German Royal Palaces, Castles and Homes

[HerrKaiser]

the art gallery.

[HerrKaiser]

the dining room.

[HerrKaiser]

the Kaiser's chamberoom.

[HerrKaiser]

the very famous and architecturally important Grand Staircase in white marble, gilded gold, and blue lapis.

[HerrKaiser]

Herr Wettin, I hope you like these pictures of the Schloss. Indeed, a tragic loss of archtecture and art and grandeur. The building was very heavily damaged in  WWII and in 1953, the communists blew it up completely.

The current initiative to rebuilt it is stymied due to the asbestos disaster in the existing structure on the site that housed offices and admin operations of the former communist government in the DDR.

[Tasha_R]

Herr Kaiser,

Where did you get these fabulous pictures?  They are wonderful!

Yours most sincerely,
Tasha

[HerrKaiser]

thanks Tasha_R. Yes, the sumptuousness of this palace was awesome. Architecturally, it was considered one of the, if not THE, most significant baroque palace in Europe. This, combined with the wonderful interior decoration, made it a real jewel. But lost forever! Few recall or remember it, but thankfully some nice pictures remain.

I got them from one of the websites that tracks the initiative to rebuild the palace. The idea is to at least rebuild the exterior to original detail and appearance, but do the inside as a more contemporary facility for public use, such as a museum.

I favor a complete rebuilding including the inside, much like was done in Dresden with the Frauenkirche, just completed after 60 years in rubble from WWII. This fabulous baroque/rococco cathedral is being dedicated in a few weeks on Reformation Sunday, Martin Luther Day.

Thanks!

[AGRBear]

See the offical gallery by Hohenzollerns about the palaces and castles.

http://www.preussen.de/en/history/gallery_of_palaces.html

Have you traveled to any of these places?

Do you have photographs?

Would you care to share your photographs?

Thanks.

AGRBear

[AGRBear]

Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen Castle

http://www.hohenzollern.de/en/index.html

[HerrKaiser]

Great news!

The rebuilding of the glorious Stadt Schloss has been approved this week by Berlin's mayor and the Federal Minister of Transportation. The funding will come mostly from government coffers, but private donations will be needed for the balance.

This is a great moment for lovers of architecture and history, young and old alike. The return of this very, very significant building will be an important part of the restoration of Berlin to its status as a major European capital. Final design work will be completed over the next two years, with construction beginning in 2010 and completion targeted for 2014.

The exterior is intended to be constructed with careful attention to the former exterior detail. The inside, however, will be designed to house, primarily, the vast art collection of non-European art that is currently in a suburb outside the city.

here is a photo of what the expected result will be.

[bell_the_cat]

Ironically, the First World War saved the Stadtschloss, at least temporarily. The last Kaiser was very keen to have the Schloss completely rebuilt in a more Wilhelmine style, but the war intervened. I've always thought that the dome, which dates from the 1890s was an unfortunate and bombastic addition.

[HerrKaiser]

were any plans ever produced for the complete renovation prior to WWI? the "wilhelmine" style is hard to describe because from what I've seen it is an assemblage of both classic elements as well as clean lines that led ultimately to the bauhaus style.

[bell_the_cat]

I would recommend " Berlin auf dem Wege zu einer neuen Architektur" by Julius Posener. Wilhelminismus is a vague term, but it corresponds to the taste of the emperor which vacillated between a kind of neo-baroque, and an english Arts and Crafts simplicity, depending on what mood he was in! And you are right this apparent contradiction resulted in the Bauhaus style!

[Lucien]

Alphabetical listing of Palaces and gardens.

http://www.spsg.de/index_3280_en.html

[HerrKaiser]

the collection of Hohenzollern palaces, homes, parks, estates, seems to be more diverse and intereting than other of the royal families with great holdings. Potsdam, for example, with it German, classical, Chinese, roman, english, italian, and russian structures is a museum of architecture alone. at their height of use and vitality, this royal court must have been wonderful.