David Gilly built the simple-looking palace in Paretz (Schloss Paretz), north of Potsdam, in 1797 for the future Prussian King Frederick William III and his wife Luise. A short time later, the master builder had the entire village completely redesigned, thus creating an important testimony to Prussian rural architecture.

The ensemble of palace and village formed the charming backdrop for the royal family's summer stays of several weeks in the years 1797 to 1805. After Queen Luise's early death in 1810, the palace took on the character of a memorial site. The bourgeois-early classicist rooms underwent no further significant changes until 1945.

After decades of other uses and extensive restoration, the royal apartment presents itself today in its original beauty. The artistic Paretz paper wallpapers, which were hand-painted or printed in Berlin manufactories, make paradisiacal gardens blossom and combine the interior and exterior spaces into a harmonious whole. Together with the exquisite furniture, they bear witness to the high level of interior design around 1800.

A permanent exhibition in the palace's coach house displays magnificent historic carriages, sleighs and sedan chairs from the marstal collections of the Prussian royal family. Among them are the oldest courtly children's carriage in Europe from 1690 as well as carriages and sedan chairs of Frederick the Great.