Bismarck Mausoleum

The Bismarck Mausoleum in Friedrichsruh is the burial site of Otto von Bismarck, the German Empire's first Chancellor, and his wife Johanna. The neuromanesque chapel was completed in 1898 — Bismarck himself chose the wooded hilltop site in the Sachsenwald, deliberately distancing his final resting place from Berlin and the imperial court he had fallen out with in his final years. The restrained sandstone chapel stands in quiet contrast to the bombastic cult of Bismarck memorials that spread across Germany during his lifetime. Listed as a protected monument, it sits within a forested estate still owned by the Bismarck family and makes for a contemplative visit for anyone interested in the politics and personalities of the Wilhelmine era.