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Images of Luise in the Decorative Arts

01.04.2010 to 03.10.2010

Schloss Köpenick
Schloss Köpenick

A small foyer exhibition in Köpenick Palace marking the 200th anniversary of the Prussian queen's death

In the marriage contract, signed in 1793 between the then Princess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and the Prince of Hohenzollern, Friedrich Wilhelm (later crowned King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia), Köpenick Palace was to be set aside for the princess in the event of her husband's death. It was for this reason that Queen Luise had to give her express consent to the sale of the royal palace to the Prussian Lieutenant General, Friedrich Wilhelm Carl von Schmettau, several years later on 21 March 1804.

 

The small foyer exhibition entitled 'Images of Luise in the Decorative Arts' revives this little-known connection between Luise and Köpenick Palace, which has itself been home to the Museum of Decorative Arts since 1963. The various portraits of Luise and her family on porcelain, in cast iron, glass and lacquer paintings pay testament to the creation and spread of the 'legend of the queen'.

The 19th of July will be the 200th anniversary of the death of the much-loved Queen Luise of Prussia (1776-1810). In commemoration of the day, the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg is holding three separate exhibitions for the queen, which have been enriched by numerous important loans from the National Museums in Berlin's Museum of Decorative Arts. The three exhibitions are:

- Luise. Life and Legend of the Queen, 6 March - 30 May 2010, Schloss Charlottenburg
- Luise. The Queen's Island World, 1 May - 31 October 2010, Pfaueninsel
- Luise. Die Kleider der Königin (dedicated to her fashion), 31 July- 31 October 2010, Schloss Paretz