Caspar-David-Friedrich-Zentrum

In the location's words:

With the founding of the Caspar David Friedrich Society in 1998, the desire for a place dedicated to the great painter and most important son of the city of Greifswald grew ever stronger. It made sense to preserve the legacy of this important artist in the very place where he was born in 1774 and spent his childhood. The estate, which Friedrich's father acquired in 1765 and which remained in the possession of the Friedrich family and their descendants until the 1970s, has been largely preserved and is ideally suited as an exhibition and documentation venue for Caspar David Friedrich's life and work.

As early as spring 1989, visual artists and members of the Greifswald Old Town Initiative launched a campaign to save the soap-boiling workshop building in the so-called Friedrich Quarter, which was threatened by decay.

The political upheaval in 1989 finally made it possible for the workshop building to be renovated between 1991 and 1994 by the Hanseatic City of Greifswald, financed by the federal government and the Kulturfonds foundation. Initially, the commercial Neue Greifengalerie and visual artists moved in, using the upper floors as studios.

Since 2004, the Caspar David Friedrich Center with the Friedrich family's historic soap factory has been located in the rear building of the Lange Straße 57 ensemble. This was the first part of Friedrich's birthplace to be made accessible to the public. The expansion was financed by the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation and the Sparkasse Vorpommern Foundation.

In 2006, the Caspar David Friedrich Society developed a concept for the expansion of the Friedrich Center and presented an architectural design for the extension of the front building at Lange Straße 57. With the decision of the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern to fund this project in 2010 as part of the economic stimulus package II, the project could be tackled.

From May 2010 to January 2011, the front building was renovated by the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald as the owner with funding from the state and its own contribution. On February 2, 2011, the restored building was handed over to the Caspar David Friedrich Society, which equipped it with an exhibition within four months and combined it with the existing presentation in the workshop building.

The interior and museum furnishings were financed by the society's own funds as well as grants from the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald and the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. In addition, company and private donations as well as donations in kind from members of the society contributed to the realization. As a result, an extended exhibition on Friedrich's life and work has now been created on almost 500 square meters.

The expanded Caspar David Friedrich Center was officially opened on May 28 and 29, 2011.

The organization and operation of the Friedrich Centre is the responsibility of the Caspar David Friedrich Society, supported by the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald.