Schloss Schönhausen

The castle is surrounded by a park through which the Panke flows. The castle gained historical importance during the reign of Frederick the Great as the summer residence of Queen Elisabeth Christine of Prussia and the official residence of Wilhelm Pieck, the first (and only) president of the German Democratic Republic (GDR).
Schönhausen Palace has been open to visitors for museum use since December 19, 2009.

The baroque palace, which was barely damaged in the Second World War, was confiscated in the summer of 1945 by the Soviet Military Administration (SMAD). The former café in the southern part of the ground floor became an officers' mess, in another part a school and boarding school for the children of the Soviet officers stationed in Berlin and the surrounding area were created. The palace, the main residence of Queen Elisabeth Christine of Prussia (wife of Frederick the Great) in the 18th century, was also popular with the new lords as a place of representation. KPD official Wilhelm Pieck, who had returned from Soviet exile, celebrated his 70th birthday here in 1946. In 1949 the SMAD handed over the castle to him, now president of the newly founded GDR, as the official official residence. This function remained even after Pieck's death in 1960, when the GDR replaced the presidential office with a state council. From 1965, Schönhausen Palace became the government's guest house and hosted numerous high-ranking Soviet officials, including Leonid Brezhnev, Mikhail Gorbachev and Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze. Shevardnadze was one of the negotiating partners in the two-plus-four negotiations in June 1990, which paved the way for German reunification.The permanent exhibition in the castle includes furnishings from the years of socialist representation as well as original wallpapers by Queen Elisabeth Christine of Prussia and the oldest surviving Rococo ballroom in Berlin.
 
45 to 60 minutes with audio guide or guide

You should take your time for the castle and the park.

Can be visited without pay except on Mondays.