Justice

Under Andreas Schlüter, who in 1694 was summoned to Berlin by Elector Friedrich III to take up the position of court sculptor, the city rose to become a royal seat of European stature. He crafted the masks of dying warriors in the courtyard of the arsenal as well as the statue of Friedrich III and the equestrian memorial of the Great Elector, the original of which is now in front of Charlottenburg Palace (with an electroptype under the great dome of the Bode Museum). In 1698, following these achievements, he was entrusted with the task of building a new palace. The two lunette reliefs presenting the key virtues of a sovereign, strength and justice, were positioned above the windows on either side of Portal V, facing onto the Lustgarten (pleasure gardens). After the palace was demolished in 1950, these allegories passed into the possession of the Berlin Museums, and are now among the very few items of sculptural decoration that have survived from the palace.