Otto Lessing

Who was Otto Lessing?

Otto Lessing was a prominent German Historicist sculptor whose work largely shaped the appearance of Berlin in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was the son of history and landscape painter Carl Friedrich Lessing and the great great nephew of poet Gotthold Ephraim Lessing.

Lessing created sculpture and decorative architectural elements on the façades and interiors of many important buildings in Germany, such as the Reichstag, Berlin Cathedral and the Reichsgericht in Leipzig. In addition to large public contracts, he also designed commercial buildings and residential villas. At the height of his career in 1911, Lessing was appointed to the Senate of the Akademie der Künste and awarded the Pour le Mérite in Science and Arts, Germany's highest civilian decoration.