Berlin's only surviving baroque palace, on a little island off the Altstadt, houses a branch of Berlin's Kunstgewerbemuseum (Museum of Decorative Arts). It's a rich and eclectic collection of furniture, tapestries, porcelain, silverware, glass and other frilly objects from the Renaissance, baroque and rococo periods. Note elaborate ceiling paintings and stucco ornamentation. Highlights include four lavishly panelled rooms and the recreated Wappensaal (Coat of Arms Hall).
It was in this very hall in 1730 that a military court sentenced Crown Prince Friedrich (later Frederick the Great) and his friend Hans Katte to death for attempted desertion. The future king was eventually spared but forced by his father, the 'Soldier King', to watch his friend's beheading.
