Museum of the Huguenots (Hugenottenmuseum)

Beautiful paintings, prints, books and manuscripts can be seen in this beautiful museum inside Gaendarmenmarkt French Cathedral, in the heart of Berlin. This museum is named after the Huguenots and is in honor of the 20,000 French refugees who settled here in 1685. The museum opened in 1935 to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Edict of Potsdam made by Frederick the Great, who granted citizenship to the French exiled for religious reasons. The entire exhibition relates to the theological and historical issues that led to the exodus of Protestants from France into what is now Germany, and traces the emergence of the French colonies in the Brandenburg region.

The Huguenot museum is installed in the French church, the oldest of the two churches of Gendarmenarkt, the beautiful square in Berlin. The church itself was built by the Huguenots, a group of French Protestants in the eighteenth century. The museum is on the ground floor, and explains the influence that this community in Berlin. The Huguenots fled France after the revocation of the treaty of Nantes that had allowed them to be Protestant. Seeing their religion prohibited, they emigrated to Germany. King Friedrich Wilhelm helped them as most held useful professions. French immigration left some words in the vocabulary, such as the famous "buletten" meatballs, as Muckefuck ...