Schlüter was born in Hamburg but spent his early years in Danzig (now Gdańsk). He worked in Poland before 1694 for Jan III Sobieski but was called to Berlin, where he was active primarily as court sculptor to the King Frederick I. He also worked as an architect and built many state buildings. The castle he designed in Berlin was partially destroyed by bombing in World War II and its remains were in demolished by the subsequent Communist regime. His sculpted decoration for Arsenal in Berlin is masterpiece of baroque expression and pathos. In 1713 his fame brought him to work for Tsar Peter the Great in St. Petersburg, Russia, where he not long after died of an illness.