Prussian Lanterns – Outdoor Lighting in the Traditional Municipal Style
The Ideal Complement to Historic Buildings
Often copied, never matched: Schinkel-style lights are the ideal complement to historic lanterns and buildings. Today, these outdoor lights with wall brackets and post arms, based on designs by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, are once again handcrafted in the traditional way in Brandenburg.
Karl Friedrich Schinkel: Master Builder of Neoclassicism
Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781 in Neuruppin, Brandenburg – 1841 in Berlin) was a Prussian architect, city planner, and painter who decisively shaped Neoclassicism throughout Prussia, far beyond Berlin. As a friend of Alexander von Humboldt, Schinkel regarded the architect as an "ennobler of all human conditions" and elevated the principle of functionality to a foundational principle of all building design. A member of the Berlin Academy of Fine Arts, he drew inspiration from the formal language of Gothic architecture, anticipating Historicism in the process. Schinkel's significance lies less in the small number of buildings he actually realized — such as the Schauspielhaus on the Gendarmenmarkt (1819–1821) or the Altes Museum on Museum Island (1823–1830) — and more in his theoretical work, which also extended to peripheral areas of architecture, such as the design of elegant, functional lighting fixtures.
Berlin Lanterns and the Sand-Cast Pegasus Wall Bracket
While the wall brackets from our Brandenburg manufacturer — such as the Pegasus bracket on the Alt Berlin model — do trace back to the master builder himself, the lantern heads are actually called "model lights" or "(Old) Berlin lanterns" and are based on a design by Berlin's municipal gasworks from 1892. It was only popular usage that gave these beautiful lanterns the name "Schinkel lights."
Schinkel-Style Lights Define the Face of Many Old Towns
Even today, Schinkel-style lights still define the face of many towns. When reconstructing historic town centers, these floor or wall lights offer a stylistically authentic complement. Nowadays, Schinkel-style lights are no longer made from rust-prone iron but from corrosion-resistant aluminum, finished with an acid-repellent black powder coating or in custom RAL colors. The light heads are available with clear glass or opal glass.
Cutting-Edge Technology in Historic Dress
As standard, Schinkel-style lights are supplied with E27 sockets fitted with the latest filament-style LED bulbs. On request, they can also be equipped with more powerful retrofit LED bulbs, of the kind already found in many municipal lighting installations. Prussian Schinkel-style lights offer a comprehensive range of wall lanterns, pendant lights, pedestal lights, and post lights, available in three different size series for your garden, parks, or public spaces.
Copyright: Thomas Riederer 2008
