/ 
Johann Karl Kretschmar: Portrait of Amalie Beer, c. 1803
© Stadtmuseum Berlin

Brandenburg.Ausstellung

The newly conceived Brandenburg.Ausstellung (Brandenburg.Exhibition) invites visitors on a journey through ten centuries of multifaceted regional history. A long-term lender to the permanent exhibition in the Haus der Brandenburgisch-Preußischen Geschichte, the Stadtmuseum Berlin is once again contributing numerous objects from its collections.

by Melanie Huber

Permanent exhibition

Far from being a permanent exhibition in the classic sense, Brandenburg.Ausstellung offers new perspectives on the past by asking questions from the present. It tells the story of Brandenburg through the eyes of the citizens themselves: their history, their experiences, their stories. Brandenburg.Ausstellung offers space for updates, discussion, intervention and participation.

The 14-chapter exhibition tour opens with a Brandenburg.Panorama, which features introductory films on the political history of Brandenburg-Prussia and on Brandenburg’s history of migration. In addition to 228 original objects from 72 lenders, the exhibition features ten large-format thematic maps of Brandenburg’s historical landscape, ten video sequences with ‘living portraits’ of historical personalities and ten media stations with informative video and audio, historical documents and games. The #menschbrandenburg format introduces contemporary civil society initiatives into the exhibition’s historical narrative.

Loans from the Stadtmuseum Berlin

Brandenburg.Ausstellung provides an overview of Brandenburg’s cultural history from the Middle Ages to the present day in around 300 exhibits. The Stadtmuseum Berlin contributed seven paintings from its collection. The “Portrait of Amalie Beer” by Johann Karl Kretschmar, painted around 1803, is on loan in Potsdam thanks to the Hans and Luise Richter Foundation. The “Portrait of King Frederick I in Prussia” also features in the new permanent exhibition.

Unknown artist: Portrait of King Frederick I in Prussia, after 1701
© Stadtmuseum Berlin
King Frederick I in Prussia (1657-1713) succeeded the Great Elector as Frederick III in 1688. In 1701 he crowned himself King of Prussia. The reconstruction of the castle began under his reign. King Frederick I is portrayed with the insignia of his new rank: in ceremonial armour, an ermine-trimmed purple cloak and the chain of the Order of the Black Eagle.

The tablecloth woven through with gold also shows the crown above the coat of arms of the Electorate of Brandenburg. King Frederick’s pose is borrowed from a 1701 portrait of Louis XIV, whose pose became a standard for rulers throughout Europe.

Other works are on loan from the collections Childhood and Youth, Everyday Culture, Decorative Arts, Theatre, Music and Literature, Geology, Numismatics, Sculpture, Silver, Ceramics, Liturgy and Furniture. A selection can be found in the picture gallery.

Information on the exhibition is taken with kind permission from the presentation at the Haus der Brandenburgisch-Preußischen Geschichte. Information about the loans is given courtesy of Randy-Noreen Rathenow, staff member of the Toy, Childhood and Youth Collection; Annette Bossmann, Head of the Painting Collection, as well as from the Online Collection.

Exhibition venue

Location
Haus der Brandenburgisch-Preußischen Geschichte
Kutschstall, Am Neuen Markt 9
14467 Potsdam

Mehr erfahren