Villa Grisebach donates extensive rhinoceros collection to Charlottenburg Palace

To mark the 100th birthday of Martin Sperlich, Villa Grisebach is donating his extensive rhinoceros collection to the Prussian Palaces and Gardens.

Martin Sperlich, Director of the Berlin State Palaces and Gardens from 1969 to 1984, had an extraordinary passion during his lifetime: to acquire depictions of rhinoceroses from all eras, starting with the famous Dürer woodcut from 1515.

Martin Sperlich was - in the tradition of Wilhelm von Bode - always a committed advocate of the triad of "museums - collectors - trade". No institution benefited from this as much as the Berlin museums in the period from 1883 to 1933. In this spirit, Martin Sperlich also made the large orangery of Charlottenburg Palace available to the German art trade for the ORANGERIE exhibition from 1982 onwards. This initiative later gave rise to the Villa Grisebach.

With this donation, the Villa Grisebach fulfils a wish of the Palace Administration for a permanent memorial to this multifaceted and prolific museum director for the city of Berlin.