Lustgarten Berlin:
History, Facts & the Story Behind the Square
What is the Lustgarten in Berlin?
The Lustgarten is a historic green space and public square on Museum Island in Berlin-Mitte. Its history dates back to the 16th century, while its present-day design once again draws on the historic concept developed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel and Peter Joseph Lenné.
THE BERLIN LOCALS RECOMMEND.
Why is the Lustgarten called Lustgarten?
The term Lustgarten referred to a garden that was not used solely for practical purposes, but also for pleasure, recreation and representation. People came here to stroll – or, to use the much nicer German expression, to lustwandeln. Berlin’s Lustgarten has carried this name since 1646.
Lustgarten – Facts at a Glance
- Location: Museum Island in Berlin-Mitte, between the Altes Museum, Berlin Cathedral and the Humboldt Forum
- Size: Around 2 hectares
- Origins: Created in 1573 as a utility and kitchen garden for Berlin Palace
- Name: Known as the Lustgarten since 1646
- Historic uses: Pleasure garden, botanical garden, military drill ground, demonstration site and political parade ground
- Famous design: Karl Friedrich Schinkel and Peter Joseph Lenné shaped the Lustgarten in the 19th century
- Granite bowl: Almost 7 metres wide and known locally as the “Berlin Soup Bowl”
- Nazi era: Converted into a paved parade and rally ground between 1935 and 1936
- East Germany: Part of Marx-Engels-Platz from 1951
- Today: Redesigned as a green space in 1998–1999; lawns, a fountain and the granite bowl define the square
Alright, friends,
the Lustgarten barely plays a role in everyday life for most Berliners. You walk across it, maybe sit on the grass for a while, or simply pass through on your way across Museum Island. For me, it’s a little different. I’ve spent a lot of my life around Museum Island and Hackescher Markt, so I’ve found myself here again and again.
My best friend lived within walking distance of the Lustgarten for many years. So over the past 25 years, I’ve been here not only for the Festival of Lights, when tens of thousands of visitors as well as plenty of Berliners head to this part of the city, but also on New Year’s Eve.
A Berliner spending New Year’s Eve on Museum Island? Yeah, only newcomers and visitors ask that. Berliners know what I’m talking about.
Still, surprisingly few people know why this place is actually called Lustgarten. And that brings us to a personal demand of ours: why don’t we just start calling going for a walk lustwandeln again?
Seriously – “I’m off for another round of lustwandeln” just sounds so much more fitting.
From Kitchen Garden to Lustgarten: How It All Began
Before anyone came here to lustwandeln, things were pretty practical at first. In 1573, as part of the expansion of Berlin Palace, Elector Johann Georg had the grounds laid out as a utility and kitchen garden. Court gardener Desiderius Corbinianus planted herbs for the court kitchen and fruit trees. Part of the garden was probably already used for court festivities.
During the Thirty Years’ War, the grounds were devastated and became overgrown. Even before the war ended, Elector Friedrich Wilhelm had the garden restored from 1645 onwards. Military engineer Johann Mauritz and court gardener Michael Hanff based their design on Dutch gardens. The name Lustgarten has been documented since 1646.
The plans involved far more than just a bit of lawn: an arboretum, aviaries, hedges, statues, covered walkways, a pleasure pavilion and a water garden with fountains and water features were all planned. The former kitchen garden became a place for looking around, meeting people and, of course, lustwandeln.
Potatoes, Tomatoes and Tennis in the Heart of Old Berlin
And this is where history gets wonderfully, typically Berlin-weird. In 1649, potatoes were introduced from the Netherlands and grown in the Lustgarten – according to historical records, the first potatoes cultivated in Prussia. Tomatoes also grew alongside them in the Pomeranzenhaus, built in 1652, although at the time they were grown as ornamental plants. The building wasn’t particularly lucky: after a heating system malfunction, it burned down in 1655, was rebuilt and then demolished again in 1658 to make way for fortifications.
The Lustgarten also developed into Berlin’s first botanical garden and was open to everyone. This created something Berlin had never known in this form before: a public garden square rather than a market square, church square or military drill ground. Much like Volkspark Friedrichshain as the first public park for Berliners.
From 1660 onwards, there was even a ball house at the edge of the garden. Among other games, people played Jeu de Paume there – a historic precursor to tennis. With exotic plants, water features and ball games, the early Lustgarten was clearly much more than just pretty palace decoration.
Why Did the Lustgarten Become a Military Drill Ground?
With Friedrich Wilhelm I, lustwandeln came to an end in 1713. The ruler known as the “Soldier King” cut spending on the garden and had rare plants, statues and elaborately designed flower pots removed and taken to other palace gardens. The Lustgarten became a sand-covered military drill ground for the Prussian army.
Later, the greenery returned. Lawns and trees turned the Lustgarten back into a promenade, while part of it continued to be used for parades. Then, in 1806, of all things, a foreign army marched onto the grounds: after the Prussian defeat at Jena and Auerstedt, Napoleon entered Berlin on 27 October and had his troops bivouac on the lawns of the Lustgarten.
The square between the palace and what is now Museum Island had long since become much more than a garden. Its design increasingly reflected the question of how power wanted to present itself in the heart of the city centre.
How Schinkel and Lenné Transformed the Lustgarten
After the Wars of Liberation, the area around Berlin Palace was to become a representative Prussian centre. Karl Friedrich Schinkel built what is now the Altes Museum opposite the palace, also shaping the redesign of the Lustgarten.
Between 1826 and 1829, Peter Joseph Lenné redesigned the grounds according to Schinkel’s ideas. Lawns, chestnut trees and clearly defined paths connected the museum, palace and the Berlin Cathedral of the time. At the centre, a fountain shot around 13 metres into the air. The water was pumped by a steam engine – parts of the historic drainage channel, including its outlet designed by Schinkel, are still preserved today along the wall of the Spree Canal.
Anyone sitting on the lawn today is therefore not simply sitting in just any park. The Lustgarten was part of a deliberately staged urban landscape that, together with places such as Bebelplatz, formed the representative centre of Prussia.
What’s the Story Behind the Granite Bowl in the Lustgarten?
It stands rather inconspicuously in front of the Altes Museum, but it is one of the Lustgarten’s strangest details: the almost seven-metre-wide granite bowl by Christian Gottlieb Cantian.
King Friedrich Wilhelm III commissioned it in 1826. The enormous granite boulder came from the Rauensche Berge near Fürstenwalde and was transported to Berlin by water in an elaborate operation. The stone was then worked and polished over several years. Contemporaries regarded the result as a technical masterpiece – the bowl was even described as a “Biedermeier wonder of the world”.
An official inauguration breakfast was held, during which around 40 people are said to have found room inside the bowl. No wonder Berliners gave it a considerably less majestic name: the Berlin Soup Bowl.
Sometimes Berlin simply doesn’t need a grand legend. A huge block of granite and a fitting nickname are enough.
How Did the Lustgarten Become a Political Stage?
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Lustgarten increasingly became a stage for politics. Particularly during the Weimar Republic, huge demonstrations took place here.
On 31 August 1921, around 500,000 people gathered to protest against the growing far-right terror. Following the assassination of Foreign Minister Walther Rathenau, around 250,000 people came together for a spontaneous protest rally on 25 June 1922.
Particularly remarkable was 7 February 1933. Adolf Hitler had just been appointed Chancellor when, according to historical records, around 200,000 people demonstrated in the Lustgarten against him and the new Nazi government.
Just a few years later, the Nazis had completely taken over the square itself for their own political staging.
Why Did the Nazis Have the Lustgarten Paved?
For the 1936 Olympic Games, the Lustgarten was transformed into a monumental parade and rally ground between 1935 and 1936. Large stone slabs replaced much of the previous design. Even the granite bowl and the equestrian statue of Friedrich Wilhelm III had to be removed because they obstructed the unobstructed view of the Altes Museum. Its grand staircase was intended to serve as a grandstand for rallies.
On 1 August 1936, 20,000 members of the Hitler Youth and 40,000 SA men gathered here to mark the end of the Olympic torch relay. During the Games, the Olympic flame then burned in two so-called altars at the Lustgarten and in front of the palace.
The design of the square had itself become political propaganda: open space, monumental architecture and tens of thousands of people gathered in front of it.
The Herbert Baum Group Arson Attack
But even in the middle of this controlled parade ground, there was resistance. On 18 May 1942, the Jewish-communist resistance group led by Herbert Baum attempted to destroy the Nazi propaganda exhibition “The Soviet Paradise” in the Lustgarten in an arson attack.
The consequences were brutal. Members of the group were arrested, Herbert Baum died in Gestapo custody, and at least 27 members were executed. As part of the Nazi “retaliation”, hundreds of Jewish men were also arrested and many of them murdered.
Since 1981, a memorial stone in the Lustgarten has commemorated the resistance group. Today, between Berlin Cathedral, the lawns and people walking around with ice cream in their hands, it’s easy to pass by without noticing it. That is precisely why this history belongs to the place.
What Happened to the Lustgarten in East Germany?
After 1945, the Lustgarten initially remained a demonstration site. In 1950, the SED leadership had the damaged Berlin Palace demolished. Together with the former palace grounds, this created a much larger political space, which was named Marx-Engels-Platz from 1951 onwards.
The historic name Lustgarten officially disappeared, while the paving from the Nazi era remained. Later, the Palast der Republik was built on part of the former palace grounds, while other areas were temporarily used as a car park.
In 1981, the granite bowl returned to its place in front of the Altes Museum. However, the Lustgarten did not regain its actual character as a garden until after the end of East Germany.
Today, the Red Town Hall, Nikolaiviertel and Berlin TV Tower are just a few minutes away. Along this short stretch of Berlin in particular, you can see how differently political systems have left their mark on the same urban space.
Why Did the Lustgarten Become Green Again After Reunification?
After 1990, the Lustgarten regained its historic name – but not automatically its lawns. During the 1990s, there was intense debate over what the square should look like in the future.
Particularly interesting: several competition designs proposed preserving the historic paving from the Nazi era. Parts of it were protected as a historic monument. However, the proposals met with public opposition. Following protests by local residents, the Berlin Senate eventually lifted the protection.
Between 1998 and 1999, Atelier Loidl implemented a design that drew on Schinkel’s historic layout while interpreting it in a modern way. Lawns, trees and a fountain returned.
After centuries as a garden, military drill ground, demonstration site and parade ground, people could once again do what the name had originally stood for: simply lie around without much fuss – or, of course, lustwandeln.
What Can You See in the Lustgarten Today?
If you know the history, you can still spot some of its traces today. Cantian’s granite bowl once again stands in front of the Altes Museum. The present-day design picks up on the basic ideas of the historic layout, while even remnants of the old drainage system from Schinkel’s fountain have survived along the wall of the Spree Canal.
Then there is the surrounding area itself. Within just a few metres, Museum Island, Berlin Cathedral and the reconstructed Berlin Palace with the Humboldt Forum come together. The Herbert Baum memorial stone, meanwhile, is a reminder that this seemingly peaceful lawn was once a site of Nazi propaganda and resistance against it.
If you continue towards Hackescher Markt, you’ll reach the Hackesche Höfe and the Monbijou Theater. In the other direction, around Nikolaiviertel and Alexanderplatz, the next chapter of Berlin history already begins.
Is the Lustgarten in Berlin Worth Visiting?
Travel across Berlin just to see the Lustgarten? We wouldn’t. In the end, it’s simply too much a part of its surroundings for that.
But if you’re already exploring Museum Island or doing some sightseeing, it’s worth not just walking straight through. In good weather, grab a spot on the lawn, take a look at the granite bowl and Berlin Cathedral, and spend a moment thinking about everything that has happened on these two hectares.
The Lustgarten also works pretty well as a starting point for a date: the Spree, museums and Hackescher Markt are right next door. In the evening, you can continue towards Monbijou. And during the Festival of Lights, the square takes on a completely different atmosphere anyway.
Maybe you don’t need to do anything special here at all.
A little lustwandeln is enough.
Berlin isn’t a tourist attraction. Berlin is a city.
See you in the real Berlin – or right here in the next blog.
Take care 🖤
Sources: Book "Der Berliner Lustgarten: Gartenkunst und Stadtgestalt in Preußens Mitte" by Markus Jager | Website "https://www.berlin.de/sehenswuerdigkeiten/3560037-3558930-lustgarten.html" | Website "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lustgarten_(Berlin)" MANY OF THE IMAGES IN THIS POST ARE ILLUSTRATIVE AND WERE NOT TAKEN AT THE LOCATION FEATURED.
Check out our blogs on insider tips for Berlin.
View all-
Bundestag
The Bundestag is about more than its dome and views over Berlin. Find out what really happens in parliament, how you can visit the Bundestag – and why it’s worth...
Bundestag
The Bundestag is about more than its dome and views over Berlin. Find out what really happens in parliament, how you can visit the Bundestag – and why it’s worth...
-
Planetarium Berlin
The Zeiss-Großplanetarium is far more than just stargazing. Find out what to expect at the Berlin Planetarium, why this GDR-era building still impresses today – and whether it’s really worth...
Planetarium Berlin
The Zeiss-Großplanetarium is far more than just stargazing. Find out what to expect at the Berlin Planetarium, why this GDR-era building still impresses today – and whether it’s really worth...
-
Festival of Lights Berlin 2026
The Festival of Lights Berlin 2026 transforms the city with light art, projections and 3D mappings. Discover our route, the best highlights, practical tips – and whether the festival is...
Festival of Lights Berlin 2026
The Festival of Lights Berlin 2026 transforms the city with light art, projections and 3D mappings. Discover our route, the best highlights, practical tips – and whether the festival is...
