Karl Friedrich Schinkel

Karl Friedrich Schinkel – Architecture studies in Berlin with Friedrich and David Gilly

Karl Friedrich Schinkel was born on 13th March 1781 in Neuruppin, the second of five children to the theologian Johann Cuno Christoph who worked as archdeacon and superintendent of the Evangelical Church. After the early death of Karl Friedrich’s father, the family moved to Berlin where he came into contact with the designs of the upcoming young architect Friedrich Gilly and thus developed the wish to study architecture. He attended the private school of Friedrich Gilly and his father David Gilly, as well as the newly founded Bauakademie in Berlin, which would later carry his name. Friedrich Gilly’s unexpected death led to Schinkel taking on his building projects, including the classically designed Castle Owinsk, whilst Schinkel’s first design put into practice was the Pomonatempel on the Potsdam Pfingstberg – the young architect was only just nineteen years old. In 1803, Karl Friedrich Schinkel travelled for the first time to Italy.

An equally talented painter and architect

On his trip to Italy, Karl Friedrich Schinkel gathered many impressions and finished numerous paintings so that his contemporaries such as Joseph Anton Koch considered him primarily a painter rather than an architect. For Schinkel himself, however, the boundary between painting and architecture was always fluid and the detailed rendition of buildings was a recurring trademark of his pictures. The invasion of Napoleon’s troops initially hindered his activities as an architect, so he dedicated himself further to painting and created large-format panorama pictures. He made important contacts, in particular Wilhelm von Humboldt, Karl Wilhelm Gropius and Clemens Brentano, with whom he formed a lifelong close friendship, and these contacts also brought Schinkel the award-winning commission to design several rooms in Berlin’s Kronprinzpalais. The result was so impressive that Friedrich Wilhelm III appointed the service of the young architect.

Stage designer, architect and new designer of Berlin

In the years that followed, Karl Friedrich Schinkel was responsible for numerous important buildings, including the Neue Wache and the theatre. In addition to this, he also worked as a stage designer, for example for Mozart’s The Magic Flute, and travelled through Germany, France, England and Italy to view interesting architecture. He was particularly taken with Cologne Cathedral – in bad condition at that time – and became vehemently engaged with its restoration and completion. In 1820, he was appointed Professor at the Bauakademie and finally focussed on architecture. As Royal Chief Planning Director, he set about transforming Berlin into a representative capital of the Prussian kingdom. Karl Friedrich Schinkel’s great professional successes were overshadowed by health problems in the last years of his life – his relentless activity had taken its physical toll. To the chagrin of his wife Susanne, he refused to attend social gatherings and sometimes continued to draw his designs even when guests gathered in his salon. 

Karl Friedrich Schinkel died on 9th October 1841 in Berlin.