Caspar David Friedrich Center

Greifswald is the birthplace of the romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich. Caspar David Friedrich was born as the sixth son of the soap maker and candle maker Adolf Gottlieb Friedrich on September 5, 1774 in his parents' residential and commercial building on Langen Straße. He spent a large part of his childhood there with his family before going to Copenhagen and Dresden to study art. Today the former residence houses the Caspar David Friedrich Center with an exhibition on the life and work of the great painter.

Soap factory and candle workshop

The exhibition area on the ground floor, which is also the entrance area, is dedicated to the individual stations in Friedrich's life and houses a museum shop worth seeing, which was built on the spot where the Friedrich family used to sell their soaps and candles. If you follow the stairs to the basement, visitors reach the historical vaulted cellar, in which the father's soap factory and candle workshop were located. Even today, the tallow cauldrons, ladles and soap molds, some of which have been preserved in their original state, provide an insight into the craft of the soap makers and light makers.

Family cabinet, Rügen and Eldena room

At the end of the cellar vault, a staircase leads to the Rügen and Eldena room. Both rooms take up two important motifs in the paintings of the romantic painter and once again illustrate Friedrich's precise, profound landscape painting, which was unique at the time. The top floor houses the cozy family cabinet with a small seating area and a wall-sized family tree showing the family relationships of the Friedrich family. Audible excerpts from the siblings' letters convey an impression of the painter's intimate relationship with his family.

Drawing and art education cabinet

On the occasion of Friedrich's 244th birthday in 2018, the drawing and art education cabinet was opened as a permanent part of the exhibition. Modeled on an academic drawing room, it illustrates how Friedrich's drawing training under Quistorp was shaped. Copying drawings, making drawings from plaster casts and drawing from living models is made possible in the exhibition space. Historical drawing materials and enlarging instruments such as the pantograph are also presented.