Jagdschloss Grunewald
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The Jagdschloss Grunewald, a hunting lodge, is the oldest preserved castle of
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
, Germany. It is on the south waterfront of the
Grunewaldsee The Grunewaldsee () is a lake located in western Bezirk Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf in Berlin within the Grunewald forest. It has a surface of c. 175,000 m2. The Jagdschloss Grunewald hunting lodge is located on the south bank of the lake. B ...
and is part of the locality Dahlem in the
borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...
Steglitz-Zehlendorf Steglitz-Zehlendorf () is the sixth borough of Berlin, formed in Berlin's 2001 administrative reform by merging the former boroughs of Steglitz and Zehlendorf. Home to Free University of Berlin, the Berlin Botanical Garden, and a variety of mu ...
. The
Jagdschloss A ''Jagdschloss'' is a hunting lodge in German-speaking countries. It is a ''schloss'' set in a wildlife park or a hunting area (such as a forest, field or by a lake) that served primarily as accommodation for a ruler or aristocrat and his entou ...
was built in 1542/1543. Its owner was Joachim II Hector the
prince-elector The prince-electors (german: Kurfürst pl. , cz, Kurfiřt, la, Princeps Elector), or electors for short, were the members of the electoral college that elected the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. From the 13th century onwards, the prince ...
of the
Margraviate of Brandenburg The Margraviate of Brandenburg (german: link=no, Markgrafschaft Brandenburg) was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1157 to 1806 that played a pivotal role in the history of Germany and Central Europe. Brandenburg developed out o ...
. The building was created in the
Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
style and got the name ''Zum grünen Wald'', "to the green forest", and gave the whole
Grunewald Grunewald is the name of both a locality and a forest in Germany: * Grunewald (forest) * Grunewald (locality) Grünewald may refer to: * Grünewald (surname) * Grünewald, Germany, a municipality in Brandenburg, Germany * Grünewald (Luxembourg), ...
its name. Around 1800 the château got the name Grunewald too. During reconstructions between 1705 and 1708 by
Frederick I Frederick I may refer to: * Frederick of Utrecht or Frederick I (815/16–834/38), Bishop of Utrecht. * Frederick I, Duke of Upper Lorraine (942–978) * Frederick I, Duke of Swabia (1050–1105) * Frederick I, Count of Zoller ...
, the first king of
Prussia 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 em ...
, it got its
Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
design by master builder
Martin Grünberg Martin Grünberg (born 1655, Insterburg, then in East Prussia, now in Russia – between 16 and 23 October 1706 or 1707Precise date of death unknown) was a German architect and master builder. Life He was active in Berlin from 1687 onwards, a ...
. The Jagdschloss has been administered by the
Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg The Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg (german: Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg; SPSG) was founded by a treaty of 23 August 1994 between the German federal states of Berlin and Brandenburg as ...
since 1932 and is used as a
museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...
. It contains paintings by
Lucas Cranach the Elder Lucas Cranach the Elder (german: Lucas Cranach der Ältere ;  – 16 October 1553) was a German Renaissance painter and printmaker in woodcut and engraving. He was court painter to the Electors of Saxony for most of his career, and is know ...
, his son
Lucas Cranach the Younger Lucas Cranach the Younger (german: Lucas Cranach der Jüngere ; October 4, 1515 – January 25, 1586) was a German Renaissance painter and portraitist, the son of Lucas Cranach the Elder and brother of Hans Cranach. Life and career Lucas Cranach ...
, and from the Netherlands and Germany from 15th to 19th century. The Jagdschloss has the sole hall in Berlin from the time of the Renaissance. Since 1977 a hunting kit collection has been established in a nearby building.


The building of Jagdschlössern under Kurfürst Joachim II. Hector

At the beginning of the 16th century Elector Joachim II Hector began building hunting lodges in the
Margraviate of Brandenburg The Margraviate of Brandenburg (german: link=no, Markgrafschaft Brandenburg) was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1157 to 1806 that played a pivotal role in the history of Germany and Central Europe. Brandenburg developed out o ...
in the wooded and wild area around
Alt-Berlin Alt-Berlin ("Old Berlin"), also spelled ''Altberlin'', is a neighborhood (''Stadtviertel''), situated in the Berliner locality (''Ortsteil'') of Mitte, part of the homonymous borough. In the 13th century it was the sister town of the old Cöll ...
and
Cölln Cölln () was the twin city of Old Berlin (Altberlin) from the 13th century to the 18th century. Cölln was located on the Fisher Island section of Spree Island, opposite Altberlin on the western bank of the River Spree, until the cities we ...
. In addition to existing simple hunting lodges, mostly
timber framed Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...
, hunting lodges were built in Bötzow (later
Oranienburg Oranienburg () is a town in Brandenburg, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Oberhavel. Geography Oranienburg is a town located on the banks of the Havel river, 35 km north of the centre of Berlin. Division of the town Oranienburg ...
), in the Teltower Heide with Grunewald and in
Köpenick Köpenick () is a historic town and locality (''Ortsteil'') in Berlin, situated at the confluence of the rivers Dahme and Spree in the south-east of the German capital. It was formerly known as Copanic and then Cöpenick, only officially adopt ...
, Renaissance hunting lodges were built in the Renaissance style, as well as castle complexes converted for this purpose 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 of B ...
and Grimnitz near Joachimsthal on the edge of the Schorfheide. Of these castles from the time of Joachim II, only the Grunewald hunting lodge has survived. It was about 15 kilometer away from the electoral residence, in which a Renaissance palace was built shortly before in the years 1538 to 1540 in Cölln an der Spree, the predecessor of the
Berlin Palace The Berlin Palace (german: Berliner Schloss), formally the Royal Palace (german: Königliches Schloss), on the Museum Island in the Mitte area of Berlin, was the main residence of the House of Hohenzollern from 1443 to 1918. Expanded by order of ...
. A riding path connected the Residenz Cölln with the hunting area in the Teltower Heide, from 1792 Spandauer Forst, today's
Grunewald Grunewald is the name of both a locality and a forest in Germany: * Grunewald (forest) * Grunewald (locality) Grünewald may refer to: * Grünewald (surname) * Grünewald, Germany, a municipality in Brandenburg, Germany * Grünewald (Luxembourg), ...
. A section of the path, the street
Unter den Linden Unter den Linden (, "under the linden trees") is a boulevard in the central Mitte district of Berlin, the capital of Germany. Running from the City Palace to Brandenburg Gate, it is named after the linden (lime in England and Ireland, not re ...
, led from the city palace to the west into the electoral zoo, which was established in 1527. From there the riding path, which was laid out as a Knüppeldamm (Truncheon Dam) due to the swampy terrain, continued in a southwesterly direction, today's Budapester Straße and
Kurfürstendamm The Kurfürstendamm (; colloquially ''Ku'damm'', ; en, Prince Elector Embankment) is one of the most famous avenues in Berlin. The street takes its name from the former ''Kurfürsten'' (prince-electors) of Brandenburg. The broad, long boulevar ...
.


The Renaissance Château


From Castle to Château

The fortified castles, formerly built to secure the sphere of influence according to economic and strategic aspects, which served both as a defensive structure and as an administrative and residential residence, offered hardly any protection due to the further development of small arms and cannons and thus lost more and more of their importance. In addition, the territorial claim to sovereignty of the sovereigns, such as that of the Elector of Brandenburg, whose greatest internal opponent was the landed gentry, had been consolidated. With the aim of avoiding armed conflicts and clarifying claims by legal means, Emperor Maximilian I passed an imperial law at the Imperial Diet of
Worms Worms may refer to: *Worm, an invertebrate animal with a tube-like body and no limbs Places *Worms, Germany, a city **Worms (electoral district) *Worms, Nebraska, U.S. *Worms im Veltlintal, the German name for Bormio, Italy Arts and entertainme ...
on 7 August 1495 to preserve the ''
Ewiger Landfriede The ''Ewiger Landfriede'' ("everlasting ''Landfriede''", variously translated as "Perpetual Peace", "Eternal Peace", "Perpetual Public Peace") of 1495, passed by Maximilian I, German king and emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, was the definitive an ...
'', which, however, was not observed by all nobles. This development led to the transition from castle to palace at the turn of the 15th to 16th centuries. A separation of the different buildings according to their purpose began. In addition to fortifications erected specifically for territorial defence, such as the
Spandau Citadel The Spandau Citadel (german: Zitadelle Spandau) is a fortress in Berlin, Germany, one of the best-preserved Renaissance military structures of Europe. Built from 1559–94 atop a medieval fort on an island near the meeting of the Havel and ...
in the
Margraviate of Brandenburg The Margraviate of Brandenburg (german: link=no, Markgrafschaft Brandenburg) was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1157 to 1806 that played a pivotal role in the history of Germany and Central Europe. Brandenburg developed out o ...
, representative palace buildings were built in the establishing European residences as the residence of the princes, in the country mansions of the nobility and castles which were specially designed for hunting. Influenced by the Renaissance castles of
Chambord Chambord can refer to: * Chambord (liqueur), a brand of raspberry-flavored liqueur * Château de Chambord, a French ''château'' built in the 16th century * Chambord, Loir-et-Cher, the French commune where the ''château'' is located * Chambord, ...
and
Blois Blois ( ; ) is a commune and the capital city of Loir-et-Cher department, in Centre-Val de Loire, France, on the banks of the lower Loire river between Orléans and Tours. With 45,898 inhabitants by 2019, Blois is the most populated city of the ...
of the French King Franz I., a lively building activity developed at the European princely courts. The architectural style of the Renaissance, which had its origins in Italy, was mainly applied decoratively in northern Europe, with the building retaining the traditional local house form. With large windows, balconies, bay windows, high dwarf houses, chimneys and paintings, sometimes also staircase towers, the pompous builders let decorate the roofs and facades. With the construction of magnificent castles and representative town houses in the cities, as well as municipal buildings, the wealth and understanding of art could be presented to the public.


The Jagdschloss „Zum grünen Wald“

For the construction of a hunting lodge in the forest area of the Teltower Heide, today's Grunewald, Elector Joachim II acquired from the noble family of Spi(e)l a plot of land on the south-eastern shore of Lake Spi(e)ls, which later became Lake Grunewald, northeast of the village of Dahlem. He had a moated castle built directly on the
water castle A water castle is a castle whose site is largely defended by water. It can be entirely surrounded by water-filled moats (moated castle) or natural waterbodies such as island castles in a river or offshore. The term comes from European castle st ...
, which he called Zum grünen Wald. Only a ground plan drawn up in the middle of the 17th century, the so-called Renaissance plan, the evaluation of building files found in 1916 and excavations in the 1970s, and a reconstruction drawing of the building published by Albert Geyer in 1936 provide information about the palace grounds.


The Renaissance Plan

The evaluation of the Renaissance plan and the building records of the Kurmärkisch Brandenburgischen Amtskammer, then Kurmärkische Kriegs- und Domänenkammer, from the years 1669 to 1737, showed that the hunting lodge was originally built as a moated castle on an 8 m × 21 m platform and surrounded by a moat and in the northwest by the Grunewaldsee. The only access to the castle was via a wooden bridge spanning the moat. The moat surrounding the building was filled in as early as 1709, and the courtyard was given a completely new appearance after leveling. In addition, in the 19th century the Grunewaldsee lake was lowered several times in order to be able to cut peat on the Dahlemer Wiesen, so that the water level has been around 2.80 meter lower since the castle was built. The originally rectangular building has two almost square tower buildings on the lake side, which the architect Count Rocco Guerrini added after the death of Joachim II in 1571, during the reign of his son
John George, Elector of Brandenburg John George of Brandenburg (german: Johann Georg von Brandenburg; 11 September 1525 – 8 January 1598) was a prince-elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg (1571–1598). Early life Born as a member of the House of Hohenzollern, he was th ...
. Around the main building there were some U-shaped outbuildings as well as a wall with a
chemin de ronde A ''chemin de ronde'' ( French, "round path"' or "patrol path"; ), also called an allure, alure or, more prosaically, a wall-walk, is a raised protected walkway behind a castle battlement. In early fortifications, high castle walls were difficu ...
and a round tower in the middle. The buildings on the southwest side housed a gatehouse and the residence of the
castellan A castellan is the title used in Medieval Europe for an appointed official, a governor of a castle and its surrounding territory referred to as the castellany. The title of ''governor'' is retained in the English prison system, as a remnant o ...
, on the north-east side a room for storing hunting gear, a gate room, the entrance gate with an adjoining open
arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...
and the kitchen. The main house was flanked by elongated buildings that reached as far as the lake. They were opened along the moat by arcades and were used to house hunting dogs, horses and carriages. Although Renaissance architecture largely dispensed with defensive structures, the entire complex and the
embrasure An embrasure (or crenel or crenelle; sometimes called gunhole in the domain of gunpowder-era architecture) is the opening in a battlement between two raised solid portions (merlons). Alternatively, an embrasure can be a space hollowed out ...
s in the entrance area still reveal the
fortified house A fortified house or fortified mansion is a type of building which developed in Europe during the Middle Ages, generally with significant fortifications added. United States In the United States, historically a fortified house was often calle ...
. However, the moat, the wall, which was probably equipped with battlements and loopholes, and the later added corner wings, which remind one of fortified towers, were only of aesthetic importance.


Reconstruction of the Renaissance building

The building records contained entries of individual repair and reconstruction measures, from which it emerged that some of the decorative Renaissance building elements had been thrown into the moat filled in during 1709 during a reconstruction carried out between 1705 and 1708. After excavations in the 1970s, a reconstruction drawing could be made on the basis of the found components. The evaluation showed that the base area of the castle had not changed, but the outline had. The today uniformly three-storey building originally consisted of a two-storey main house with the three-storey tower-like corner wings facing the lake, an octagonal staircase tower at the front, a so-called
staircase tower A staircase tower or stair tower (german: Treppenturm, also ''Stiegenturm'' or ''Wendelstein'') is a tower-like wing of a building with a circular or polygonal plan that contains a stairwell, usually a helical staircase. History Only a few e ...
and another in the connection between the main house and the western corner wing. The protruding entrance building, which still exists on the courtyard-facing front, was adjoined on both sides by a single-storey ancillary building. The windows had round, lead-cased panes. A building component already used in the late
Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
period are the oriels on the
bay window A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room. Types Bay window is a generic term for all protruding window constructions, regardless of whether they are curved or angular, or r ...
towards the lake side, which have also survived. They were missing in almost every building of the 16th century. In addition to their function as a loosening up facade decoration, they also emphasised the importance of the interiors behind them. The main house and the corner wings had
gable roof A gable roof is a roof consisting of two sections whose upper horizontal edges meet to form its ridge. The most common roof shape in cold or temperate climates, it is constructed of rafters, roof trusses or purlins. The pitch of a gable roof ca ...
s covered with plain tile, probably inclined by 45–50 degrees. The octagonal curved bell canopy of the stair towers were covered with slate in "Old German covering" "altdeutscher Deckung". Numerous chimneys,
dormer A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the usable space ...
s and high dormers gave the roof a richly decorated structure. The gables of the house roof, the dormer houses and the entrance building had a half concave, half convex curved outline, the so-called keel arch or donkey's back, a medieval arch form from the late Gothic period, which today only exists in Grunewald at the entrance building.


Owner builder and master builder

During the reign of Joachim II, Renaissance architecture also found its way into the Margraviate of Brandenburg. He received inspiration for the design of his buildings from his cousin, the
Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
Elector Johann Friedrich I, who had Hartenfels Castle built in
Torgau Torgau () is a town on the banks of the Elbe in northwestern Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district Nordsachsen. Outside Germany, the town is best known as where on 25 April 1945, the United States and Soviet Armies forces first ...
in 1533 by master builder Konrad Krebs. According to his plans and the Torgau model, the Kurmärkische Residenzschloss in Cölln an der Spree was built in 1538. Caspar Theiss also came to Brandenburg with the Saxon master builder Krebs, who was commissioned with the construction management. Little is known about his origins. However, numerous Renaissance buildings in the Mark are attributed to him, and he is said to have been involved in their planning and management. In the entrance room of the hunting lodge his name can be found on a stone slab above the cellar door. The welcome drink is served on the relief above, the Zecherrelief. According to the inscription the pictures show Caspar Theiss and the building scribe Kunz Buntschuh. There are various details about the third person in the literature. Elector Joachim II, a nobleman or an electoral official and the sculptor Hans Schenk, called Scheutzlich, are suspected. Whether Caspar Theiss was the master builder of Grunewald Castle cannot be clarified by the stone relief, as it is not certain whether it already found its place here in the time when the castle was built. Doubts are cast by the door frame renewed in 1705, which lies under the text plate, and the slightly shifted plate, which does not hang vertically on top of each other, and the relief. There are also no documents that could give any reliable information about the master builder. Due to his degree of popularity and his leading role in numerous building projects under Joachim II, it can be assumed that Theiss also designed the Grunewald hunting lodge architecturally.


The reconstruction under Friedrich I.


Increase and change of the roof zone

Except for the corner wings, which were attached to the main building under Elector Johann Georg, no major alterations by the successors of Joachim II are known. Due to the building files found, repair work can only be proven again under the Great Elector Friedrich Wilhelm. In 1669 he gave the order "to repair the Grünewald hunting lodge which had been destroyed and had fallen into disrepair and to have it rebuilt" The recurring farm maintenance measures continued into the electoral reign of his son Frederick III.
Johann Arnold Nering Johann Arnold Nering (or Nehring; 13 January 1659 – 21 October 1695) was a German Baroque architect in the service of Brandenburg-Prussia. A native of Wesel, Cleves, Nering was educated largely in Holland. From 1677 to 1679 he also travelled ...
, who during these years was the court architect in the electoral service, died in 1695. His successor
Martin Grünberg Martin Grünberg (born 1655, Insterburg, then in East Prussia, now in Russia – between 16 and 23 October 1706 or 1707Precise date of death unknown) was a German architect and master builder. Life He was active in Berlin from 1687 onwards, a ...
was commissioned by Frederick I, the first king to rule Prussia since 1701, to carry out major repair and modernization work, as the "Königl. Jagthaus and nearby located buildings have a major repair highly necessary" According to the building records, the inventory was also missing at that time, which suggests that the house was not used during the whole years. In 1705, in addition to interior conversion work, the richly structured roof zone was changed. The saddle roofs of the corner wings and the main house with its dormer houses and dormers gave way to a mansard hipped roof covering these parts of the building with gable dormers on the long sides for lighting the attics. Previously, the main house and the stair tower at the front were extended and adapted to the three-storey corner wings. The protruding entrance building was retained, but the adjoining buildings on both sides were demolished. After the partial installation of new windows and repairs to the outer facades, the conversion was completed in 1708. This external image of the building has been largely preserved to this day. Only the roof view changed in the 1820s, when the gable dormers were replaced by bat dormers during renewed roof repairs. Johann Heinrich Behr, the successor of Martin Grünberg, who died in 1706, had already taken over the management of the construction work two years earlier. In 1709 he had the moat filled with roof parts and building rubble filled up and planted with grass, paved the courtyard and built three pleasure and fishing cottages by the lake.


The interiors before and after the conversion

The modernisation measures mainly concerned the interiors. Simple stucco ceilings were installed, fireplaces and tiled stoves were built to heat the living rooms, and floors, windows and doors were renewed. An unusual location for the layout of rooms in castles from the time of construction is the large courtyard parlour on the ground floor, as the festival halls were usually located on the upper floor. During the reconstruction, the largest room of the house was divided into two rooms by a partition wall. In the 1970s the hall was able to be restored to its original state and is thus the only room in the palace that conveys the Renaissance style. By demolishing the partition wall, a double arcade with a column, also dividing the room, was uncovered. The stucco ceiling, which was drawn in in 1705, concealed the imitation coffered ceiling, which was divided into fields by black and white ceiling painting. The floor, originally made of red brick slabs, could also be restored. The courtyard room was originally heated by a large box kiln, of which only four cast iron plates have survived. They are the only remains of the interior decoration from the founding period of Grunewald Castle. According to the Renaissance plan, a second, somewhat smaller box kiln was located in a room on the east side of the building. Both were replaced by tiled stoves during the reconstruction in 1705. The narrow, elongated box stoves reaching into the room were flush with the wall on one side and could be heated from a side chamber. These so-called breech loaders were expensive luxury items. They show how much importance Joachim II attached to the hunting lodge, which was certainly representative of its time, especially since the Elector is regarded as one of the greatest promoters of art among the
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, Brandenb ...
. There is no reliable information about the use of the two rooms in the corner wings at the time of Joachim II. However, the two rooms and the heatable room on the east side of the house were additionally equipped with toilets, so-called Priveter, and were therefore certainly not without significance. These
garderobe Garderobe is a historic term for a room in a medieval castle. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' gives as its first meaning a store-room for valuables, but also acknowledges "by extension, a private room, a bed-chamber; also a privy". The word der ...
, which were attached to the outer wall of the house above the moat and could be reached from the rooms through narrow door openings, were removed during the reconstruction work in 1705. The walled wall surfaces of the formerly 50 centimetre wide door openings reappeared in 1963 when the house was replastered. After the reconstruction in 1708, the Hegemeister was assigned the rooms in the eastern area. The royal chambers included the divided court room and the room in the western corner wing, which Friedrich I used as a bedroom. The most elaborately designed
stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...
ceiling in the entire palace has oval and polygonal coffered panels and is richly decorated with shells and foliage. The furniture of the 18th century no longer exists. At the time of Joachim II, the private apartments of the electoral couple were on the first floor, which was accessible via the Wendelstein on the front. The elector's living room and bedroom were located in the eastern part of the house, the rooms of the elector in the west. A larger room in the middle, which lay above a part of the court room, probably served as a common dining room. This room and the oriel rooms were also demolished in 1705. The oriels on the corner wings, which are four steps higher than the room floor, have been preserved to this day. Under Frederick I, the rooms on the first floor were used from 1708 to accommodate hunting guests and, according to an inventory from 1710, were partly furnished with bedroom furniture. Before the extension of the building, there was a large attic in the area of the second floor with two rooms in the uppermost part of the three-storey corner wings. The room in the west tower belonged to the private chambers of Elector Johann Georg and could be reached separately from the oriel room below via a small spiral staircase that still exists today. The access doors to the staircase on the first and second floors, with their semicircular endings, date from the Renaissance. A third door from this period is at the entrance to a room in the entrance building, which can be reached from the first floor. In the inventory list the rather modest furnishing of the Grunewald hunting lodge of only nine rooms was listed, although the number of rooms in the three-storey building was much higher. This suggests that the second floor had not yet been furnished. Since only the property of the king was inventoried, the living quarters of the Hegemeister are of course not mentioned either.


The use of the Grunewald hunting lodge


Hunting passion and Anna Sydow (16th century)

Joachim II was a passionate hunter who often used his hunting lodges. For his passion for hunting he received several rebukes from his
Landstände The ''Landstände'' (singular ''Landstand'') or ''Landtage'' (singular ''Landtag'') were the various territorial estates or diets in the Holy Roman Empire in the Middle Ages and the early modern period, as opposed to their respective territorial ...
, which accused him of "always lying in the wood and waiting for the hunter", however, spending little time on government business. But it was not only the sovereigns who sought diversion in hunting. For the entire court society the hunting events were above all pleasure and pastime. Splendid festivities made them a social event. Hunting lodges were built in the princely territories to accommodate the guests. The hunting lodge Grunewald was in the time of Joachim II not only a place of stay at hunting events lasting several days, but also two decades a permanent residence of his mistress Anna Sydow, popularly known as the beautiful foundrywoman and wife of the head of the electoral foundry in Grimnitz. After her death she was surrounded by the following story, which in popular belief made her the haunted figure of Grunewald Castle. In order to escape the monotony of court life, the second wife of the Elector - Hedwig, daughter of the Polish King Sigismund I - and her entourage took part in the hunting pleasures. During a stay in Grimnitz in 1551, the rotten floor under the electoral couple broke away. Joachim II got stuck between the beams and did not injure himself. The elector, however, plunged into the depths, broke her thigh and impaled herself on the hanging antlers in the room below. After that she could only walk on crutches. He took the physical condition of his wife, which was no longer presentable for Joachim II, as an opportunity to get in touch with Anna Sydow. With her he now showed himself in public and often spent many days in the Grunewald hunting lodge in her company and with her child. After Joachim's death in 1571, Anna Sydow came to Spandau Fortress by order of his son Elector Johann Georg, where she died in 1575. However, the superstition that the unfortunate woman had been walled in alive in the wall of the small spiral staircase in the western corner wing and had been haunting the castle since midnight became firmly established among the people.


Declining interest in the hunting lodge (17th and 18th centuries)

The Grunewald hunting lodge was neglected for many decades and was therefore not or hardly used by the Brandenburg electors. Due to the repairs carried out under the Great Elector Friedrich Wilhelm, the building could be used again, but he had a new hunting lodge built only a few kilometer southwest of Grunewald, near his residence Potsdam 1683 with Klein-Glienicke. The Grunewald hunting lodge also played only a minor role for his son Frederick I. Nevertheless, the continuous reports of damage led to the order for modernisation measures. The outbuildings also underwent a change. The stable building on the west side of the main house, originally open to the former moat, was replaced by a two-storey building. On the ground floor there was space for the accommodation of the carriages, on the upper floor the castellan received an apartment. A half-timbered stable was attached to it towards the lake. In the north-east the
arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...
between the entrance gate and the kitchen was bricked up and new stables were built in front of the wall in the south-east. Like many of his predecessors, the soldier king Frederick William I was a passionate hunter. He often hunted in the Grunewald, but never used the castle for longer stays. For his excessive hunting he favoured the forest area around
Königs Wusterhausen Königs Wusterhausen () is a town in the Dahme-Spreewald district of the state of Brandenburg in Germany a few kilometers outside Berlin. Geography Geographical location Königs Wusterhausen – or "KW" () as it is often called locally – lie ...
, whose dominion and castle he was given by his father Friedrich I at the age of ten, as well as a farmer's heath southeast of his residence Potsdam, which he had developed between 1725 and 1729 for the organisation of par force hunts - the so-called par force heath since then. The Stern hunting lodge was built in 1730 in the centre of the complex. As early as 1734, renewed damage to the roof of the main house in Grunewald and dilapidated fishing cottages were reported. Since 1734 the term "castle" has been used in the documents. With Frederick the Great's accession to power in 1740, the hunting lodge finally lost its importance. In contrast to his ancestors - the exception being Johann Sigismund - he rejected hunting as a pastime. In the book
Anti-Machiavel ''Anti-Machiavel'' is an 18th-century essay by Frederick the Great, King of Prussia and patron of Voltaire, consisting of a chapter-by-chapter rebuttal of ''The Prince'', the 16th-century book by Niccolò Machiavelli. It was first published in S ...
, in which he wrote down his thoughts about the tasks and goals of the exercise of princely power during the Crown Prince's reign, he described them as one of the sensual pleasures that move the body very much and do not improve the mind. On June 22, 1765, Frederick the Great gave the order to store the hunting equipment of the Berlin hunting yard at the Friedrichswerder in an annex to the Grunewald hunting lodge. In order to be able to take up the Berlin inventory, a stable in the south of the court had to be enlarged on both sides, "from 207 feet" (about 65 meters) to a "total length of 535 feet" (about 168 meters). In the new hunting equipment magazine the equipment required for the various types of hunting found room, but not the weapons, which were accommodated in armory and armory. Like Frederick the Great, his nephew and successor Frederick William II was not interested in hunting. For occasional stays he had three rooms on the first floor of the hunting lodge furnished. In 1788 Johann Friedrich Nagel commissioned him to create a painting with a view of the castle from the northeast and only one remaining fishing cottage at Grunewaldsee, which was also demolished around 1903. It is the oldest pictorial document of the hunting lodge.


Revival and Hubertus hunting (19th century)

Frederick William III Frederick William III (german: Friedrich Wilhelm III.; 3 August 1770 – 7 June 1840) was King of Prussia from 16 November 1797 until his death in 1840. He was concurrently Elector of Brandenburg in the Holy Roman Empire until 6 August 1806, wh ...
, on the Prussian throne since 1797, also used the hunting lodge only for occasional stays. He also found no pleasure in hunting. During his reign in May 1814, Grunewald briefly became an attraction for the Berlin population. During the
Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
, the French emperor had the
Quadriga A () is a car or chariot drawn by four horses abreast and favoured for chariot racing in Classical Antiquity and the Roman Empire until the Late Middle Ages. The word derives from the Latin contraction of , from ': four, and ': yoke. The four- ...
of the
Brandenburg Gate The Brandenburg Gate (german: Brandenburger Tor ) is an 18th-century neoclassical monument in Berlin, built on the orders of Prussian king Frederick William II after restoring the Orangist power by suppressing the Dutch popular unrest. One ...
brought to Paris as booty in December 1806. After the Battle of Paris at the end of March 1814 and
Napoleon's Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
defeat, it was brought back to Prussia. Packed in boxes, the work of the sculptor
Johann Gottfried Schadow Johann Gottfried Schadow (20 May 1764 – 27 January 1850) was a German Prussian sculptor. His most iconic work is the chariot on top of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, executed in 1793 when he was still only 29. Biography Schadow was born i ...
s stood in Grunewald for a few days before being transported on to Berlin. The building records of the Royal Court Marshal's Office also contain records of various repair works, which accumulated in the 1820s and led to a new roofing of the main house, whereby the dormers from the 1705 reconstruction were removed and replaced by five bat dormers. In the 1820s, interest in the Grunewald hunting grounds grew again. Through the sons of Friedrich Wilhelm III, the princes Friedrich Wilhelm,
Wilhelm Wilhelm may refer to: People and fictional characters * William Charles John Pitcher, costume designer known professionally as "Wilhelm" * Wilhelm (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname Other uses * Mount ...
and above all at the instigation of
Carl Carl may refer to: *Carl, Georgia, city in USA *Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community * Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name *Carl², a TV series * "Carl", an episode of te ...
, the par force hunt, also known as the Red Hunt, was revived on 8 February 1828. Until the abandonment of the hunting ground at the beginning of the following century, hunting events took place regularly. The annual Hubertus hunt on 3 November was of particular importance. State guests took part in it, such as the Russian Tsar Alexander II from the
house of Romanov The House of Romanov (also transcribed Romanoff; rus, Романовы, Románovy, rɐˈmanəvɨ) was the reigning imperial house of Russia from 1613 to 1917. They achieved prominence after the Tsarina, Anastasia Romanova, was married to th ...
in 1864. In Grunewald the thousandth par force hunt could already be celebrated in 1863 under Wilhelm I, who had ruled since 1861. Of the 2000 par force hunts held by the court in the various hunting grounds around Berlin between 1828 and 1897, 638 were carried out in the Grunewald alone. The hunting lodge had meanwhile been equipped with all kinds of furniture and utensils again. In 1891 the Kotze Affair occurred at the lodge. One of the biggest sex scandals in the German Empire under Emperor Wilhelm II took place in January 1891 in the hunting lodge, when 15 ladies and gentlemen of the aristocratic court society celebrated an orgy there and this became known nationwide. Leberecht von Kotze was arrested after being accused of disparaging the other members of the orgy through published letters. Following his release from prison and acquittal, Kotze fought two duels with male members of the orgy and was killed in the second duel.


Museum use of the hunting lodge (20th century until today)

Already in the middle of the 19th century the Berliners discovered the Grunewald and the Seenkette - the Hundekehle-,
Grunewald Grunewald is the name of both a locality and a forest in Germany: * Grunewald (forest) * Grunewald (locality) Grünewald may refer to: * Grünewald (surname) * Grünewald, Germany, a municipality in Brandenburg, Germany * Grünewald (Luxembourg), ...
- and
Schlachtensee Schlachtensee () is a lake in the south west of Berlin, in the Steglitz-Zehlendorf borough (in the quarters of Schlachtensee), on the edge of the Grunewald forest. The lake lends its name to the surrounding area and to the nearby ''Studentend ...
as well as
Krumme Lanke is a lake in the south west of Berlin, in the Steglitz-Zehlendorf borough of the city and on the edge of the Grunewald forest. After Nikolassee and the neighbouring Schlachtensee, it is the southernmost of the Grunewald chain of lakes. Overv ...
- as local recreation areas. In addition, the forest area of the hunting grounds became increasingly smaller due to the growth of the city of Berlin, military facilities, railway lines and roads, so that some par force hunts were held as early as the end of the 19th century in the Par force heath and the hunting lodge Stern. In 1907 the Grunewald was finally abandoned as a hunting ground. The permanent forest contract of 1915 between the Zweckverband Groß-Berlin and the Prussian Forest Administration finally designated large parts of the Grunewald as local recreation areas. Despite the developments, the last German 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 Empir ...
had some contemporary modernisation measures carried out in the castle between 1901 and 1908. In addition to roof repairs, details of the renovation are no longer traceable, but toilets and bathrooms were brought to the upper floor and the demolition of some tiled stoves led to the discovery of the four remaining cast iron plates of the box stoves from the Renaissance. After the
First World War 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 ...
and the end of the monarchy, the assets, land and real estate of the House of Hohenzollern were confiscated by the new government. After the passing of the "Act on the Dispute of Property between the Prussian State and the Members of the Formerly Governing Prussian Royal House" on 26 October 1926, the Grunewald Hunting Lodge came into the possession of the Prussian State and then into the care of the Prussian Administration of State Castles and Gardens, founded in 1927. In 1932, they set up a museum in the building with furniture from the 17th to 19th centuries and paintings of German and Dutch painting from the 16th and 17th centuries. In addition to 29 existing paintings with hunting motifs, 153 paintings from the holdings of various Hohenzollern castles were added.


The collection of paintings

During the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the hunting lodge survived the heavy bombardments of Berlin unscathed. However, fighting in the last days of the war damaged some works of art and seventeen paintings were missing after looting by members of the Soviet occupying power. With the permission of the American headquarters, the museum was reopened on 16 May 1949, and after the war it became the first Berlin art museum to be open to the public again. The collection in Grunewald Castle was further expanded by the removal of works of art from the destroyed Berlin Palace and
Monbijou Palace Monbijou Palace was a Rococo palace in central Berlin located in the present-day Monbijou Park on the north bank of the Spree river across from today's Bode Museum and within sight of the Hohenzollern city palace. Heavily damaged in World War ...
. In addition, there were the three-winged altarpiece of the early 15th century, from the town church in
Cadolzburg Cadolzburg (outdated also ''Kadolzburg'', colloquially pronounced "Kalschbuʳch" or "Sporch" ) is a municipality in the Middle Franconian district of Fürth, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated west of Fürth. Its name derives from its central c ...
demolished in 1750, some paintings by Lucas Cranach the Elder, such as Judith with the Head of the Holofernes and the portrait of 65-year-old Joachim II by
Lucas Cranach the Younger Lucas Cranach the Younger (german: Lucas Cranach der Jüngere ; October 4, 1515 – January 25, 1586) was a German Renaissance painter and portraitist, the son of Lucas Cranach the Elder and brother of Hans Cranach. Life and career Lucas Cranach ...
. Some pictures from the booty were also returned, such as a presumably old copy of the Fall of Man by
Jan Gossaert Jan Gossaert (c. 1478 – 1 October 1532) was a French-speaking painter from the Low Countries also known as Jan Mabuse (the name he adopted from his birthplace, Maubeuge) or Jennyn van Hennegouwe ( Hainaut), as he called himself when he matri ...
and the Lucretia by
Lucas Cranach the Elder Lucas Cranach the Elder (german: Lucas Cranach der Ältere ;  – 16 October 1553) was a German Renaissance painter and printmaker in woodcut and engraving. He was court painter to the Electors of Saxony for most of his career, and is know ...
, both from the 16th century and the small painting Smoking Women by the
Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...
painter
Jan Steen Jan Havickszoon Steen (c. 1626 – buried 3 February 1679) was a Dutch Golden Age painter, one of the leading genre painters of the 17th century. His works are known for their psychological insight, sense of humour and abundance of colour. Life ...
from the 17th century. The painting Lady with Parrot by the Leiden painter
Willem van Mieris Willem van Mieris (3 June 166226 January 1747) was an 18th-century painter from the Northern Netherlands. Biography Willem van Mieris was a painter, sculptor and etcher active in Leiden. He was born in Leiden and studied under his father Frans ...
, which has also been recovered, has been kept in the Cabinet at Caputh Castle since 2004. After many years of renovation work, Berlin's largest Cranach collection has been on display here since 2011. These include nine large-format central panels from a Passion cycle of 1537/38 from the collegiate church of the former Dominican
monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...
in
Cölln Cölln () was the twin city of Old Berlin (Altberlin) from the 13th century to the 18th century. Cölln was located on the Fisher Island section of Spree Island, opposite Altberlin on the western bank of the River Spree, until the cities we ...
. The collection also includes four large-format copy plates with the Sovereign virtues of courage, moderation, justice and wisdom, which were probably created in 1540/1545 for a room in the Stechbahnflügel of Cöllner Castle. German and Dutch paintings from the 15th and 16th centuries are also on display, most of which the Prussian royal house acquired at the beginning of the 19th century from the collection of the English merchant
Edward Solly Edward Solly (25 April 1776 – 2 December 1844) was an English merchant living in Berlin, who amassed an unprecedented collection of Italian Trecento and Quattrocento paintings and outstanding examples of Early Netherlandish painting, at a tim ...
. The permanent exhibition also includes portraits of Brandenburg-Prussian rulers and members of their families, paintings and equipment with hunting motifs as well as various types of presentation of hunting trophies.


The Hunting Museum

A hunting museum was opened on 29 January 1977 in the former hunting goods magazine of Frederick the Great, which after reconstruction had a hall length of 38 meter. The original equipment no longer existed, so that mainly handguns such as
arquebus An arquebus ( ) is a form of long gun that appeared in Europe and the Ottoman Empire during the 15th century. An infantryman armed with an arquebus is called an arquebusier. Although the term ''arquebus'', derived from the Dutch word ''Haakbus ...
and pistols from the second third of the 16th to the 18th century were exhibited. Of these, about one hundred wheel lock weapons come from the inventory of the former Berlin armoury and a large part from the collection of Prince Carl of Prussia. The museum also features trophies of deer, fallow deer and elk as well as roe buck horns, which were previously in the hunting lodge.


The castle as a film backdrop

As early as 1967, the castle served as the backdrop for shots for the
Edgar Wallace Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace (1 April 1875 – 10 February 1932) was a British writer. Born into poverty as an illegitimate London child, Wallace left school at the age of 12. He joined the army at age 21 and was a war correspondent during th ...
film adaptation ''
Creature with the Blue Hand ''Creature with the Blue Hand'' (german: Die blaue Hand) is a West German horror film directed by Alfred Vohrer and starring Harald Leipnitz, Klaus Kinski and Ilse Steppat. It is based on the 1925 novel '' The Blue Hand'' by Edgar Wallace and w ...
'', with
Klaus Kinski Klaus Kinski (, born Klaus Günter Karl Nakszynski 18 October 1926 – 23 November 1991) was a German actor, equally renowned for his intense performance style and notorious for his volatile personality. He appeared in over 130 film roles in a c ...
in a double role, later as the location for the film ''
Wild Geese II ''Wild Geese II'' is a 1985 British action-thriller film directed by Peter Hunt, based on the 1982 novel '' The Square Circle'' by Daniel Carney, in which a group of mercenaries are hired to spring Rudolf Hess from Spandau Prison in Berlin. The ...
'', and from 1997 to 2007 as the external backdrop for the children's series
Schloss Einstein ''Schloss Einstein'' is a long-running, popular German television series which is designed as a teenage soap opera. It portrays the lives of teenagers in Schloss Einstein (Castle Einstein), a fictional boarding school. The intended audience is 10 ...
of the
KiKa KiKA (contraction of ''Der KinderKAnal von ARD und ZDF''  ARD and ZDF">ARD_(broadcaster).html" ;"title="he Children's Channel of ARD (broadcaster)">ARD and ZDF]) is a German free-to-air television channel based in Erfurt, Germany. It is man ...
. Outdoor shots for the series Verliebt in Berlin also took place there.


Images

Jagdschloß Grunewald-88.jpg,
Masonry heater A masonry heater (also called a masonry stove) is a device for warming an interior space through radiant heating, by capturing the heat from periodic burning of fuel (usually wood), and then radiating the heat at a fairly constant temperature ...
Jagdschloß Grunewald-127.jpg, Bay window Jagdschloß Grunewald-85.jpg, Antler furniture Berlin Glam on Tour Jagdschloss Grunewald 2018 262.jpg, Spiral staircase Jagdschloß Grunewald-81.jpg, Lusterweibchen Jagdschloß Grunewald-78.jpg, Deer with 66 ends Jagdschloß Grunewald-56.jpg, Judith with the head of the Holofernes of Lucas Cranach the Elder. Jagdschloß Grunewald-47.jpg, Vanitass still life in the style of Bartholomew Bruyn the Elder Jagdschloß Grunewald-20.jpg, Wild boar hunting (Friedrich Wilhelm Wolff) Jagdschloß Grunewald-46.jpg,
Tiedemann Giese Tiedemann Giese (1 June 1480 – 23 October 1550), was Bishop of Kulm (Chełmno) first canon, later Prince-Bishop of Warmia (Ermland). His interest in mathematics, astronomy, and theology led him to mentor a number of important young scholars, inc ...
, around 1525/1530


Literature

* Friedrich Siegmar von Dohna-Schlobitten: ''Kurfürstliche Schlösser in der Mark Brandenburg''. Teil I ''Grunewald, Oranienburg, Schönhausen''. Karl Siegismund, Berlin, Germany 1890. (German) * Georg Poensgen: ''Jagdschloss Grunewald''. Verwaltung der Staatlichen Schlösser und Gärten, Berlin 1933; neu bearbeitete Auflage
Deutscher Kunstverlag The Deutscher Kunstverlag (DKV) is an educational publishing house with offices in Berlin and Munich. The publisher specializes in books about art, cultural history, architecture, and historic preservation. History Deutscher Kunstverlag was fo ...
, Berlin, Germany 1949. (German) * Maria Kapp: ''Die niederländischen und flämischen Gemälde des 17. Jahrhunderts im Jagdschloss Grunewald'' (''From Berliner Schlössern'' 10). Verwaltung der Staatlichen Schlösser und Gärten, Berlin, Germany 1989. (German) * Staatliche Schlösser und Gärten Berlin (Hrsg.): ''450 Jahre Jagdschloß Grunewald 1542–1992''. Berlin, Germany 1992 (German) ** Band 1: ''Aufsätze'' (Inhaltsverzeichnis). ** Band 2: Helmut Börsch-Supan: ''Aus der Gemäldesammlung.'' ** Band 3: Winfried Baer: ''Aus der Jagdsammlung.'' * Gert Streidt, Peter Feierabend: ''Preußen. Kunst und Architektur''. Könemann, Köln, Germany 1999, , Page. 64–66. (German) * ''Handbuch der deutschen Kunstdenkmäler. Berlin'', work from Sibylle Badstübner-Gröger, Michael Bollé, Ralph Paschke u. a., 2nd Publishing, Deutscher Kunstverlag, München/Berlin, Germany 2000, Page. 528–529. (German) * Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg: ''Jagdschloss Grunewald''. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Berlin/München, Germany 2015, . (German)


References


External links


Jagdschloss Grunewald



Deutsches Historisches Museum: Burgen in Brandenburg und Berlin: Jagdschloss Grunewald

Jagdzeugmagazin am Jagdschloss Grunewald
{{Authority control Art museums and galleries in Berlin Renaissance architecture in Berlin Heritage sites in Berlin Culture of Prussia Religious buildings and structures completed in the 1540s Armories (military) Buildings and structures in Steglitz-Zehlendorf Royal residences in Berlin