The elephant is a much-admired animal, but it is also endangered. The ivory from its tusks has been in great demand across the centuries and throughout all cultures. What sort of material is it? How has it been used in the past and the present? And what can we do today to protect the world's largest mammals from poachers? This lavishly illustrated volume embarks on a journey through cultural history and takes up a contemporary position. Ivory fascinates. As long as 40,000 years ago people carved mammoth tusks into artful figures and musical instruments, and it remains popular as a material to this day. Ivory polarises, because the animal's tusks also stand for injustice and violence. The exploitation of man and nature, the threatened extinction of the elephant, poaching and organised crime are phenomena which we associate with ivory. The publication approaches the subject critically and poses the question as to our responsibility in our dealings with both animal and material.

Die Hohenzollern-Schlösser in Berlin, Potsdam und der Mark Brandenburg dokumentieren eine fast 400-jährige Tradition höfischer Kultur. Vorgestellt werden die königlichen Residenzen, Lustschlösser und Parkanlagen, die sich heute in der Obhut der Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg befinden und die großteils unmittelbar nach der Wiedervereinigung in die Welterbeliste der UNESCO aufgenommen wurden.

I principi brandeburghesi-prussiani ornavano le loro residenze con castelli e parchi rappresentativi, impiegando gli architetti ed artisti piu illustri dell'epoca. I Castelli dei Hohenzollern a Berlino, Potsdam e nel Brandeburgo documentano una tradizione di cultura cortigiana di quasi quattrocento anni, cominciando con la posa della prima pietra del Jagdschloss Grunewald nel 1542 fino al Castello Cecilienhof a Potsdam, completato nel 1917. Tra gli architetti si trovavano delle capacita come il Nering, Knobelsdorff, Buring, Gontard, Langhans, Schinkel e il Persius, e tra i giardinieri uomini come il Godeau, Eyserbeck e Lenne. Il centro dell' attivita edilizia si trovava prima a Berlino, poi a Potsdam come seconda residenza e nel Brandeburgo. Oggi le residenze dei rei prussiani, di cui quelli piu importanti dal 1990 fanno parte del Patrimonio Mondiale della UNESCO, sono in custodia della Stiftung Preussische Schloesser und Garten Berlin-Brandenburg.