Formerly the Arsenal, this fine Baroque building in Unter den Linden in Berlin's Mitte district now houses the German Historical Museum. The Arsenal was begun in 1695 to the design of Johann Arnold Nering, and completed by the architects Martin Grünberg, Andreas Schlüter and Jean de Bodt. It was provisionally used from 1706, but not finally completed until 1730. From then until 1877 its ground floor was used as an armory, while the upper floor housed infantry weapons and captured war material.
When Berlin was occupied by the French in 1806 the Arsenal suffered damage which was repaired after 1814 by Schinkel and Schadow. On June 14, 1848 the citizens of Berlin stormed the Arsenal and armed themselves. After internal reconstruction by Hitzig the building became a Military Museum and a Hall of Fame celebrating the feats of the Brandenburg and Prussian armies. The building was severely damaged in the Second World War, and was rebuilt under the guidance of the architect Otto Haesler between 1948 and 1961, being finally completed in 1965.
The Arsenal building, on a square plan, has a clearly articulated facade (by de Bodt), 90 m/295ft long, which is relieved architecturally by projections and recesses.
The cornices, balustrades and sculpture are in sandstone, the main structure in brick revetted with plaster. The ground floor has round-arched windows, while the narrow windows of the upper floor have alternately rounded and triangular pediments, some topped by allegorical figures. The sculptural decoration, such as the antique helmets on the keystones of the external windows, is mainly by Schlüter, the 22 heads of dying warriors in the inner courtyard (the "Schlüterhof") in particular being outstanding examples of German monumental sculpture. The allegorical female figures on projecting bases at the main entrance (by Guillaume Hulot) represent Pyrotechnics, Arithmetic, Geometry and Mechanics. Hulot also created the figures on the roof, for example the "Mars Group," based on designs by Jean de Bodt.
Until September, 1990 the Arsenal housed the Museum of German History, which was founded in 1952 and was the leading historical museum in the GDR. It has now become the home of the German Historical Museum, which previously lacked its own exhibition rooms and resided provisionally in Berlin-Charlottenburg. Considerable controversy surrounds this museum, as it houses only temporary exhibitions on historical themes, with no plans for any permanent displays.
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