Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
LUSSTGAARTEN
TEN
The patch of green fronting the Altes Museum has seen almost as many
makeovers as Madonna. It started as a royal kitchen garden and became a milit-
ary exercise ground before being turned into a pleasure garden by Schinkel. The
Nazis held mass rallies here, the East Germans ignored it. Restored to its
Schinkel-era appearance, it's now a favourite resting spot for foot-weary tourists.
The banker JHW Wagener was an avid collector of art and a generous man who,
in 1861, bequeathed his entire collection of 262 paintings to the Prussian state to
form the basis of a national gallery. Just one year later, William I commissioned
Friedrich August Stüler to design a suitable museum. He came up with the Alte
Nationalgalerie, an imposing temple-like structure perched on a pedestal and
fronted by a curtain of Corinthian columns. The entrance is reached via a sweep-
ing double staircase crowned by a statue of King Friedrich Wilhelm IV on horse-
back.
