Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

In the wake of the Napoleonic Wars, Prussia's technological and economic underdevelopment became impossible to ignore, particularly in comparison with Great Britain. The nation's reformist politicians - chief among them figures such as Gottlob Johann Christian Kunth but above all Christian Peter Wilhelm Beuth - set as their main objective the reduction of this deficit through the "promotion of industriousness" and an acquisition of the technological knowledge necessary for Prussia's full industrialisation. From the Gewerbe-Institut, the trade institute at Klosterstrasse 36, Beuth oversaw a complex array of activity, including gathering and disseminating information, training technicians and engineers, and even issuing patents. This led to a number of important developments: It fostered the rise of major industrial enterprises such as Borsig, Krupp, and Siemens; narrowed the economic and technological gap between Prussia and other nations; and provided a basis for the rise of the German Reich at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. In addition to documents evidencing the state's promotion of industry, the exhibition will also display a number of Prussian patent documentsaccompanied by related technical drawings. A selection of the drawings has been made into graphic animations, allowing the public to explore interactively their functional design.