Peacock Island Pfaueninsel

The Pfaueninsel in Berlin is an island some 1.5km/1mi long and 500 m/550yd wide in the River Havel, and is a favorite place for excursions. This "Peacock Island," with an area of 98 hectares/242 acres, was once heavily populated with rabbits and thus known as Kaninchenwerder (Rabbit Island) until the 17th C. At the end of the 17th C., in the time of the Great Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg, an alchemist named Johann Kunckel had a glass factory on the island, the remains of which were excavated in 1974. After the death of his patron, Kunckel emigrated to Sweden in 1688.