Kollegiengebäude I

Kollegiengebäude I stands in Schwerin’s historic centre as a classical, three-winged building with a terraced courtyard. Its entrance combines a portico with a columned hall, while triangular gables rise above the rusticated ground floor.

Carl Heinrich Wünsch designed the building, and Georg Adolf Demmler supervised its construction between 1825 and 1834. The façade recalls Schinkel’s Berlin Schauspielhaus, while sandstone figures by Emil Cauer crown the structure: Zeus stands between Athena and Demeter towards Schloßstraße, with Poseidon and Hermes facing Graf-Schack-Allee. Inside, a multi-flight cast-iron staircase, inlaid parquet, and stucco marble define the ceremonial rooms. The site once held a Franciscan monastery dissolved during the Reformation in 1548, and the building later served successive governmental administrations before becoming the seat of the State Chancellery in October 1990.

Kollegiengebäude II joined it as an extension between 1890 and 1892, and both belong to the Residenzensemble Schwerin, a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2024. A fire in 1865 destroyed the original Artemis statue, leaving four sandstone figures visible today.