The story of this place
Built from 1695 as a summer retreat for Sophie Charlotte, the cultured wife of Frederick I, this became Berlin's largest and grandest palace. Sophie Charlotte hosted Leibniz and turned her court into a hub of Enlightenment debate before dying at 36. Later kings added the Baroque cupola, the Golden Gallery and a rococo wing for Frederick the Great. Allied bombing in November 1943 reduced much of it to a shell; East and West argued over whether to demolish the ruin, but it was painstakingly reconstructed over decades. Today the restored Porcelain Cabinet, glittering with thousands of pieces of Chinese and Japanese porcelain, recalls the vanished court of a queen who prized ideas over ceremony.