Berlin, View at the back of the houses near Schloß Freiheit, Eduard Gaertner by Atelier Liesjes

About "Berlin, View at the back of the houses near Schloß Freiheit, Eduard Gaertner"

by Atelier Liesjes

About the artwork

The Schloss Freiheit in the Berlin district of Mitte was a place on Museum Island. It was bordered by the Lustgarten in the northwest, the Berlin palace in the northeast, An der Stechbahn street and Schloßplatz in the southeast, and the Kaiser Wilhelm National Monument and the Spree Canal in the southwest. In 1951 it was incorporated into the Marx-Engels-Platz created by the demolition of the castle, which was renamed Schloßplatz in 1994. In connection with the reconstruction of the castle as a Humboldt-forum, in the future it will again be called Schloß Freiheit.

Because Friedrich Wilhelm von Brandenburg (popularly known as the Great Elector) wanted more life in the palace, he issued a decree in 1671 to build buildings on the banks of the Spree Canal next to the Berlin City Palace. In 1672, a row of ten houses was built as Schloss Freiheit. Because of the marshy ground the construction of the houses was very expensive, so the Elector granted a number of freedoms: exemption from land rent, from guarding and from military billeting as well as from free trade. In return he expected that people from the entourage would be received by guests of the court.

Johann Philipp Eduard Gaertner (2 June 1801 in Berlin, Germany; 22 February 1877 in Flecken Zechlin, Rheinsberg in the Ostprignitz-Ruppin district in the north of Brandenburg) was a German vedute-painter from the 19th century.