For the first time, PETRI Berlin is dedicating a special exhibition to Karl Friedrich Schinkel’s Bauakademie. Drawing on various collections and archives, the exhibition presents around 160 fragments, original building components and historical replicas as tangible evidence of Berlin’s eventful history, spanning construction, destruction and reconstruction.
Built between 1832 and 1836, the Bauakademie is regarded as Karl Friedrich Schinkel’s last major building and remains his most discussed work to this day. Situated opposite the Berlin City Palace on the west bank of the Spree Canal, it formed, together with the Friedrichswerder Church and the Altes Museum, a pioneering architectural ensemble in the historic centre of the city. With its innovative, grid-like construction method and focus on mass production, it is regarded as a pioneering precursor to modern skeleton construction.
Today, the building no longer stands on its original site. Severely damaged during the Second World War, partially rebuilt in the 1950s and finally demolished between 1961 and 1963, it made way for the GDR Ministry of Foreign Affairs.