38 AUSTRALIAN SKY & TELESCOPE February | March 2019
SOUTSIDE THE WALLSTheBerlinObservatorywasconstructedattheveryedgeofthecityonwhatisknowntodayasDorotheenstrasseinthe
Mittedistrict.Markedhereinorange,theregionwascolloquiallyreferredtoas‘thefarmyard’(Am Bauhof)or‘thebackalley’(Hinter Gasse)inthe
early1700s.Theobservatorywasaddedtotheblockofroyalstables,highlightedhereinblue,whichhadbeenbuiltbetween1677and1688.SOBSERVING ON HIGHDesigned by architect Martin Grünberg, the five-story
tower of the Berlin Observatory was erected over the north wing of the royal stables.
ThesecondfloorofthetowerwasusedbytheRoyalPrussianAcademyofSciences
foritsmeetings,whilethethirdfloorwasreservedforobservingactivities.Gottfried
Kirch never had a chance to work at the new observatory, as he died six months
before its formal dedication.SFURTHER DEVELOPMENTSThe Berlin Observatory
wasrenovatedunderJohannBode.Thetoptwostories
of the tower were combined and given over to observing.
TheobservatoryremainedinuseuntilthenewBerlin
Observatory was constructed in the 1830s.DRAWING: JOHANN GABRIEL DOPPELMAYR,ATL AS COELESTIS(1742) / PUBLIC DOMAIN; MAP: J. M. F. SCHMIDT,HISTORISCHER ATLAS VON BERLIN(1835) / PUBLIC DOMAINPIONEER