Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation
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| Established | 25 July 1957 |
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| Mission | acquire and protect the cultural legacy of the former State of Prussia |
| President | Hermann Parzinger |
| Vice President | Günther Schauerte |
| Endowment | Federal and State |
| Location | Berlin-Tiergarten |
| Address | Von-der-Heydt-Straße 16-18 10785 Berlin, Germany |
| Website | http://www.hv.spk-berlin.de |
The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (German: Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz (SPK)), headquartered in Berlin, Germany, was established in 1957 by German Federal law with the mission to acquire and preserve the cultural legacy of the former State of Prussia. Its purview encompasses over 27 institutions, including all of Berlin's State-run Museums, the Berlin State Library, the Prussian Privy State Archives and a variety of institutes and research centers. As such it has become one of largest cultural organizations in the world.
The Federal Government and the German States are jointly responsible for the Foundation, both legally and financially. Its operations include preservation and care of the collections, their structure and development, and the continuation of academic and scientific research with a mission to encourage learning and understanding between different peoples.
During World War II, the cultural artifacts and fine arts in Prussia, especially in Berlin, came under increasing threat of loss. To protect them from Allied bombing, millions of items were evacuated to relative safety in monasteries, castles and abandoned mines around Germany starting in 1941. With the collapse of the Third Reich in 1945, many of these collections wound up damaged, destroyed, or variously hidden in the Allied occupation zones. All the former Prussian institutions ceased to officially exist when the State of Prussia was abolished in 1947, placing these assets in further doubt. As Germany became divided into West and East, what remained of the buildings and scattered collections were also separated by the Iron Curtain.
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