Prussian and Hohenzollern Palaces, Castles and other Royal Residences

[Harold]

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?

[Avicenna]

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

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.

[Stefan]

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.

[Harold]

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!

[principessa]

welt.de has a report about the rebuilding of the Stadtschloss Potsdam.

Wiederaufbau: Das neue Potsdamer Stadtschloss wird peinlich - Nachrichten Kultur - WELT ONLINE

[Harold]

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?

[lucien]

The Christmas market at Charlottenburg Palace is to open this monday the 23rd.

Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten | SPSG | 17.11.2009

[Harold]

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.

[Harold]

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.
.

[Marengo]

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/

[Stefan]

I also hope they will find a way to keep itopen. Perhaps a way would be ifthey would only open it in the Summer Time and close it complete during late autumn and winter

[principessa]

Today the foundation stone of the rebuilt of the Berliner Stadtschloss will be set.

IMO this rebuilding is not okay. Only the facade is looking like a castle but inside the "castle" you will never see how the old castle has looked. Inside this building is the so called Humboldt-Forum and no museum of the history of the Stadtschloss, of the family of Prussia connected with this castle... .

[An Ard Ri]

Berlin begins reconstruction of King Frederick the Great's palace

Berlin begins reconstruction of King Frederick the Great's palace - Telegraph

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22877286

[Warren]

Stadtschloss Berlin

How it should appear after reconstruction.

[NGalitzine]

It looks like an old office building or train station.

[Warren]

Yes indeed, I'd class it as "civic" rather than "palatial".
Some years ago when this project was being seriously discussed, I thought "great! a reconstructed city palace!".
But then I saw photos of the original Stadtschloss, and the reaction was a deflated "oh."
Not much more to say about it is there?

[An Ard Ri]

Originally Posted by Warren

Yes indeed, I'd class it as "civic" rather than "palatial".
Some years ago when this project was being seriously discussed, I thought "great! a reconstructed city palace!".
But then I saw photos of the original Stadtschloss, and the reaction was a deflated "oh."
Not much more to say about it is there?

Plus the cityscape of Berlin has been dramatically changed since the Palace was destroyed,I wonder how it will fit in!

[Harold]

Apparently the City Palace in Potsdam has been rebuilt and the Brandenburg Landtag will move in soon. (It is my understanding that only part of the Palace's historic facade was replicated and that the interior of the palace was adapted to house the Landtag.)

Until know the Landtag has been housed in the old brewery/army records building. Does anyone know what use will be made of that building?

Thanks.

[CyrilVladisla]

Victoria, the Dowager Empress Frederick, had a country house built in the style of England's Sandringham House. The country house was called Schloss Friedrichshof. The castle is now a hotel called Schlosshotel Kronberg.

Harold, Prince Louis Ferdinand's obituary stated:
At the end of the Second World War, Prince Louis Ferdinand had to flee with his family from his Eastern estates to West Germany and made the Wummehof in Bremen his private residence.

Sans Souci
The Concert Room is an example of the "Frederick" style of Rococo. It is decorated with paintings, sculptures, furniture, and handcrafts. The Concert Room was the setting for musical evenings in which the King was often a performer.

Charlottenburg
Sophie Charlotte, wife of King Frederick I, had a lively interest in sciences, literature, and Italian chamber music.
There are cymbals and portraits of Italian composers in her ooms at Charlottenburg.
The Red Chamber in the King's suite derived its name from the red damask wallcovering with rich gold ornamental braiding.The statue of Fortune at the top of the Castle of Charlottenburg was also a weathervane.

A year after the construction of the Golden Gallery, King Frederick II decorated a second, four-room apartment, to house his collection of French paintings rather than to live in.

[Warren]

Schlosshotel Kronberg and its surrounding park are today owned by the House of Hesse.