Bellevue Palace, Kassel
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Bellevue Palace (German: Palais Bellevue or Schloss Bellevue) in Kassel was built in 1714 for Charles I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel. Originally the building served as an Observatory. It became a residence, and then part of Bellevue Castle, which was later destroyed. Until its closure for structural reasons in 2009, the building housed a museum devoted to the Grimm Brothers, which has now moved to the Grimmwelt Kassel.


Location

Bellevue Palace is near the center of Kassel, west of the Fulde River. It is next to the '' Neue Galerie'', an art museum founded in 1976 in an 1874 neo-classical building. Bellevue Palace was erected in 1714 by the French architect and
Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...
refugee
Paul du Ry Jean Paul du Ry (1640 – 21 June 1714) was a French architect and Huguenot refugee who was responsible for a number of baroque buildings in Kassel, Hesse, Germany. Origins Jean Paul du Ry came from a family of French architects. His father was ...
as an observatory for Charles I (1654–1730), Landgrave of
Hesse-Kassel The Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel (german: Landgrafschaft Hessen-Kassel), spelled Hesse-Cassel during its entire existence, was a state in the Holy Roman Empire that was directly subject to the Emperor. The state was created in 1567 when the Lan ...
.


History

From about 1725 on, the palace was used as a residence for members of the Landgrave's court, such as his mistress Barbara Christine von Bernhold (1690–1756). Prince Frederick II (1720–1785), Landgrave from 1760 on, married
Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...
, daughter of King
George II of Great Britain , house = Hanover , religion = Protestant , father = George I of Great Britain , mother = Sophia Dorothea of Celle , birth_date = 30 October / 9 November 1683 , birth_place = Herrenhausen Palace,Cannon. or Leine ...
. He had the palace surrounded by an Anglo-Chinese garden, the first such garden on the continent. In 1779, Frederick II opened a public museum of natural history and classical art, the
Fridericianum The Fridericianum is a museum in Kassel, Germany. Built in 1779, it is one of the oldest public museums in Europe.
, but kept the royal painting collection in Bellevue palace. In 1790
Simon Louis du Ry Simon Louis du Ry (13 January 1726 in Kassel - 23 August 1799 in Kassel) was a classical architect. Biography Simon Louis du Ry was the son of the Huguenot architect Charles du Ry and grandson of Paul du Ry of Kassel. He was from a French re ...
renovated the building for William IX (1743–1821). During the Napoleonic era the palace became the property of Jérôme Bonaparte (1784–1860), King of Westphalia from 1807 to 1813. It first housed his foreign minister,
Pierre-Alexandre Le Camus Pierre-Alexandre Le Camus, Count of Fürstenstein (17 November 1774-30 November 1824) was a French politician. Biography Pierre-Alexandre Le Camus, a Creole from Martinique, met Jérôme Bonaparte around 1803 when the latter was forced to sta ...
. In 1810, Auguste-Henri-Victor Grandjean de Montigny rebuilt the state rooms of the palace, and after Kassel's primary palace had burned in 1811, Jérôme himself moved into Bellevue Palace. Jacob Grimm, the private librarian of King Jérôme and state auditor, was a frequent visitor. After Jérôme was expelled in 1813 William IX, later Elector William I of Hesse (1743–1821), returned. William II (1777–1847) also lived here. The Electress Augusta (1780–1841), who was estranged from William II, used it as her town house and summer residence. In 1866 Hesse was annexed to Prussia. The building was recovered by a branch of the princely family in 1880. From 1933 until the Second World War it was the residence of
Philipp, Landgrave of Hesse Philipp, Prince and Landgrave of Hesse (6 November 1896 – 25 October 1980) was head of the Electoral House of Hesse from 1940 to 1980. He joined the Nazi Party in 1930, and, when they gained power with the appointment of Adolf Hitler as Chancel ...
(1896–1980), during his tenure as President of the Province of
Hesse-Nassau The Province of Hesse-Nassau () was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1868 to 1918, then a province of the Free State of Prussia until 1944. Hesse-Nassau was created as a consequence of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 by combining the ...
. In the mid-1930s Philipp made parts of the palace into a public art gallery. When Philipp was arrested in September 1943 on suspicion of plotting with the Italian royal family to overthrow Mussolini, the palace was plastered with posters denouncing the Italian royalty. The palace survived Allied bombing raids during
World War II 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 opposing ...
(1939-1945) with little damage. The palace was acquired by the city of Kassel in 1956, and until 1970 it was the home of the Municipal Art Collection. The Louis Spohr museum, closed by the
Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
s in 1933, was re-opened in the building in 1967. It included four display rooms and an archive. The displays presented the violinist
Louis Spohr Louis Spohr (, 5 April 178422 October 1859), baptized Ludewig Spohr, later often in the modern German form of the name Ludwig, was a German composer, violinist and conductor. Highly regarded during his lifetime, Spohr composed ten symphonies, t ...
and other violinists and violins of the period. In 1972 the
Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among the ...
exhibition was moved to the ground floor of the palace. In 1999 the Brothers Grimm Museum took over the entire building. The Brothers Grimm exhibition has since moved to a nearby museum, the palace is now closed.


Structure

The Bellevue Palace is the only palace from the early 18th century in Kassel, since the others were destroyed during
World War II 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 opposing ...
or in an "anti-feudal" demolition wave in the 1950s. The building has simple but elegant facades, broken only by a slight cornice above the ground floor. It is three stories high and almost square, with two side wings on the rear garden. The street front has a balcony above a classical portal. The building originally had a cross-shaped roof structure with an octagonal dome for the observatory. Later this was replaced by a high mansard roof with gabled extensions. The interior has rooms decorated in a simple combination of
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 and classicism. The classical stairway is well preserved. The large central room on the ground floor has a beautiful
pilaster In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wal ...
. Since 1994 the building has been extensively repaired and restored, with an escalator installed.


Gallery

File:Bellevue Kassel 1742.jpg, The building in 1742, used as an observatory by Johann Gabriel Doppelmayr File:PalaisBellevueKassel-IV.JPG, Baroque door in the courtyard of the palace File:PalaisBellevueKassel-III.JPG, Fountain in the courtyard File:PalaisBellevueKassel-I.JPG, Old annex to the palace


References

Citations Sources * * * * * * * * {{Authority control Castles in Hesse Buildings and structures in Kassel Residential buildings completed in 1714 Palaces in Hesse 1714 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire