Cecilienhof Palace (german: Schloss Cecilienhof) is a palace in
Potsdam
Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream o ...
,
Brandenburg
Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an area of 29,480 sq ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, built from 1914 to 1917 in the layout of an English
Tudor manor house. Cecilienhof was the last palace built by the
House of Hohenzollern
The House of Hohenzollern (, also , german: Haus Hohenzollern, , ro, Casa de Hohenzollern) is a German royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) dynasty whose members were variously princes, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenbu ...
that ruled the
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918. Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. ...
and the
German Empire until the end of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. It is famous for having been the location of the
Potsdam Conference
The Potsdam Conference (german: Potsdamer Konferenz) was held at Potsdam in the Soviet occupation zone from July 17 to August 2, 1945, to allow the three leading Allies to plan the postwar peace, while avoiding the mistakes of the Paris P ...
in 1945, in which the leaders of the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States made important decisions affecting the shape of post World War II Europe and Asia. Cecilienhof has been part of the
Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin
Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin (german: Schlösser und Gärten von Potsdam und Berlin) are a group of palace complexes and extended landscape gardens located in the Havelland region around Potsdam and the German capital of Berlin. The ter ...
UNESCO
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
since 1990.
Location
![SchlossCecilienhof](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/SchlossCecilienhof.JPG)
Cecilienhof is located in the northern part of the large ''
Neuer Garten'' park, close to the shore of the ''
Jungfernsee
The Jungfernsee (translated "Virgin Lake") is north of Potsdam, Germany. It was a glacial kettle and is now part of the River Havel, which runs along its southeastern shore, which is also the only part of its shores that is in Berlin. The rest of ...
'' lake. The park was laid out from 1787 at the behest of King
Frederick William II of Prussia
Frederick William II (german: Friedrich Wilhelm II.; 25 September 1744 – 16 November 1797) was King of Prussia from 1786 until his death in 1797. He was in personal union the Prince-elector of Brandenburg and (via the Orange-Nassau inherita ...
, modelled on the
Wörlitz Park
is a town and a former municipality in the district of Wittenberg, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2011, it has been part of the town Oranienbaum-Wörlitz. It is situated on the left bank of the Elbe, east of Dessau.
The historic ...
in
Anhalt-Dessau
Anhalt-Dessau was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire and later a duchy of the German Confederation. Ruled by the House of Ascania, it was created in 1396 following the partition of the Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst, and finally merged into t ...
. Frederick William II also had the
Marmorpalais
The Marmorpalais (or Marble Palace) is a former royal residence in Potsdam, near Berlin in Germany, built on the grounds of the extensive '' Neuer Garten'' on the shores of the '' Heiliger See'' (lake). The palace was commissioned by King ''Friedr ...
(Marble Palace) built within the ''Neuer Garten'', the first Brandenburg palace in the
Neoclassical style erected according to plans designed by
Carl von Gontard Carl Philipp Christian von Gontard (13 January 1731 in Mannheim – 23 September 1791 in Breslau) was a German architect who worked primarily in Berlin, Potsdam, and Bayreuth in the style of late Baroque Classicism. Next to Knobelsdorff he was c ...
and
Carl Gotthard Langhans, which was finished in 1793. Other structures within the park close to Schloss Cecilienhof include an
orangery
An orangery or orangerie was a room or a dedicated building on the grounds of fashionable residences of Northern Europe from the 17th to the 19th centuries where orange and other fruit trees were protected during the winter, as a very lar ...
, an artificial grotto ('), the "Gothic Library", and the
Dairy in the New Garden
The Dairy in the New Garden was built to plans by the master builder, Carl Gotthard Langhans, on the shore of the Jungfernsee lake at the northernmost tip of the New Garden in Potsdam, Germany. Construction was carried out from 1790 to 1792 by ...
, also constructed for King Frederick William II.
The park was largely redesigned as an
English landscape garden
The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (french: Jardin à l'anglaise, it, Giardino all'inglese, german: Englischer Landschaftsgarten, pt, Jardim inglês, es, Jardín inglés), is a sty ...
according to plans by
Peter Joseph Lenné
Peter Joseph Lenné (the Younger) (29 September 1789 – 23 January 1866) was a Prussian gardener and landscape architect. As director general of the Royal Prussian palaces and parks in Potsdam and Berlin, his work shaped the development of 19 ...
from 1816 onwards, with lines of sight to nearby
Pfaueninsel
Pfaueninsel (, "Peacock Island") is an island in the River Havel situated in Berlin- Wannsee, in the district of Steglitz-Zehlendorf in southwestern Berlin, near the border with Potsdam in Brandenburg. The island is part of the Palaces and Par ...
,
Glienicke Palace
Glienicke Palace (german: Schloss Glienicke) is a historic palace located on the peninsula of Berlin- Wannsee in Germany. It was designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel around 1825 for Prince Carl of Prussia. Since 1990, Glienicke Palace and the p ...
,
Babelsberg Palace
Babelsberg Palace (german: Schloss Babelsberg) lies in the eponymous park and quarter of Potsdam, the capital of the German state of Brandenburg, near Berlin. For over 50 years it was the summer residence of Prince William, later German Emperor ...
, and the
Sacrow Church.
Construction
Since the Marmorpalais, which had been the traditional Potsdam residence of the Hohenzollern crown prince, had become inadequate for current tastes,
Emperor Wilhelm II
Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor (german: Kaiser) and King of Prussia, reigning from 15 June 1888 until his abdication on 9 November 1918. Despite strengthening the German Empi ...
ordered the establishment of a fund for constructing a new palace at Potsdam for his oldest son,
Crown Prince Wilhelm
Wilhelm, German Crown Prince, Crown Prince of Prussia (Friedrich Wilhelm Victor August Ernst; 6 May 1882 – 20 July 1951) was the eldest child of the last ''Kaiser'', the German Emperor, Wilhelm II, and his consort Augusta Victoria of Schles ...
(William) and his wife,
Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Duchess Cecilie Auguste Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (20 September 1886 – 6 May 1954) was the last German Crown Princess and Crown Princess of Prussia as the wife of Wilhelm, German Crown Prince, the son of German Emperor Wilhelm II.
Cecili ...
on 19 December 1912. After their marriage in 1905, Wilhelm and Cecilie had previously lived at the Marmorpalais for most of the year and at the Berlin ''
Kronprinzenpalais
The Kronprinzenpalais (English: ''Crown Prince's Palace'') is a former Royal Prussian residence on Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic centre of Berlin. It was built in 1663 and renovated in 1857 according to plans by Heinrich Strack in ...
'' in winter. In 1911, the Crown Prince had been appointed commander of the
Prussian
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...
''1. Leibhusaren-Regiment'' and moved to
Danzig-Langfuhr
Wrzeszcz (pronounced , german: Langfuhr; csb, Wrzészcz) is one of the boroughs of the Northern Polish city of Gdańsk. With a population of more than 65,000 in an area of (population density 6,622), Wrzeszcz is the most populous part of Gdań ...
.
On 13 April 1914 the Imperial Ministry and the ''Saalecker Werkstätten'' signed a building contract that envisaged a completion date of 1 October 1915 and a construction cost of 1,498,000 Reichsmark for the new palace. The architect was
Paul Schultze-Naumburg
Paul Schultze-Naumburg (10 June 1869 – 19 May 1949) was a German traditionalist architect, painter, publicist and author. A leading critic of modern architecture, he joined the NSDAP in 1930 (aged 61) and became an important advocate of N ...
, who visited the couple in Danzig to work out the design for the palace. It was based on English
Tudor style
Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...
buildings, arranged around several courtyards featuring
half-timbered walls, bricks and 55 different decorative chimney stacks. With the start of World War I in August 1914, construction stopped but was resumed in 1915.
Architecture and interior design
Crown Prince Wilhelm was so impressed with cottage and Tudor style homes like
Bidston Court in
Birkenhead
Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...
(England) that Cecilienhof was inspired by it.
Also, due to
Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Duchess Cecilie Auguste Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (20 September 1886 – 6 May 1954) was the last German Crown Princess and Crown Princess of Prussia as the wife of Wilhelm, German Crown Prince, the son of German Emperor Wilhelm II.
Cecili ...
's family ties, German Tudor-styled
Gelbensande Manor near Rostock in Mecklenburg-Schwerin was an inspiration. The palace was designed in such a way as to be inhabitable for most of the year. Its low structure and multiple courts conceal the fact that it boasts a total of 176 rooms. Besides the large ''Ehrenhof'' (three-sided courtyard) in the centre, which was used only for the arrival and departure of the Crown Prince and his wife, there is a smaller garden court, the ''Prinzengarten'', and three other courts around which the various wings of the building are arranged.
The "public" rooms were located in the centre part on the ground floor, around a central great hall, while above on the first floor were the "private" bedroom, dressing rooms and bathrooms. The living area of the great hall also features a massive wooden stairway made of oak. This was a gift from the city of Danzig.
The ground floor rooms included an area for the Crown Prince with smoking room, library and breakfast room as well as an area for his wife with music salon, writing room and a room designed like a cabin on an ocean liner.
The latter was used by Cecilie as a breakfast room. Like some of the other rooms it was designed by
Paul Ludwig Troost
Paul Ludwig Troost (17 August 1878 – 21 January 1934) was a German architect. A favourite master builder of Adolf Hitler from 1930, his Neoclassical designs for the ''Führerbau'' and the ''Haus der Kunst'' in Munich influenced the style of N ...
, who also designed actual interiors of ocean liners for the
Norddeutscher Lloyd
Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL; North German Lloyd) was a German shipping company. It was founded by Hermann Henrich Meier and Eduard Crüsemann in Bremen on 20 February 1857. It developed into one of the most important German shipping companies of t ...
shipping line.
History before 1945
The palace was finished in August 1917. It was named Cecilienhof after the Duchess and the couple moved in immediately. Cecilie gave birth at Cecilienhof to her youngest child, who was born on 5 September 1917.
However, when the
revolution
In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...
erupted in November 1918, for security reasons Cecilie and her six children moved for a while to the ''
Neues Palais
The New Palace (german: Neues Palais) is a palace situated on the western side of the Sanssouci park in Potsdam, Germany. The building was begun in 1763, after the end of the Seven Years' War, under King ''Friedrich II'' (Frederick the Great) and ...
'', where the wife of Emperor Wilhelm II,
Empress Augusta Victoria, was living. After the Empress followed her husband into exile in the Netherlands, Cecilie remained in Potsdam and returned to Cecilienhof where she lived until 1920. As the property of the Hohenzollern family had been confiscated after the revolution, Cecilie then had to move her residence to an estate at
Oels in Silesia, which was a private property. Only her sons
Wilhelm (William) and
Louis Ferdinand remained at Cecilienhof while they attended a public ''Realgymnasium'' (school) in Potsdam. Crown Prince Wilhelm had gone into exile in the Netherlands on 13 November 1918 and was interned on the island of
Wieringen
Wieringen () is part of the municipality of Hollands Kroon, established in 2012 in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands. It is a former municipality in this province, with its name appearing in records of the late 9th and early 10 ...
. He was allowed to return to Germany—as a private citizen—on 9 November 1923. In June 1926, a referendum on expropriating the former ruling Princes of Germany without compensation failed and as a consequence, the financial situation of the Hohenzollern family improved considerably. A settlement between the state and the family made Cecilienhof property of the state but granted a right of residence to Wilhelm and Cecilie. This was limited in duration to three generations.
Wilhelm subsequently broke the promise he had made to
Gustav Stresemann
Gustav Ernst Stresemann (; 10 May 1878 – 3 October 1929) was a German statesman who served as chancellor in 1923 (for 102 days) and as foreign minister from 1923 to 1929, during the Weimar Republic.
His most notable achievement was the reconci ...
, who allowed him to return to Germany, to stay out of politics. He supported the rise to power of
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
, who visited Cecilienhof three times, in 1926, in 1933 (on the "Day of Potsdam") and in 1935. However, when Wilhelm realized that Hitler had no intention of restoring the monarchy, their relationship cooled. After the
assassination attempt on 20 July 1944, Hitler had Wilhelm placed under supervision by the
Gestapo
The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...
and had Cecilienhof watched.
In January 1945, Wilhelm left Potsdam for
Oberstdorf
Oberstdorf ( Low Alemannic: ''Oberschdorf'') is a municipality and skiing and hiking town in Germany, located in the Allgäu region of the Bavarian Alps. It is the southernmost settlement in Germany and one of its highest towns.
At the&nbs ...
for a treatment of his gall and liver problems. Cecilie fled in early February 1945 as the
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...
drew closer to Berlin, without being able to salvage much in terms of her possessions. At the end of the war, Cecilienhof was seized by the Soviets.
Potsdam Conference of 1945
The Potsdam Conference (officially the "Berlin Conference") took place from 17 July to 2 August 1945. It was the third and longest summit between the heads of government of the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States, the major forces in the anti-Hitler-coalition that had just won the war after
VE day
Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Easter ...
, 8 May 1945. The conference was mainly organized by the Soviets. Although the British prime minister
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
had refused to hold a summit "anywhere within the current Soviet military zone", US President
Harry Truman
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
and Soviet leader
Josef Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...
had agreed in late May 1945 to meet "near Berlin". As Berlin itself had been too heavily damaged by Allied bombing and street-to-street fighting, Cecilienhof in Potsdam was selected as the location for the conference. The delegations were to be housed in the leafy suburb of
Potsdam-Babelsberg
Babelsberg () is the largest quarter (''Stadtteil'') of Potsdam, the capital city of the German state of Brandenburg. The affluent neighbourhood named after a small hill on the Havel river is famous for Babelsberg Palace and Park, part of the Palac ...
, which had suffered only slight damage in the bombing raids and also offered the advantage that the streets to the conference venue were easy to guard.
Soviet soldiers repaired the streets connecting Babelsberg to Cecilienhof, built a pontoon bridge to replace the
Glienicker Brücke, which had been destroyed during the last days of the war, planted trees, bushes and flower beds—including the Soviet red star in the ''Ehrenhof'' of the palace. At Cecilienhof, 36 rooms and the great hall were renovated and furnished with furniture from other Potsdam palaces.
The furniture of Wilhelm and Cecilie had been removed by the Soviets and stored at the Dairy.
The main rooms used for the conference were as follows:
* Cecilie's music salon—White Salon, used by the Soviet delegation as a reception room (on the first day of the conference, this was also the site of a buffet Stalin provided to the other delegations),
* Cecilie's writing room—Red Salon, used by the Soviet delegation as a study,
* Great hall—this was the conference hall, fitted by the Soviets with a round table of 10 feet diameter (probably custom-made by a Moscow-based furniture company),
* Wilhelm's smoking room—study of the American delegation,
* Wilhelm's library—study of the British delegation,
* Wilhelm's breakfast room—possibly used as a secretary's office.
However, according to the official guide to the palace, evidence has recently emerged that indicates that the current designation of the British and American studies may have been switched by the Soviets after the conference.
Post World War II and today
After the conference ended, Soviet troops used the palace as a clubhouse. It was handed over to the state of
Brandenburg
Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an area of 29,480 sq ...
and in 1952 a memorial for the Conference was set up in the former private chambers of Wilhelm and Cecilie. The government of
Eastern Germany
The new states of Germany () are the five re-established states of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) that unified with the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) with its 10 states upon German reunification on 3 October 1990.
The new st ...
also used the palace as a reception venue for state visits.
The rest of the complex became a hotel in 1960. Some of the rooms were used by the ruling party (
SED
sed ("stream editor") is a Unix utility that parses and transforms text, using a simple, compact programming language. It was developed from 1973 to 1974 by Lee E. McMahon of Bell Labs,
and is available today for most operating systems.
sed w ...
) for meetings.
However, after 1961, a part of the ''Neuer Garten'' was destroyed to build the southwest section of the
Berlin Wall (as part of the ''
Grenzsicherungsanlagen'') which ran along the shore of ''Jungfernsee''. Beginning in 1985, the ''VEB Reisebüro'' (state-owned travel agency) modernised the hotel.
Today, parts of Cecilienhof are still used as a museum and as a hotel. In 1990 it became part of the UNESCO
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
called
Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin
Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin (german: Schlösser und Gärten von Potsdam und Berlin) are a group of palace complexes and extended landscape gardens located in the Havelland region around Potsdam and the German capital of Berlin. The ter ...
. The private rooms were opened to the public in 1995 after comprehensive restoration work.
Queen Elizabeth II visited Cecilienhof on 3 November 2004.
On 30 May 2007, the palace was used for a summit by the
G8 foreign ministers.
In 2011, Schloss Cecilienhof was awarded the European Heritage Label.
The redesigned permanent exhibition on the Potsdam Conference was reopened in April 2012.
References
External links
Cecilienhof Palace – official site
{{Authority control
Castles in Brandenburg
Palaces in Brandenburg
Royal residences in Brandenburg
Buildings and structures in Potsdam
Hotels in Germany
Tudor Revival architecture
Museums in Potsdam
Historic house museums in Germany
Houses completed in 1917
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
History museums in Germany
World War II sites in Germany
1917 establishments in Germany