Köpenick - Museum of Applied Art

(Local Name: Kunstgewerbemuseum) Since 1963, the Köpenick palace in Berlin has housed a part of the earlier Museum of Applied Art founded in 1867 in the Berlin National Palace, the rest of which is to be seen in the present Museum of Applied Art in the Culture Forum. Only part of the museum is open, owing to renovation work that may take until 1996 to complete. The Baroque interior of the palace, with magnificent stucco ceilings, provides a handsome setting for the collection of furniture, pottery and porcelain, glass, goldsmith's work, metalwork, leather articles, etc., which gives an excellent survey of 900 years of European applied art, from the Middle Ages to the present day. Particularly worthy of mention on the ground floor are some gold jewelry items belonging to the Empress Gisela (dating from c. 1000) and the front panel of a Gothic chest from Lower Saxony (c. 1300); on the first floor is the oak-paneled Renaissance Room with beautiful carvings and a magnificent coffered ceiling. On the second floor the visitor can admire the "Berlin Silver Buffet," a large collection of Baroque table settings, with artistic gold, silver and brass work by the Brothers Brill of Augsburg (c. 1690), which came from the Knights' Chamber of the Berlin National Palace. In the annex to the palace is a small gallery housing special exhibitions of work by contemporary artists. Also worth a visit is the Palace Chapel, built between 1680-90 to the designs of Johann Arnold Nering, where concerts are held. The park, which contains rare species of trees, was laid out in the 19th C. and has recently been reconstructed by Helmut Lichy. From the Lange Brücke (Long Bridge) leading to the island there is a splendid view of the moat and the Old Town.