Text in English & German. This book is a synopsis, a summary of the books also published by Edition Axel Menges about the Prussian architects Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841), Ludwig Persius (1803-1845) and Friedrich August Stüler (1800-1865), but it covers only the works of these architects in Berlin and Potsdam. The three books mentioned above are subtitled 'The architectural work today'; in other words, they are exclusively about buildings that still exist. This is also true of the present selection. The question whether this selection and limitation to Berlin and Potsdam is representative of the work of the three architects can clearly be answered in the affirmative. For Persius this question does not even arise, because during his short life he worked almost exclusively in Potsdam and its immediate vicinity -- he was the 'King's architect'. Stüler's work is found in a region extending from Cologne on the Rhine to Masuria, with some important buildings in Stockholm and Budapest as well. About a quarter of his works can be found in Potsdam and Berlin, where Stüler, too, was the 'King's architect'. The truly gigantic lifework of Schinkel extends from Aachen to St Petersburg. Berlin and Potsdam have about a third of his works. It can be confidently said, however, that those who know the works of Schinkel, Persius and Stüler in Berlin and Potsdam also know the architect's work as a whole in each case. Since the pictures assembled here were taken between 1998 and 2005, they themselves have already become somewhat historical.

Text by: Barry Bergdoll