The new Reich Chancellery ordered by Adolf Hitler in 1938 and handed over to Albert Speer for completion and finished in 1939 with a cost equivalent of over one billion dollars was to be the center of the 3rd Reich, and was done start to finish in less than a year. 

While one would think that a regime so focused on aesthetics would end up with a decadent overdone eyesore with a huge price tag, the Germans managed to pull it off with typical Neoclassical overtones, and then proceeded to fill it with some of the greatest eye candy one can imagine in the form of paint, porcelain, bronze, and cloth. 

These tapestries have a common denominator in that most all examples have been vet acquired here in the U.S and pulled out of the woodwork by many of the early treasure hunters of the hobby with newspaper ads offering to purchase such items and referenced in several publications most notably Col. Tom Johnson's "War Booty".

Manufactured in a heavy woven cloth with an upper sleeve for which it would hang, these have come with various stories of where they were found from the basement of the Chancellery to behind Hitler's desk. Wherever they were within the building it is quite clear that they are not typical and the manner and process of manufacture make them unique and certainly fitting a building of such stature. 

While the Reich Chancellery was destroyed in bombing raids and taken by the Russian's who were less than forgiving with remaining artifacts, tossing bottles, burning, shooting, and trampling items in general ( Photo 3 ) some of these tapestries did manage to survive and while I did manage to acquire an undamaged specimen, many were in fact destroyed or damaged at the end of the war. 

This has long been one of my favorite pieces with its bullion accents and tasteful execution and I will shoot better photo's when I get it up on the wall as it is a large piece at over 4 1/2 feet wide and nearly 6 feet high and of considerable weight.

Reich Chancellery Tapestry