FRANZ HEINRICH (1802 - 1890) Royal residence of Queen Luise and King Friedrich Wilhelm III in Memel

watercolour on paper 26.5 x 41.2 cm (37.5 x 51.2 cm with passe-partout) The residence of the Danish merchant and consul Lorentz Hansen Lorck (1743–1805), situated directly on the banks of the Dane (Dange) River and later becoming the Klaipeda Town Hall, served as the official royal residence of Queen Luise and King Friedrich Wilhelm III between 1807 and 1808. During the Napoleonic Wars, following the crushing Prussian defeats of 1806, the royal family was forced to flee Berlin. They found refuge in Memel (Klaipeda), the easternmost city of the Kingdom of Prussia. It was here that the King of Prussia signed the famous October Edict (Oktoberedikt), which abolished serfdom in Prussia. Memel thus temporarily became the administrative capital of the kingdom.