reflect the Baroque design.

But the structure of the new Berliner Schloss, like its predecessor on the site, was concrete.

There was further debate about whether a gold cross should be mounted on the grand dome, as added to the original palace in 1854. Supporters of the cross won.

The rebuilt Berliner Schloss was opened in 2020, after more than a century of turbulence, war and debate – just in time for COVID-19 lockdowns.

The following year, a rooftop terrace about 30 metres above street level gave visitors a free view of Museum Island, the Brandenburg Gate and the adjacent cathedral Berliner Dom.

Palace of cultures

Berliner Schloss again houses museum exhibits. Its museums are called the Humboldt Forum and house collections of ethnology and Asiatic art and part of Berlin’s city collections, including material on the history of the Schloßplatz site. The adjacent glass Humboldt-Box was for several years an information centre for the rebuilding project, but was removed in 2019.

The Humboldt Forum museums occupy the second and third floors of Berliner Schloss. The choice of non-European collections is deliberate. The Museum für Asiatische Kunst shows east, south and south-east Asian exhibits of art going back to 5000BCE, including religious items, sculptures, reliefs and paintings and objects from the cultures along the Silk Road.

The Ethnologisches Museum collection approaches Asian, African, American and Pacific cultures from the viewpoint of European colonial influences and increasing globalisation. It manages about half a million objects, including musical instruments, clothing, jewellery, sculpture, photographs and exquisite models of seagoing craft. The two museums form parts of Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.

An area of 1000 square metres is devoted to the Humboldt Labor, an area for experiments in knowledge transfer in science that encourages visitors to take part. Exhibitions, workshops, lectures, discussions, performances and media installations use the space.

But strangely, like the balcony of the old palace, part of the Palast der Republik remains. A German steel company bought 1600 tonnes of steel from the girders of the palace for recycling. Today the former pride of East Germany forms part of a much bigger building than any Berlin palace. It welded into the steel formwork of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, a palace of capitalism.

To reach Berliner Schloss, take the U-Bahn line U5 to Museumsinsel, bus 100 or 200 to Lustgarten, or bus 147 to Berliner Schloss.

To discover Berlin’s other great palace, read the Raven Guides blog on Schloss Charlottenburg. To appreciate all Berlin’s highlights, and get important travel tips, download a comprehensive travel guide to Berlin.