Two Shots at the King - Humboldt Forum
Behind the freshly carved baroque facade of the Humboldt Forum lies the footprint of the Berlin Palace, where on the morning of 26 July 1844 a dismissed small town mayor fired both barrels of a pistol into the royal carriage of King Friedrich Wilhelm IV. It was the first assassination attempt on a Prussian king, and Berlin answered it with a song.
Su questo luogo
The Humboldt Forum is a palace built three times over: Andreas Schlueter's baroque residence of the Hohenzollern kings, demolished with explosives by the East German government between September and December 1950; the Palace of the Republic that took its place and was itself torn down between 2006 and 2008; and finally Franco Stella's 677 million euro reconstruction, opened in July 2021, whose three historic facades and dome were copied from old photographs and paid for in part by 105 million euros of private donations. On this spot, at the palace portal shortly before eight in the morning on 26 July 1844, Heinrich Ludwig Tschech, the 55 year old former mayor of Storkow, stepped up to the carriage of King Friedrich Wilhelm IV and Queen Elisabeth as it pulled away for the journey to Silesia and fired both barrels of his pistol. One ball passed through the king's cloak and coat and left only a bruise on his chest; the royal couple drove on unharmed while bystanders wrestled the shooter to the ground. Tschech, convinced the king had personally ruined him after his dismissal from office, refused to beg for mercy. He was sentenced to death on 19 September, and on 14 December 1844 he was beheaded in Spandau, the reluctant king having signed the warrant in tears. Berlin, irreverent as ever, turned the affair into a banned street ballad that Friedrich Engels later ranked among the best folk songs in three centuries.
Fatti principali
- 1844 year — On 26 July 1844 former Storkow mayor Heinrich Ludwig Tschech fired at King Friedrich Wilhelm IV and Queen Elisabeth as their carriage left the Berlin Palace, the first assassination attempt on a Prussian king.
- 2 barrels — Tschech emptied both barrels of his pistol at point blank range; one ball tore through the king's cloak and coat and left nothing worse than a bruise on his chest.
- 677 million euros — The cost of rebuilding the palace as the Humboldt Forum, opened to the public on 20 July 2021, with 105 million euros of the baroque facades funded by private donors.
📍 Schloßplatz, 10178, Berlin