Palaces and Castles of the Hesses

[Riedesel]

Hello,

My first post to this forum. I hope I get it right.
I live in Darmstadt just around the corner from where the Neues Palais was. And I am interested -in a very amateur way- in all things concerned with the Hesse-Darmstadt RF.
Here is a (thumbnail) picture of the Neues Palais taken from the SW looking NE into the garden. I scanned it from "DARMSTADT Ein verlorenes Stadtbild ISBN 3-86134-243-x"


The view is from the south west looking north east into the rear garden.

the next picture is an aerial view taken in 1952. The Palais is still standing, just. the view is from the southeat looking north west. I scanned it from "Rundflug über DARMSTADT in den 50er und 60er Jahren ISBN 3-86134-683-4"



So, I hope that worked. I was following the very helpful directions from Laura Mabee (http://forum.alexanderpalace.org/index.php/topic,771.0.html)

Greetings from the ehemalige Hauptstadt Hessens

[Riedesel]

Well, I managed to mess that up a bit and got the images reversed! Sorry.

BTW, on the picture of the ruined Palais at the bottom, just right of center, is the Pss Alice memorial. It is casting a long, thin shadow. it is still in good condition and today the lawn  behind it is full of yellow and blue crocuses. Very pretty.

greetings

[Eddie_uk]

Welcome Riedesel and thank you so much for sharing those interesting pictures. It's so sad to see the palace is just a shell from the air. It's situated on a great big plot of land, I wonder what the gardens looked like.

Any idea when the other photo was taken? It's a nice view of such an imposing building. I'm sure I recognise the steps from photos of the Hesse sisters with there spouses!

It would be wonderful to see some interior photos of the palace in its hey day!

[Thomas_Hesse]

Willkommen Riedesel! Ein echter Heiner hier - perfekt

My heart hurts as often as I see the destroyed edifices...Darmstadt has lost so much...but fortunately large part of the collections in the Neues Palais was safed (especially the Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig's most outstanding collections of Art Noveau and of miniatures from 5 centuries) when in 1941 his son Ludwig decided to sell the Palais and to live at Wolfsgarten permanently. In the following he had brought most of the furniture etc to that place.
The Schlossmuseum Darmstadt still preserves a number of objects from the personal rooms of Grand Duchess Alice, Ludwig IV and Princess Alix etc originally in the NP.

[Riedesel]

Hello Thomas. Not really an "echter Heiner", more a "zu g'schneiter" ;-)

The  Schlossmuseum is really an Alladins Cave for all things concerning the Hesse RF.
Their web page is, unfortunately, only in german. http://www.schlossmuseum-darmstadt.de/start.htm

On this Sunday there is a special tour "Führung Darmstädter Prinzessinnen und russische Zaren" (Tour Darmstadt Princesses and russian Czars)
The perfect topic. I am really looking forward to it and will try to post a report on one of the more appropriate forums here.

Hello Eddieboy. Unfortunately the date of the photo was not given but it must be sometime after 1900. The Palais was originally built with a flat roof. In 1900 GD Ernst-Ludwig had a 'Mansard' roof put on it to be more in keeping with the Darmstadt town architecture.

greeings

[Thomas_Hesse]

so we will meet i presume....i am working in the schlossmuseum

[Gabriella]

Hello,

for all interested:

The park of Wolfsgarten will be opened this year 11. - 12.05.2008 and 17. - 18.05.2008. That's the time the rhododentrons and azaleas are in full blossom.

The park will be opened, too, in September for "Das Fürstliche Gartenfest Schloss Wolfsgarten", english "Princely Gardening Event of Wolfsgarten Castle". That takes place 19. - 21.09.2008 and it's a garding exhibition and sales event where you can buy a lot of plants, things used for gardening and lot of other useful things. Patron of this fair is  Landgrave Moritz of Hesse.

In June "Das Fürstliche Gartenfest Schloss Fasanerie", english "Princely Gardening Event of Fasanerie Castle" takes at Fasanerie Castle. That's a baroque castle which is owned by the Hessische Hausstiftung, a foundation that was founded by the Landgraves of Hesse-Cassel in 1928 to save their properties, otherwise they would have become nationalized.
The castle is located near Fulda, a town northeast of Frankfurt on the Main, and it contains a museum which shows a lot of furniture and furnishings of the 18th and 19th century and a large collection of pictures and bone china.

Enclosed some pictures of my last visit to the park of Wolfsgarten:

[Riedesel]

Hi Thomas, nice to have met you.

The tour was very good.
Please thank your colleague, she made it all very interesting and many little anecdotes about the families Hessen-Darmstadt and Romanov.

greetings

[Thomas_Hesse]

Heyho

I am sorry that there was no time to talk to you properly! But there were so many people around...
Glad that you liked the tour! I would have liked to join it too -
I will guide the "Fürstenfrauen" in April (which is not as popular as our Russian ladies ^^)

As for the photo of the NP: I think it dates from the 1920ies when the Grand Ducal House still occupied large number of the rooms

[Gabriella]

Hello, Thomas,

me and my husband we took part in your tour about the "Fürstenfrauen" in Schlossmuseum in Darmstadt. We enjoyed it very much. Thank you for the many information about the wives of the landgraves and the granddukes. It's a pity that apart form Karoline (wife of Landgrave Ludwig IX), the Grandduchesses Mathilde (wife of Ludwig III), Alice and Eleonore as well as Princess Margaret there is so little known and so little information about them.

Thank you also for showing the pretty picture of Viktoria-Melita and pointing out that she was far too young for the role of the "Landesmutter".
I agree with you that she had been overstrained with that role and as you point out the result was her unprofessional conduct as grandduchess.

I also agree with you about little Princess Elizabeth. Had she lived longer Grandduke Ernst-Ludwig would have made her his sucessor and abolshed the Salic law for Hesse-Darmstadt. 

Thank you very much.

Regards,

Gabriella



 

[VN]

If anyone lives nearby you can visit Schloß Heiligenberg on Sunday, 14th September. Due to the "Tag des offenen Denkmals" (translated it would mean something like "Day of the national Monuments ?!") there will be a tour each hour around the grounds of Schloß Heiligenberg, the Mousoleum will be opend.  Start 14.00 Uhr - 18.00 Uhr.

[Alexandre64]

[Thomas_Hesse]

If everybody goes to Wolfsgarten why don't we organize a little "forum-members-meeting"?! =)  Would be nice to meet you all and to dicuss in realiter (!)

[Alexandre64]

Unfortunately for me, the photos that I had just come from a set documentaries, I have not yet had the chance to go to Wolfsgarten

[Thomas_Hesse]

Oh I see.... but then, mon cher, it is time to change that It really is a lovely place