Berlin: The Spandau Citadel
Short: In the west of Berlin, in Spandau, lies a former margrave castle that nowadays has the nickname “the island of culture”. And in a few minutes read you will know all about it to want to see it for yourself.
Todays blog post presents the Spandau Citadel. These days the Spandau Citadel is the most significant tourist attraction and venue for cultural events in Spandau. Its previous history however was – as ever so often with significant tourist attractions – military. Let me give you a very brief summary of the Spandau Citadel before closing with what the location has to offer today.
The Historical Short-Of-It:
Located at a strategically valueable site – at the meeting point of the rivers Spree and Havel – the area of the citadel is important. Already in the 11th century there was a wood-and-earth fortification built by slavic tribes. Then, in the late 12th century, the Ascanian Margraves of Brandenburg upgraded the place with a stone castle. The 16th century comes about and with it cannons. Normal stone castles don’t like cannons, so the foritificaiton gets redesigned and the Spandau Citadel gets constructed.
Screenshot from an advertisement video on the offical Spandau Citadel website (click the picture to get to the video)
The Architectural Short-Of-It (A Spandau Citadel Recipe):
(1) You build very thick walls, (2) you leave loads of space inside the perimiter to house an army, (3) you build the corners extra chunky (3.1) to host artillery and (3.2) you let the corners pretrude so the walls (which aren’t as thick) are protected more and (3.3) your artillery can shoot better, (4) you draw an extra wide moat around it (4.1) with a dike-like road – super exposed to your guys up on the walls – up to a (4.2) drawbridge, and (5) you do it all neatly symmetrically! (mostly)
Interesting historical-architectural side notes:
There were two architects for the Spandau Citadel (Francesco Chiaramella de Gandino and Rochus zu Lynar)
The Julius Tower (the big tower next to the gatehouse) functioned as the treasury of the German Empire from 1874 to 1919. (You can still see a gigantic treasure vault door at the entrance to the tower)
During the Nazi aera, the citadel housed a chemical weapons laboratory.
Some of the pictures I found online, show the citadel having a ravelin (see also the but all the aerial images (e.g. this one) I found, had no clear showing of this and it is also not listed on the official website layout of the citadel. I assume that the moat was not maintained and the ravelin now blended with the outer area(?). Something to look out for or ask about when visiting!
The Spadau Citadel today:
Today the location is the cultural hub of Spandau. The citadel hosts multiple musuems (at the time of writing there are four listed on the official website) and – seperately – art exhibitions. There are different kinds of guided engagement concepts and frequently diverse cultural events are hosted there (such as concerts, guided artist talks, or a middle age themed market I visited with family yesterday).
Interesting current side notes:
You can get married in the Spandau Citadel
Also other events can book the grounds
Movie companies (as per the Spandau Citadel website) frequently rent the citadel for film production
You can have a birthday party for your kid (age 8 to 12) in the citadel. In how far there is also additional historical content I did not research.
There is a bat “cave” where you can see bats and learn about bats.
For 2€ extra, you can get audio guides at the entrance, which tell you about objects scattered throuhgout the grounds of the citadel. (I am however unsure if there is an English version for the audio guides)
The museum exhibition “Unveiled” contains a darkened specially designed room that wants to capture the feeling of being lost in a system of fascist nazi Germany – I found it to be very powerful and want to recommend it (not sure how long this is going to be installed for)
Now that I have told you so many small details about the Spandau Citadel you know where to go, when you come to Spandau (or the western side of Berlin). The most touristically beautiful I imagine the citadel to be in summer (best on the early mornings). Be advised that the citadel closes rather early (5pm) as I have stood infront of the closed gate twice already..
I do recommend visiting. Especially with kids. There is always something to look at, and the café is situated next to the huge courtyard, where fidgety kids can run about freely and in eye-shot while having a coffee. I have yet to catch a concert (I am most interested in the classical concerts here) but imagine it is a wonderful ambiance for it).
You now know of a another nice place and I wish you the all the best. Stay beautiful <3
