Bellevue Palace (, ), located in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

's Tiergarten district, has been the

official residence An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless of whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority (either their own or that of th ...

of the

president of Germany The president of Germany, officially titled the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international correspondence; the official English title is President of the F ...

since 1994. The

schloss ''Schloss'' (; pl. ''Schlösser''), formerly written ''Schloß'', is the German term for a building similar to a château, palace, or manor house. Related terms appear in several Germanic languages. In the Scandinavian languages, the cogn ...

is situated on the banks of the

Spree Spree may refer to: Film and television * ''The Spree'', a 1998 American television film directed by Tommy Lee Wallace * ''Spree'' (film), a 2020 American film starring Joe Keery * "Spree" (''Numbers''), an episode of the television show ''Number ...

river, near the

Berlin Victory Column The Victory Column ( , from '' Sieg'' 'victory' + '' Säule'' 'column') is a monument in Berlin, Germany. Designed by Heinrich Strack after 1864 to commemorate the Prussian victory in the Second Schleswig War, by the time it was inaugura ...

, along the northern edge of the

Großer Tiergarten The Tiergarten (, ), formal German name: (, or deer park, game hunting park), is a prominent park in Berlin's inner-city area, located completely in the district of the same name. It is one of the most popular parks in the city and at in ...

park. Its namethe French for "beautiful view"derives from its scenic prospect over the Spree's course.

Overview

Prince Augustus Ferdinand of Prussia Prince Augustus Ferdinand of Prussia (; 23 May 1730 – 2 May 1813) was a Prussian prince and general, as well as ''Herrenmeister'' ("Master of the Knights") of the Bailiwick of Brandenburg of the Order of Saint John. He belonged to the House o ...

, Master of the Knights of the

Order of Saint John The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic Church, Catholic Military order (religious society), military order. It was founded in the Crusader states, crusader K ...

and youngest brother of King

Frederick II of Prussia Frederick II (; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was the monarch of Prussia from 1740 until his death in 1786. He was the last Hohenzollern monarch titled ''King in Prussia'', declaring himself '' King of Prussia'' after annexing Royal Prus ...

. There were preexisting structures on the site, including the manor house which King Frederick's architect

Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff (Hans) Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff (17 February 1699 – 16 September 1753) was a painter and architect in Prussia. Knobelsdorff was born in Kuckädel, now in Krosno Odrzańskie County. A soldier in the service of Prussia, he resigned his ...

had built for himself in 1743, which was demolished, and a leather factory on the Spree river waterfront which was converted into the right side-wing. The palace was named ''Bellevue'' as its view reached the tower of

Schloss Charlottenburg Schloss Charlottenburg (Charlottenburg Palace) is a Baroque palace in Berlin, located in Charlottenburg, a district of the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf borough, and is among the largest palaces in the world. The palace was built at the end of th ...

before the viaduct of the

Berlin Stadtbahn The Berlin Stadtbahn is the historic east-west elevated railway of Berlin. It runs from Berlin Ostbahnhof station, Ostbahnhof in the east to Charlottenburg in the City West, west, connecting several of the most major sights of the German capi ...

was built nearby in the 1880s. It was the first Neoclassical building in Germany, characterized by its Corinthian pilasters, with wings on either side ("Ladies' wing" and "River Spree wing"). The only room that kept its original decoration is a ballroom on the upper floor designed by

Carl Gotthard Langhans Carl Gotthard Langhans (15 December 1732 – 1 October 1808) was a Prussian master builder and royal architect. His churches, palaces, grand houses, interiors, city gates and theatres in Silesia (now Poland), Berlin, Potsdam and elsewhere belo ...

, the architect of the

Brandenburg Gate The Brandenburg Gate ( ) is an 18th-century Neoclassical architecture, neoclassical monument in Berlin. One of the best-known landmarks of Germany, it was erected on the site of a former city gate that marked the start of the road from Berlin t ...

. The palace is surrounded by a park of about 20 hectares. In 1843, King

Frederick William IV of Prussia Frederick William IV (; 15 October 1795 – 2 January 1861), the eldest son and successor of Frederick William III of Prussia, was King of Prussia from 7 June 1840 until his death on 2 January 1861. Also referred to as the "romanticist on the th ...

inherited ''Bellevue'' from

Prince Augustus of Prussia Prince Frederick William Henry Augustus of Prussia (; 19 September 1779 – 19 July 1843) was a Prussian royal and general. Born on Friedrichsfelde Palace, he was the youngest son of Prince Augustus Ferdinand of Prussia, the brother of King Fred ...

, a son of the builder. In 1865 it became the residence of his niece Princess Alexandrine after her marriage to

Duke William of Mecklenburg-Schwerin Duke Frederick William Nicholas of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (; 5 March 1827 – 28 July 1879) was the second son of Paul Frederick, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and Princess Alexandrine, daughter of King Frederick William III of Prussia. Lif ...

. It served the royal and imperial princes of the

Hohenzollern dynasty The House of Hohenzollern (, ; , ; ) is a formerly royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) German dynasty whose members were variously princes, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenburg, Prussia, the German Empire, and Romania. ...

until the

German Revolution of 1918–19 German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

. The last German emperor,

Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia from 1888 until Abdication of Wilhelm II, his abdication in 1918, which marked the end of the German Empire as well as th ...

, used it as a guest house as well as a private school for his seven children. The

Free State of Prussia The Free State of Prussia (, ) was one of the States of the Weimar Republic, constituent states of Weimar Republic, Germany from 1918 to 1947. The successor to the Kingdom of Prussia after the defeat of the German Empire in World War I, it cont ...

acquired the property from the former emperor in 1928 and used it as a museum of ethnography during the 1930s before being renovated as a guest house for the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

government which had purchased it in 1938. However, from 1939, it was occupied by

Otto Meissner Otto Lebrecht Eduard Daniel Meissner (13 March 1880 – 27 May 1953) was head of the Office of the President of Germany from 1920 to 1945 during nearly the entire period of the Weimar Republic under Friedrich Ebert and Paul von Hindenburg and, f ...

, the head of the Office of the President of Germany. It was there that Soviet foreign minister

Vyacheslav Molotov Vyacheslav Mikhaylovich Molotov (; – 8 November 1986) was a Soviet politician, diplomat, and revolutionary who was a leading figure in the government of the Soviet Union from the 1920s to the 1950s, as one of Joseph Stalin's closest allies. ...

stayed with his retinue during his visit to Berlin in November 1940. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the palace was severely damaged by

strategic bombing Strategic bombing is a systematically organized and executed military attack from the air which can utilize strategic bombers, long- or medium-range missiles, or nuclear-armed fighter-bomber aircraft to attack targets deemed vital to the enemy' ...

and in the 1945

Battle of Berlin The Battle of Berlin, designated as the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, and also known as the Fall of Berlin, was one of the last major offensives of the European theatre of World War II. After the Vistula–Od ...

, before being substantially refurbished in the 1950s. Inaugurated by President

Theodor Heuss Theodor Heuss (; 31 January 1884 – 12 December 1963) was a German liberal politician who served as the first president of West Germany from 1949 to 1959. His civil demeanour and his cordial nature – something of a contrast to German nati ...

in 1959, it served as the secondary residence of the

West German West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republic after its capital c ...

president, a ''

pied-à-terre A ''pied-à-terre'' (, plural: ''pieds-à-terre''; French for "foot on the ground") is a small living unit, e.g., apartment or condominium, often located in a large city and not used as an individual's primary residence. The term implies use ...

'' in

West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

to supplement his primary residence at the

Hammerschmidt Villa Hammerschmidt Villa () is a villa in the German city of Bonn that served as the primary official seat and primary official residence of the president of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1950 until 1994. President Richard von Weizsäcker made ...

in Bonn. In 1986–87, Federal President

Richard von Weizsäcker Richard Karl Freiherr von Weizsäcker (; 15 April 1920 – 31 January 2015) was a German politician ( CDU), who served as President of Germany from 1984 to 1994. Born into the aristocratic Weizsäcker family, who were part of the German nobili ...

had the interior of the palace completely redesigned by the architect Otto Meitinger in order to adapt the rooms to the character of the external historical appearance, whereby the sequence of rooms was also restored according to plans from the time before the destruction. Weizsäcker had the palace furnished with part of the valuable

Empire style The Empire style (, ''style Empire'') is an early-nineteenth-century design movement in architecture, furniture, other decorative arts, and the visual arts, representing the second phase of Neoclassicism. It flourished between 1800 and 1815 duri ...

furniture collection from

Wilhelmshöhe Palace The Wilhelmshöhe Palace (German: ) is a Neoclassical palace located in , a part of Kassel, Germany. It was built for Landgrave Wilhelm (William) IX of Hesse in the late 18th century. Emperor Wilhelm II made extensive use of it as a summer resid ...

in Kassel as a permanent loan and initiated the exchange of paintings with German museums in order to present guests with classical and modern German art. However, two rooms have been preserved with their furnishings in the style of post-war modernism. In 1994, after

German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

, Weizsäcker made it his primary residence. A modern oval office building was built in 1998 in a section of the park near the palace to house the offices of the affiliated ''Bundespräsidialamt'' ("Office of the Federal President"), a federal agency.

Roman Herzog Roman Herzog (; 5 April 1934 – 10 January 2017) was a German politician, judge and legal scholar, who served as the president of Germany from 1994 to 1999. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), he was the first president to be elec ...

, president from 1994 to 1999, remains the only officeholder who lived at ''Bellevue'' while incumbent. The palace was reconstructed again in 2004 and 2005 to replace ailing infrastructure; during this period, President

Horst Köhler Horst Köhler (; 22 February 1943 – 1 February 2025) was a German politician who served as President of Germany from 2004 to 2010. As the candidate of the two Christian Democratic sister parties, the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, CDU ...

used nearby

Charlottenburg Palace Schloss Charlottenburg (Charlottenburg Palace) is a Baroque palace in Berlin, located in Charlottenburg, a district of the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf borough, and is among the largest palaces in the world. The palace was built at the end of th ...

for representative purposes. ''Bellevue'' became the president's primary official seat again in January 2006, but since then has not included living quarters. Instead, the federal president now lives in a government-owned villa in Dahlem, a suburban district of southwestern Berlin, which had previously been the Berlin lodging of the West-German chancellors since 1962.

Presidential standard

Contrary to popular belief, the

presidential standard The presidential standard or presidential flag is the flag that is used in many countries as a symbol of the head of state or president (government title), president. In some countries it may be for exclusive use of the president or only raised w ...

is flown at the palace even on many days when the president is not in Berlin. It is lowered only when the president takes up official residence elsewhere – e.g. on the occasion of a state visit, when the standard is raised over a temporary residence abroad, or over the second residence at

Villa Hammerschmidt Hammerschmidt Villa () is a villa in the German city of Bonn that served as the primary official seat and primary official residence of the president of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1950 until 1994. President Richard von Weizsäcker mad ...

. When away on vacation, ''Schloss Bellevue'' remains the official residence over which the standard is flown.

Großer Tiergarten statues

In 1945, according to testimony reported in the 1995 documentary film '' On the Desperate Edge of Now'', Berlin citizens buried statues of historical military figures from the Großer Tiergarten in the grounds of the palace to prevent their destruction. They were not recovered until 1993."On the Desperate Edge of Now"
from '' The Living Dead'' by

Adam Curtis Adam Curtis (born 26 May 1955) is an English documentary filmmaker. Curtis began his career as a conventional documentary producer for the BBC throughout the 1980s and into the early 1990s. The release of '' Pandora's Box'' (1992) marked the in ...

(BBC, 1995).

Gallery

File:Palacio Bellevue, Berlín, Alemania, 2016-04-21, DD 07-09 HDR.jpg, Nighttime view of Bellevue Palace File:Siegessäule TopView6.JPG, The Federal Presidency's oval office building from the

Victory Column A victory column, or monumental column or triumphal column, is a monument in the form of a column, erected in memory of a heroic commemoration, including victorious battle, war, or revolution. The column typically stands on a base and is crowned ...

, with the palace and

Moabit Moabit () is an inner city locality in the boroughs of Berlin, borough of Mitte, Berlin, Germany. As of 2022, about 84,000 people lived in Moabit. First inhabited in 1685 and incorporated into Berlin in 1861, the former industrial sector, industr ...

quarter in the background 003 Besuch S H Papst Benedikt XVI in Berlin 22 09 2011.jpg, President

Christian Wulff Christian Wilhelm Walter Wulff (; born 1959) is a retired German politician and lawyer who served as President of Germany from 2010 to 2012. A member of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, Christian Democratic Union (CDU), he previously ...

receiving

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

Barack Obama and Joachim Gauck at Schloss Bellevue.jpg, Presidents

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

and

Joachim Gauck Joachim Wilhelm Gauck (; born 24 January 1940) is a German politician who served as President of Germany from 2012 to 2017. A former Lutheran pastor, he came to prominence as an anti-communist civil rights activist in East Germany. During the P ...

at Bellevue, in the background a version of Graff's portrait of

Frederick the Great Frederick II (; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was the monarch of Prussia from 1740 until his death in 1786. He was the last Hohenzollern monarch titled ''King in Prussia'', declaring himself ''King of Prussia'' after annexing Royal Prussia ...

Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and German President Joachim Gauck (Germany, 2016-05-30) 3.png, Military reception of Portuguese president

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa Marcelo Nuno Duarte Rebelo de Sousa (; born 12 December 1948) is a Portuguese politician and academic who is the president of Portugal since 2016. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party, though he suspended his party membership for the ...

by Gauck with the

Wachbataillon The Wachbataillon (full name: ''Wachbataillon beim Bundesministerium der Verteidigung'' (WachBtl BMVg) (Guard Battalion at the Federal Ministry of Defence (Germany), Federal Ministry of Defence)) is the Germany, German ''Bundeswehr's'' honour gu ...

Bellevue, Berlin (P1090887).jpg, Festival for citizens in the Palace Gardens (2019) Schloss Bellevue DSC8334.jpg, The Oval Ballroom (by C. G. Langhans) on the upper floor Schloss Bellevue DSC8348.jpg, Schinkel-Room Schloss Bellevue DSC8353.jpg, Dinner tables in the Great Hall Schloss Bellevue DSC8405.jpg, Ceremonial office with bust of

Friedrich Ebert Friedrich Ebert (; 4 February 187128 February 1925) was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party (SPD) who served as the first President of Germany (1919–1945), president of Germany from 1919 until ...

, first president of the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

, and a painting of the ''

Weimar courtyard of the muses The Weimar courtyard of the muses is a term, that had emerged during the 19th century. It refers to an elite fellowship of people in Classical Weimar (1772-1805), that was made up of nobles and commoners, courtiers, civil servants, writers, arti ...

'' by

Theobald von Oer Theobald Reinhold Freiherr von Oer (9 October 1807 – 1885 in Coswig) was a German painter, illustrator and etcher. He is notable for his portraits, genre paintings and historic paintings. He is associated with the Düsseldorf school of ...

(1860) Schloss Bellevue DSC8343.jpg, Salon

Ferdinand Ferdinand is a Germanic name composed of the elements "journey, travel", Proto-Germanic , abstract noun from root "to fare, travel" (PIE , "to lead, pass over"), and "courage" or "ready, prepared" related to Old High German "to risk, ventu ...

Schloss Bellevue DSC8362.jpg, Salon Louise

References

External links

Official Website

Panoramas and other images of the ''Schloss Bellevue'' in Berlin

Bundeswehr – Großer Zapfenstreich 1/4
the

Großer Zapfenstreich The ("Grand Tattoo", "Beating Retreat") is a military ceremony performed in Germany and Austria. It is similar to the military tattoo ceremony performed in English-speaking countries, and is the most important ceremonial act executed by the Ger ...