Lustgarten

The Lustgarten is a roughly two-hectare lawn between Berlin Cathedral, the Altes Museum and the rebuilt city palace on the Museum Island. Elector Johann Georg laid out a kitchen garden here in 1573, transformed in the 17th century into a baroque pleasure garden with fountains. Later used as a parade ground, the square was redesigned by Peter Joseph Lenne and in 1834 received the famous granite bowl carved from the Rauen erratic boulder, an engineering marvel of its day. The Nazis abused the space for rallies and paved it over. After 1989 the lawn was restored and the granite bowl returned to its prominent spot at the edge. Today students and tourists lounge on the grass with the colonnade of the Altes Museum in front and the cathedral dome behind.