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The Gendarmenmarkt is the main square of the Friedrichstadt, the district founded in 1688. It is framed by the Französischer Dom, the Deutscher Dom and Karl Friedrich Schinkel's Konzerthaus.
A new district
The Friedrichstadt was laid out in 1688 with straight, regular streets. Three blocks were left empty to make the main square.
Many French Protestants settled in the district. Around 1705 two churches went up here, one for the French community and one for the German one.
The towers of the “Dom”
Between 1780 and 1785 King Frederick II added two almost identical towers. They were designed by Carl von Gontard. The name “Dom” comes from dôme, meaning dome.
The name of the square, instead, recalls the stables of a cavalry regiment, built here in 1736.
Schinkel's theatre
Schinkel's theatre opened in 1821. That same year it hosted the premiere of an opera by Carl Maria von Weber. The opera was hailed as the German national opera.
After war damage it was rebuilt and reopened in 1984 as a concert hall. Outside it keeps Schinkel's forms, with the grand staircase and the columns on the facade. In front of the theatre stands the monument to Friedrich Schiller. It was carved by Reinhold Begas and completed in 1869.
