For the Prussian court architect Andreas Schlüter, the swamp turned into a fiasco. He was commissioned by Frederick I, who had secured the royal dignity for himself in 1701, to build a 96-meter-high tower on the Old Mint in the new capital of Berlin. After four years of construction plagued by problems with the foundations, the tower – which by then had reached a height of 60 meters – collapsed, burying Andreas Schlüter's career with it.
Today we know that under the Old Mint lies a lens of turf that reacts like a waterbed. Schlüter’s successor, Eosander von Göthe, called on hydraulic engineers from Amsterdam. They had better luck. By driving five-meter-long tree trunks into the Berlin ground, they saved the palace complex of the Soldier-King Frederick William I from the fate of tilting and sinking into the swamp.
Despite not having been swallowed up by the swamp, the palace still disappeared some 250 years after its construction and was replaced by the Palace of the Republic. A republic that in time also had to give way. Not long after that, the republic’s palace did the same.
In 2007, the parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany decided to reconstruct the façade of the Imperial Palace using modern technology. The Humboldt Forum houses large collections of non-European art and has been earmarked to be a place of discussion. The façade is adorned with the old/new Prussian helmet.
“In the course of these development measures, it was necessary to remove the old foundation piles, ... According to experts, the wood is approximately between 300 and 400 years old.”
Auktions-Beratungsgesellschaft mbH (Auction Consultancy Ltd.)
Around 1706, around the same time the tower collapsed, paintmaker Johann Jacob Diesbach discovered by accident the world’s first artificial pigment: Berlin or Prussian blue, a fine, blue pigment synthesised from a mixture of iron and blood, that could be used to sign contracts or as a dye for soldier’s uniforms.
Prussia is no more.
For two centuries, Prussia was one of the most powerful empires of Europe. The black and white flag waved over the palace, which was the seat of the German Kaiser from 1871 until 1918. By 1947, Prussia was bygone history, but the palace foundation piles remained in the ground right up until 2012.