The Orangery Palace (german: Orangerieschloss) is a palace located in the
Sanssouci Park
Sanssouci Park is a large park surrounding Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam, Germany, built under Frederick the Great in the mid-1700s. Following the terracing of the vineyard and the completion of the palace, the surroundings were included in the stru ...
of
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 ...
,
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 ...
. It is also known as the New
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 large ...
on the Klausberg, or just the Orangery. It was built on behest of the "Romantic on the Throne", King Friedrich Wilhelm IV (
Frederick William IV of Prussia
Frederick William IV (german: Friedrich Wilhelm IV.; 15 October 17952 January 1861), the eldest son and successor of Frederick William III of Prussia, reigned as King of Prussia from 7 June 1840 to his death on 2 January 1861. Also referred to ...
) from 1851 to 1864.
Background
The building of the Orangery began with a plan for a high street or triumph street. It was to begin at the triumph arch, east of
Sanssouci Park
Sanssouci Park is a large park surrounding Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam, Germany, built under Frederick the Great in the mid-1700s. Following the terracing of the vineyard and the completion of the palace, the surroundings were included in the stru ...
, and end at the
Belvedere on the Klausberg. The difference in elevation was to be balanced with
viaduct
A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide v ...
s.
With reference to the north side of the
Picture Gallery and the
New Chambers from the time of
Frederick the Great
Frederick II (german: Friedrich II.; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the Sil ...
, Frederick William IV sketched out more new buildings, which would decorate his two kilometer long ''Via Triumphalis''.
Because of the political unrest of the period (
March Revolution) and lack of funding, the gigantic project never materialized. Only the Orangery Palace and the ''Triumphtor'' were ever realized.
The Palace
The construction of the Orangery Palace began after designs by the architects
Friedrich August Stüler
Friedrich August Stüler (28 January 1800 – 18 March 1865) was an influential Prussian architect and builder. His masterpiece is the Neues Museum in Berlin, as well as the dome of the triumphal arch of the main portal of the Berliner Schloss.
...
,
Friedrich Ludwig Persius
Friedrich Ludwig Persius (15 February 1803 in Potsdam – 12 July 1845 in Potsdam) was a Prussian architect and a student of Karl Friedrich Schinkel.
Persius assisted Schinkel with, among others, the building of the Charlottenhof Castle an ...
and .
[
The building, with its 300 meter long front, was built in the style of the Italian Renaissance, after the image of the ]Villa Medici
The Villa Medici () is a Mannerist villa and an architectural complex with a garden contiguous with the larger Borghese gardens, on the Pincian Hill next to Trinità dei Monti in Rome, Italy. The Villa Medici, founded by Ferdinando I de' Medici, ...
in Rome and the Uffizi
The Uffizi Gallery (; it, Galleria degli Uffizi, italic=no, ) is a prominent art museum located adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums ...
in Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
.
The middle building with its twin towers is the actual palace. This building is joined to the 103 meter long and 16 meter wide Plant Hall, with its almost ceiling-to-floor windows on the south side. In the western hall, the original floor duct heating system is still present and functioning. In the alcoves along the garden side of the castle annex, there are allegorical
As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory th ...
figures of the months and seasons. In the corner building at the end of the Orangery Hall were the royal apartments and the servants' quarters.
In front of the peristyle
In ancient Greek and Roman architecture, a peristyle (; from Greek ) is a continuous porch formed by a row of columns surrounding the perimeter of a building or a courtyard. Tetrastoön ( grc, τετράστῳον or τετράστοον, lit=fou ...
Elisabeth, Frederick William IV's wife, had a statue of the king erected ''in Memoriam'' after his death in 1861.
Orangery interior
Behind the portico, in the middle building, lies the over two-story-tall Raffael Hall. It was based on the '' Sala Regia'' in the Vatican
Vatican may refer to:
Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum
The Holy See
* The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...
. Over a large skylight in the high clouded ceiling, light falls into the Museum Hall. On the red silk covered walls, hang over fifty copies of 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 ...
paintings and frescoes. Frederick William IV inherited the works from his father, King Frederick William III of Prussia
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 ...
, and assembled them here.
The royal apartments were outfitted in the second Rococo
Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...
style, connected to both sides of the Raffael Hall. They were intended as guest rooms for Tsar
Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East Slavs, East and South Slavs, South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''Caesar (title), caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" i ...
Nicholas I and his wife, Alexandra Feodorovna. The Tsarina
Tsarina or tsaritsa (also spelled ''csarina'' or ''csaricsa'', ''tzarina'' or ''tzaritza'', or ''czarina'' or ''czaricza''; bg, царица, tsaritsa; sr, / ; russian: царица, tsaritsa) is the title of a female autocratic ruler (mona ...
was the favorite sister of Frederick William IV, Charlotte, who gave up her name along with her homeland when she married.
Between 1949 and 2010 the Palace also housed premises of the Brandenburgian State Main Archive in its eastern wing.
Garden construction
The gardens were styled after those of the Italian Renaissance by the garden architect, 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 ...
. In the west, below the annex, he designed the Paradise Garden in 1843–44. It contains many exotic flowers and foliage plants. The atrium
Atrium may refer to:
Anatomy
* Atrium (heart), an anatomical structure of the heart
* Atrium, the genital structure next to the genital aperture in the reproductive system of gastropods
* Atrium of the ventricular system of the brain
* Pulmona ...
, a small building in middle of the compound, designed in the ancient style, was built on plans by Ludwig Persius
Friedrich Ludwig Persius (15 February 1803 in Potsdam – 12 July 1845 in Potsdam) was a Prussian architect and a student of Karl Friedrich Schinkel.
Persius assisted Schinkel with, among others, the building of the Charlottenhof Castle an ...
in 1845. The current Botanical Garden, with its systematically arranged planting, is used by the University of Potsdam
The University of Potsdam is a public university in Potsdam, capital of the state of Brandenburg, Germany. It is mainly situated across three campuses in the city. Some faculty buildings are part of the New Palace of Sanssouci which is known ...
as a ''teaching garden''.
The Norse and Sicilian Gardens lie to the east. These completely different garden sections were laid out by Lenné between 1857 and 1860. The dark, effective Norse Garden, with its pines, was to have been an element of the planned triumph street.
The Sicilian Garden, with its palm tubs, myrtles, laurel
Laurel may refer to:
Plants
* Lauraceae, the laurel family
* Laurel (plant), including a list of trees and plants known as laurel
People
* Laurel (given name), people with the given name
* Laurel (surname), people with the surname
* Laurel (mus ...
s, flowers, 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
* ...
s, and fountains, runs southward.
World Heritage Site
Since 1990, the Orangery has been 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 ...
"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 palace is administered by the '' Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg''.
See also
* List of sights of Potsdam
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
* List of castles in Berlin and Brandenburg
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
* 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 ...
References
Additional reading
* Paul Sigel, Silke Dähmlow, Frank Seehausen und Lucas Elmenhorst, Architekturführer Potsdam - Architectural Guide, Dietrich Reimer Verlag, Berlin 2006, .
* Gert Streidt, Klaus Frahm: ''Potsdam. Die Schlösser und Gärten der Hohenzollern.'' Könemann Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Köln 1996,
* Waltraud Volk: ''Potsdam. Historische Straßen und Plätze heute.'' 2nd edition, 1993. Verlag für Bauwesen Berlin-München 1993,
External links
*
Potsdam from Above - Orangerie
{{Coord, 52, 24, 18, N, 13, 01, 47, E, region:DE-BB_type:landmark, display=title
Houses completed in 1864
Castles in Brandenburg
Buildings and structures in Potsdam
Palaces in Brandenburg
Gardens in Brandenburg
Royal residences in Brandenburg
Prussian cultural sites
Museums in Potsdam
Historic house museums in Germany
Sanssouci Park
World Heritage Sites in Germany
Orangeries