Palaces and Castles of the Hesses

[grandduchessella]

VN--I think he probably only mentioned Americans specifically because it's by & large an untapped market. There's probably more awareness of the Hessians (and the Romanov connection) in Europe, and especially in Germany. Most Americans tourists (and the US has been very fertile ground for various Romanov exhibits) probably don't realize that visiting Darmstadt is a link to the Romanovs. Once they're exposed, they'd hopefully appreciate it for itself as well. Many castles and palaces due a lot of business with foreign tourists and help to actually maintain a lot of the history and objects--perhaps this is the hope of the Landgrave as well.

[jfkhaos]

No, BT. Sorry for confusion. I was just using it to show the detail of Ernie and how the portrait on the wall at Wolfsgarten seems to be based on the sitting. I think the only copy was at Osborne.

This painting was hung in the Dining Room at Osborne House, along with family groups of Vicky and her family, and Bertie and his.  As you can see in the picture I have included below, Alice's group was to the left of the doorway, Bertie's to the right, and Vicky's on the wall in the left of the picture.

[jfkhaos]

In the letters of Princess Alice that were published with a forward by Princess Helena, this portrait is discussed (I believe it is, I can't find my book!) and there was some discussion on exactly which children should be in the painting.  Are there any additional family paintings at Wolfsgarten that some wonderful poster may have access to and post them?

[grandduchessella]

Yes, she wrote to QV about it. She was very pleased with how it was coming along. Victoria was left out because it was felt she was 'too big' and would throw the composition off. I don't know why Irene & May weren't included. Alice wrote that von Angeli thought Alix and May an adorable little pair. Most of the work was done before the illness his the family--all the preliminary sketches and photographs that were taken of the family during the sittings--but von Angeli apparently relied a bit on a prior work he'd done on Alice to finish her in the group portrait. When the GD brought his sorrowing family to visit QV in Feb 1879, he brought the now-finished portrait with him. QV was very pleased with it.

[Keith]

I was in Darmstadt in 1992, and thought I toured the Neus Palais, but looking at my pictures, I just have palce Darmstadt written on the back. I was under the impression that the Neus Palais was destroyed during WWII, but was rebuilt. If anyone has been in Darmstadt, the one I visited was at the bottom of a hill which the Russian Chapel was on. It wasn't far from the burial site of the family.

[Helen]

Keith, you probably visited the Schloss, the Residential Palace, which houses the Schloss Museum and a library. This Residential Palace is the palace where the family lived for almost a year after the death of Grand Duchess Alice and May in 1878, while the New Palace was desinfected.

[Keith]

Thanks Helen. I think that is the one I did visit.

[Helen]

I wrote the following Information already in the Subject "Neues Palais", but I have the feeling that it should  belong here, also:

A new book is published about the Neue Palais in Darmstadt. It is very interesting. A lot of information about the architectural aspects of the building, planing etc. great pictures of the rooms etc.
Title: Das Darmstädter Neue Palais
Author: Petra Tücks
Price: € 56,-,

You should be able to order it under following address:

   Hessische Historische Kommission
   Karolinenplatz 3
   D -  64289 Darmstadt

   FAX: 06151-165901

Greetings VN

VN posted the above information under Alexandra's Childhood Homes some time ago. It's quite a heavy book, a PhD thesis about the architecture and interior decorating of the New Palace at Darmstadt.

[paola]

Iam searching for information about Schloss Heiligenberg, the family seat of the Battenbergs, like floorplans and pictures, also of the interiors.

Thanks.

[Ilana]

Where are you?  Is it possible for you to visit?  It's not a tourist destination, it's a teacher's school, but you could probably get permission.  As for layouts?  I don't know, perhaps you could ask Greg King if such a thing exists.

Good luck.

Ilana

[VN]

Iam searching for information about Schloss Heiligenberg, the family seat of the Battenbergs, like floorplans and pictures, also of the interiors.

Thanks.

On Saturday the 9 Sept. you should have a chance to see more of Heiligenberg, if you live nearby. No tour through the Schloß, but the little graveyard where Alex & Julie are burried is normally opend on "Tag des deutschen Denkmals. Also the Memorialchapel is open then.

But I haven't talked to the man recently who is the caretaker of that place, but normally he gives a tour on that day. If you plan to come to Jugenheim from further away, you could write me a PM and I could contact him just to make sure he is there.

Also Schloß Seeheim will be open for a public viewing, they are renovating it at the moment, it isn't  finished yet. But I don't know the exact time etc.

For more Information on pictures you could also pm me, maybe I could help you out.

 

[Thomas_Hesse]

A table with Jugendstil objects (which GD Ernst like to collect) and a small portrait (based on the one below). It's located in a small room off the grand salon

Did you see the framed 1898 photo of Alix and Ella to the left behind the vases?

And the little marble statue in the photo of the green drawing room (to the far right - hardly to see) is "Princess Alice as Spring" by Mary Thornycroft.

[Eddie_uk]

Wow, fascinating!! Such lovely things. It is wonderful they have been preserved 

[paola]

I live in  Switzerland. I was once in Heiligenberg but the building which is now a teacher's school was not open,   so the little  graveyard and chapel. I would like to know if there are pictures of the interiors. Maybe only in the archives in Darmstadt?

[grandduchessella]

A table with Jugendstil objects (which GD Ernst like to collect) and a small portrait (based on the one below). It's located in a small room off the grand salon

Did you see the framed 1898 photo of Alix and Ella to the left behind the vases?

And the little marble statue in the photo of the green drawing room (to the far right - hardly to see) is "Princess Alice as Spring" by Mary Thornycroft.

I think is the photo:


and this is the Thornycroft statue of Alice (she did most of QV's children in some form--Vicky, Bertie, Alice, Affie, Helena and Louise)