Station: [16] The Berlin Sedan Chair

You're probably wondering what a sedan chair is doing in a Huguenot Museum!
In fact, the story behind it is quite remarkable. 
The idea of the sedan chair is about 300 years old. Back then, Elector Friedrich Wilhelm of Brandenburg introduced them as a means of public transport in Berlin. In fact, the whole project was designed as a kind of job creation scheme for impoverished Huguenots. Because only Huguenots were allowed to be employed as chairmen. Each sedan chair was carried by two bearers. One stood at the back between the poles, the other at the front – truly a tough job. 
The chairmen waited for customers right next to Berlin's City Palace. The portable chairs were much better suited to the narrow alleys than large carriages. They had right of way in the streets, and even ordinary pedestrians had to give way to the bearers. 
A well-heeled customer could choose to book the sedan chair for just an hour for a fee of four groschen, or to pay 20 groschen and keep it for a whole day. The fee was called a "taxe", which would make the sedan chair the precursor of the Berlin taxi. But above all, this is evidence of how tough it was for many Huguenots to make a start in their new home country. 

Foto: © DHG