Brandenburg-Prussia has a colonial past with a long history. Time and again, the palaces and gardens were stages for colonial activity and thinking. Court society was both directly and indirectly involved in this system. Even into the 19th century, trafficked people were working at the Prussian court. This colonial context can be discerned in numerous artworks in the palaces. As obvious as these statements may sound to many, there are still so few details known about the backgrounds, narratives, and biographies. Until now, the architectural and art historical features of the palaces and collections were first and foremost seen from a European view and presented to visitors from this perspective. In the face of a pluralistic society, social change, cultural and societal globalisation as well as the beginning discussion of German and Prussian colonial history, it is important and necessary to expand this narrative and to add previously overlooked or neglected perspectives. Initially, each of the 24 objects, groups of works or buildings presented here will be examined with a conventional art historical approach. An additional text regarding the same object will then cover the gaps in the story or will convey a parallel history that focuses on aspects of colonial history, the problems of existing narratives or information excluded from the established contexts. Among other topics, we can read that the coloured glass beads manufactured on Peacock Island were used as currency in the slave trade in West Africa. We also learn on what paths the biographies of Black servants at court could be partially reconstructed and that allegedly Chinese motifs in applied art mostly reflected European notions of China. With this perspective, this guide represents the beginning of a process of a critical reappraisal of colonial contexts in these palaces and gardens. The necessary external view is cast initially on two especially critically discussed objects: the busts of the First Rondel in Sanssouci Park (chapter 5) and the so-called Tip of Kilimanjaro in the New Palace (chapter 24). Introduction
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