Berlin’s romantic gem in the River Havel
This island in the River Havel was settled thousands of years ago. From the Iron Age bronze bangles, bracelets and hair spirals found here, we know that people were living on the island around 2,500 years ago. In the seventeenth century, Friedrich Wilhelm, Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia, set up a glass works on the island. This was an ideal location for chemist and glass maker Johannes Kunckel to conduct his experiments into making pure and coloured glass. But when his patron died and the foundry burnt down, Kunckel found himself in some considerable difficulty. Ultimately, his search for a new employer took him to the court of Charles XI in Stockholm.
