Ephraim-Palais

The Ephraim-Palais stands at the corner of Poststrasse and Muehlendamm on the edge of Berlin's Nikolaiviertel and is considered one of the city's finest Rococo townhouses. Frederick II had it remodelled in 1762 for his court jeweller and mint farmer Veitel Heine Ephraim, who had grown rich by debasing the coinage during the Seven Years' War - Berliners nicknamed the result the "Ephraim Blemish". The building was demolished in 1936 to widen the Muehlendamm Bridge, but many of its sandstone elements were stored in West Berlin and returned in 1983 to be reassembled on a nearby plot in East Berlin for the city's 750th anniversary. Inside it is now an exhibition house of the Stadtmuseum Berlin foundation, with rotating shows on Berlin art and urban history.