Prussian and Hohenzollern Palaces, Castles and other Royal Residences


If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Marengo

Administrator
Site Team
Joined
Aug 13, 2004
Messages
26,933
City
São Paulo
Country
Brazil
In this thread we can discuss the various palaces and castles of the Hohenzollern family. As a start here the link to Burg Hohenzollern:

Preussen.de - Burg Hohenzollern

From this wikipedia article:

Burg Hohenzollern is a castle, about 50 km south of Stuttgart, Germany, considered home to the Hohenzollern family that came to power during the Middle Ages and ruled Prussia and Brandenburg until the end of World War I.
The castle is located on top of Mount Hohenzollern at an elevation of 855 meters, above Hechingen in the Swabian Alb. It was originally constructed in the first part of the 11th century. It was completely destroyed after a 10-month siege in 1423 by the imperial cities of Swabia.
A second, larger and sturdier castle was constructed from 1454 to 1461 and served as a refuge for the Swabian Hohenzollern family during wartime, including during the Thirty Years' War. By the end of the 18th century, however, the castle was thought to have lost its strategic importance and gradually fell into disrepair, leading to the demolition of several dilapidated buildings. Today, only the chapel remains from the medieval castle.
The third version of the castle, which stands today, was constructed by King Friedrich Wilhelm IV between 1846 and 1867, under the direction of Oberhofbaurat Stühler, who based his design on English Neo-Gothic style as well as the castles in Loire. Because the castle was built to be merely a family memorial, no member of the Hohenzollern family took residence in this third castle until 1945, when it became home to the last Prussian Crown Prince Wilhelm. Prince Wilhelm and his wife Crown Princess Cecilie are buried there.
Among the historical artifacts of Prussian history contained in the castle today are the Crown of Wilhelm II and some of the personal effects of Frederick the Great and a letter from US President George Washington thanking Baron von Steuben, a scion of the House of Hohenzollern, for his service in the American Revolutionary War. The castle is today a popular tourist destination.

And some Pictures:

View from te sky

Some towers

Some nice details

Another view from the sky

Sideview

Link with some more pictures, here.
 
Last edited:
Berlin City Palace (Stadtschloss) documentary

Here's a new German TV documentary on the Berlin City Palace (Stadtschloss), a 500 year-old royal palace located in the historic heart of Berlin, and bombed to ruins during WWII. The site was later occupied by the East German Palace of the Republic which was recently razed to make way for the reconstruction of the royal palace, a massive and costly project. Includes rare colour footage of the Hohenzollern imperial family at the beginning of the 20th Century, an exploration of the tunnels under the palace site, etc..

Part 1:-
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Q57WjWrz6Ko

Part 2:-
http://youtube.com/watch?v=jek7oI5JNJU
Part 3:-
http://youtube.com/watch?v=52DIppOtU-I
 
Does someone have plans or photos of Babelsberg Castle in Potsdam? thanks
 
Three questions, sort of related.

If I recall correctly, Schloss Monbijou in Berlin housed the Hohenzollern Museum until it was destroyed in World War II. I have heard that Georg Friedrich wants to reestablish the Hohenzollern Museum in a wing of Schloss Charlottenburg. Is this correct? If so is it a done deal or is he simply asking the Prussian State Palaces agency to consider doing so?

Also, when he moved the Hohenzollern Family business administration to Berlin from Bremen, did it move into one of the palaces in Potsdam? I read something somewhere that gave me that impression.

Finally, why did Georg Friedrich's grandfather settle in Bremen? Just a place to go or did the family have some connection there? In Bremen, did they have a villa or just a regular house?

Thanks.
 
In this thread we can discuss the various palaces and castles of the Hohenzollern family.
Burg Hohenzollern...

I've been there. Its conveniently located near Tuebingen, which itself is just south (sort of) from Stuttgart. T. is a 700 year old city, and a very old university town too boot.
 
Here is a great picture of the seat of the Hohenzollerns showing its commanding position, from Wiki..

 
:previous:
The Berliner Schloss was destroyed by DDR government, because it was a symbol of the monarchy. It will be rebuilted, when German Government will find the money to do it.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
The Berliner Schloss was destroyed by DDR government, because it was a symbol of the monarchy. It will be rebuilted, when German Government will find the money to do it.

That is the City Palace in Berlin. Now the have finally removed the Palast der Republik which was build by the DDr-Government. The facades of the Berline Place will be rebuild in the next years and it will the be the Humboldt-Forum.
See here: Stadtschloss Berlin Initiative | Wir bauen das Schloss

However the Palace Hanna Regina is talking is the City Palace in Piotsdam which was also destroyed by the Government. It is at the Moment rebuild and will then be the used as Landtag (Parliament) of Brandenburg.

Here you can find more Information in german:
Verein Potsdamer Stadtschloss e.V.
 
My friend known as remmick, who has given me the opportunity to help with her vast number of web sites, has a great site about German-Russians who migrated from Germany in the late 1700s to the Volga and then in the early 1800s to the Black Sea area, and other areas. Since our roots are in Germany, she and I have traveled in Germany and have taken many photos. Remmick has posted some great photos of the Hohenzollern castle as well as maps

PagePhotoIndex.html

Map showing various castles: PageGerCastles1.html

Reading German history can be confusing. Remmick has a list of the various German states which were part of what was known as the Holy Roman Empire and with it are brief bits of history of areas you have read and maybe didn't know where they were or the history behind each area:
http://www.remmick.org/Remmick.German.Facts/Page5.html#Map

von Hohenzollern's official site:
Preussen.de - Gallery of Palaces

We hope you enjoy them.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Does anybody know which palaces the Preussen family still owns? Just Burg Hohenzollern (partly as the catholic Hohenzollerns own a part of it too)? I believe they tried to get Cecilienhof back, but the court ruled against it (why I don;t understand). I believe the late prince Louis Ferdinand had a house at the Unter den Linden in Berlin and a villa near Bremen, are they now owned by his grandson Gerog-Friedrich?

Thanks in advance.
 
The late Prince Louis FErdinand had a Villa in West-Berlin which he build some time in the 50's or 60's. Don't knoe to whom she belongs now but as far as i know it belongs to the Family. After 1990 the wanted the Palais Unter den Linden (where Wilhelm I. lived) back but they didn't get it. I think the Wümmehof still belongs to the Family. There was also antoerh House in Bremen where Prince Louis ferdinand jr. lieved during his marriage and Princess Donata lived also there until her remarriage.
 
Does anyone know why in the Burg Hohenzollern there are three chapels? A Catholic, a Lutheran and an Orthodox one? What is the denomination the Hohenzollerns belong to?
 
Does anyone know why in the Burg Hohenzollern there are three chapels? A Catholic, a Lutheran and an Orthodox one? What is the denomination the Hohenzollerns belong to?

The Royal Family of Prussia belongs to the protestant faith and the Princely Family of Hohenzollen who also owns 1/3 of the Castle is catholic. Therefore the 2 Chapels. The third Chapel is a russian-orthodox Chapel under the protestant Chapel. In the protestant chapel the Coffing of the King Friedrich II. and Friedrich Wilhelm I. where placed until 1991.
 
Last edited:
The Royal Family of Prussia belongs to the protestant faith and the Princely Family of Hoheznzolen who also iown 1/3 of the Castle is cathiolic. Therefore the 2 Chapels. The third Chapel is a russian-orthodox Chapel under the protestant Chapel. In the protestant chapel the Coffing of the King Friedrich II. and Friedrich Wilhelm I. where placed until 1991.


Thank you Stefan for the information. I was wondering about it and you made it clear. :flowers:
 
Does anyone have any photos of and / or information on the current Hohenzollern properties in Bremen and Berlin? After the war did the family settle in Bremen just because it was convenient or did the family have a connection to that city?
 
Here is a picture that I would like to identify...

Here is a picture...my father took it flying in an F-100 over Germany with an RAF guy around 1980...I am wondering which Castle it might be?
 

Attachments

  • scan0003 (500x348).jpg
    scan0003 (500x348).jpg
    38.2 KB · Views: 545
:previous:
It is Burg Hohenzollern (see previous posts for pics).
 
It is my understanding that the President of Germany uses Schloss Bellevue (a former Hohenzollern Palace) for his offical duties, but actually lives in a small villa elsewhere. Is this correct?

Does the Chancellor actually live in the new Chancellery or does she live in a separate residence?

In the Wikipedia entry for Georg Friedrich it states that he wants to recreate the Hohenzollern museum that was housed in Schloss Monbijou prior to World War II in a wing of Schloss Charlottenburg. Is this actually going to be done?
 
Harold,
the German President (currently Horst Köhler) has in fact two official seats: one being the mentioned Schloss Bellevue in Berlin, the other is called Villa Hammerschmid in the former capital Bonn :flowers:

www.bundespraesident.de: Der Bundespräsident / Die Amtssitze (more information on these two places)

However, I do not know, if he truly lives there or if he prefers another place. Anyway, I believe this should not matter as it is his private matter and could cause security concerns if known to a greater public.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
NO he doesn' live there. The last Presidental Couple who lived at Bellevue where Roman and Christiane Herzog. Bot Johannes Rau and Horst Köhler live at a Flat who is avalible for the President in Berlin.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Actually, now that I think about it, I saw in a book on the various federal government buildings in Berlin a short article and photo of a house that used to be the house of the commander of US forces in Berlin but was redone as a residence for the President so that he does not have to live in Schloss Bellvue. Am I recalling this correctly? Thanks!
 
If I understand correctly, the Brandenburg Landtag is to move into the Potsdam Stadtschloss. What will happen to the current building housing the Landtag - I think it's the old brewery?
 
Might we discuss the Stadtschloss in Berlin? I know it is to be rebuilt with the original exterior look but a different interior arrangement. Here is an aerial photo.

File:Berlin Stadtschloss Luftaufnahme.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There is a small wing on the northwest (?) corner which is the lower right of the photo. It was, I believe, known as the apothecary. What was this wing? A hospital?

To the left of the apothecary there is a small wing that is along the Spree with barges near by. What was this?

Thanks.
 
Huis Doorn to close?

End of the line for Germany's Last Emperor - Europe - World - The Independent

excerpts

If the plans of the Netherlands' recently elected coalition government are implemented, House Doorn will close its doors to the public on 1 January 2013. The country's cultural advisory body, which oversees the manor house and its 15-acre estate, has decreed that it "is not Dutch enough" to warrant its ¤441,000 (£354,000) in annual funding. As part of its austerity budget, the Dutch will cut that down to ¤216, 000, a measure that will force the closure of the house as a museum. "We will not be able to keep the house open to the public. Within a matter of years, the place will be forgotten and I fear that this will be used as a pretext to get rid of the vast collection of photographs and thousands of priceless royal artefacts," Mr Goossens said.

House Doorn is a museum deliberately "frozen" in the year 1930. Its curators constantly study photographs taken more than 80 years ago of each of the 24 rooms in the house to ensure that even table cutlery and pillowcases from the era remain exactly in place. On a table at which Wilhelm once sat on a stool shaped like a cavalry saddle, one of his cigars lies in an ashtray alongside a cigarette holder embossed with a Prussian Eagle. Photographs of German battleships or the Kaiser directing military manoeuvres in full dress uniform adorn the walls of his study.
His slippers remain next to the bed in which he died in 1941. In the manor's attic, cupboards groan with hundreds of uniforms, swords and the spiked Prussian Pickelhaube helmets that Germany's first media-conscious monarch wore with obsessive regal pride. "Our aim is to give visitors the feeling that the Kaiser died only yesterday," Mr Goossens told The Independent on Sunday. Few would contest that the Dutch manor house has managed to achieve its objective.

After the First World War, the Kaiser fled to the Netherlands, one of the few European countries to have avoided the conflict and the only nation prepared to offer him sanctuary. He bought Doorn from Baroness Heemstra of Beaufort, Audrey Hepburn's aunt, and furnished the house with the contents of his palaces in Berlin and Potsdam, ferried from Germany in 59 railway carriages. The collection was so large that staff at Doorn were still opening the last crates in 1992.Wilhelm lived there until his death in 1941. After Nazi Germany's defeat, the Dutch government confiscated the house as "war booty". Doorn became a museum, attracting 25,000 visitors a year.
.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I hope that they will find ways to finance the museum. These articles are probably also a way to add some pressure to the government and other organisations to look for ways to keep it open. It must be hard for the staff and the large amount fo volunteers who gave their best to keep the house and gardens in a perfect state. I think it is important to keep the place open, even more so because lately a lot of academics etc. have been warning 'us' that we show far too little interest in the culture, language etc. of our most important (trading) partner: Germany.

If it does close, I feel that the state should hand everything back to the descendants of the late Emperor, since the state confisquated everything after the war as 'enemy property', even though the emperor and most of his descendents weren't even Nazi sympathizers.

People can post a message of support on the website of Huis Doorn:
http://www.huisdoorn.nl/nld/reactie/
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom