Pangea Guides

Neue Wache was originally erected in 1818 to a classically-inspired design by Karl Friedrich Schinkel as a guardhouse for the imperial palace. The interior of the Doric column-fronted building is intentionally empty, but for a small but moving sculpture by Käthe Kollwitz depicting a mother cradling a dead child. The statue is positioned beneath a round hole in the ceiling, exposing the figures to the rain and snow.