Spandau Prison was a prison

Prison

A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...

 situated in the borough of Spandau

Spandau

Spandau is the fifth of the twelve boroughs of Berlin. It is the fourth largest and westernmost borough, situated at the confluence of the Havel and Spree rivers and along the western bank of the Havel, but the least populated.-Overview:...

 in western Berlin, constructed in 1876 and demolished in 1987 after the death of its last prisoner, Rudolf Hess

Rudolf Hess

Rudolf Walter Richard Hess was a prominent Nazi politician who was Adolf Hitler's deputy in the Nazi Party during the 1930s and early 1940s...

, to prevent it from becoming a neo-Nazi shrine. The prison was near, though not part of, the Renaissance

Renaissance architecture

Renaissance architecture is the architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 17th centuries in different regions of Europe, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of ancient Greek and Roman thought and material culture. Stylistically, Renaissance...

-era Spandau Citadel

Spandau Citadel

The Spandau Citadel is a fortress in Berlin, Germany, one of the best-preserved Renaissance military structures of Europe. Built from 1559–94 atop a medieval fort on an island created by the meeting of the Havel and the Spree, it was designed to protect the town of Spandau, which is now...

 fortress. In history, Spandau Prison succeeded as a prison to the citadel and where Frederick II of Prussia

Frederick II of Prussia

Frederick II was a King in Prussia and a King of Prussia from the Hohenzollern dynasty. In his role as a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, he was also Elector of Brandenburg. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel...

 had held captive the magistrates of the Prussian Kammergericht

Kammergericht

The Kammergericht is the Oberlandesgericht for the state of Berlin. Its name differs from Germany's other state courts for historic reasons. There are no other courts called Kammergericht in Germany.-Overview:...

 and the Spandau gaol, where Carl Schurz

Carl Schurz

Carl Christian Schurz was a German revolutionary, American statesman and reformer, and Union Army General in the American Civil War. He was also an accomplished journalist, newspaper editor and orator, who in 1869 became the first German-born American elected to the United States Senate.His wife,...

 had freed his friend Gottfried Kinkel

Gottfried Kinkel

Johann Gottfried Kinkel was a German poet also noted for his revolutionary activities and his escape from a Prussian prison in Spandau with the help of his friend Carl Schurz.-Early life:...

 in the aftermath of the 1848 German revolution.