I apologise for the noise, but I'm rebuilding our house on Spandauer Straße. In Berlin it is one of the first made of stone. Do you see the head of this column, with my family’s’ coat of arms? It will welcome visitors to the foyer of our house. It's a memorial to my family, because I owe them my success. You may have heard of me: I am Thomas von Blankenfelde, a merchant from Berlin. I deal in grain, cloth and luxury goods. My grandfather and father were both mayors of this city. So was I. But my background almost ruined me. Because my father took part in the uprising against Frederick the Second. Our whole family was punished for that: We lost property and influence. The merchant Thomas von Blankenfelde belonged to a successful family. After his death his second wife continued his business. The Blankenfelder House was for a long time the oldest example of bourgeois housing in Berlin. It was demolished in the 19th century. The museum preserved the column with the family’s coat of arms.