That's really an experience! I'd love to know more on Glienicke, once a home of Pr.Friedrich Leopold of Prussia - what's it like now? Any photos? ))
Unfortunately,due to wars Glienicke was for a long time an empty Palace or a palace with no living purpose.It was once even used as a Casino and during the time of Red Army,one of the rooms in the first floor was a stable for horses and the guide showed us the renovated floor which still holds some traces of the horses hooves...Exteriors are just magnificent as they are kept original with all the antiques Prince Carl brought with him from around the world and gave to be incorporated into an inner facade.Interiors,unlike exteriors,are not original.Once it became a museum,interiors started to fill by Prussian Stiftung,as the family fled before with most of what was in it...As you said,the last Prince to live in the very Palace there was Friedrich Leopold senior,but as he was the one who fled and took everything with him to Italy ,the least in interior was connected to him :-( His son Friedrich Leopold younger came to live at the estate at one point,not in the very Palace,but in the Cavalry House which stands near by.Today,the rooms and interiors are mainly connected to Prince Carl and Princess Marie Louise with a dash of Prince Karl von Hardenberg who was previous owner...
However,everything connected to the Schloss is very unique and the story is so very well packed by the Palace guide who makes everything easier to know and understand in one hour that the tour lasts.It is an interesting story about the lives of three Prussian brothers who lived all near by as their father King Friedrich Wilhelm III gave them estates one next to each other.King Friedrich Wilhelm IV lived in Neues Palais in Potsdam,Prince Wilhelm(future Emperor) lived in Babelsberg and opposite to him,across the lake Prince Carl who owned Glienicke.
While Friedrich Wilhelm IV was a ruler and to busy to be bothered,there was a tension between the families of Prince Wilhelm and Prince Carl who lived near by,or should I say between two sisters Marie Luise and Augusta...
Both Marie Luise and Augusta were brought very formal and with very strict etiquette by their mother Grand Duchess Marie von Sachsen-Weimar.They had to know almost everything,from knitting to painting,music,geography,history etc.The elder one Marie Luise was considered to be more beautiful,more educated and therefore was called "the pearl of Weimar".With such qualities she was expected,by her mother,to marry some King or an Emperor at least.But,Prince Carl,a younger son of the King fell in love and it was with great difficulty that he tried to persuade her to give her daughter Marie Luise to him.She loved him too...
But,as soon as younger Augusta married his elder brother Wilhelm,the problems started.They lived close by,and now she was the one who took precedence in family gatherings and it was a great blow to Marie Luise who,as the guide said,almost hated her sister afterwards...She,who was the elder,more bright,beautiful and intellectual thought that her sister was less deserving of such an honor...Therefore she often avoided those gatherings often choosing to ride or to stay alone in her palace.
The other thing that bothered Marie Luise is that she was very fond of her husband,but as he was away traveling for most of his time,she was often left alone on her own.She coped very well with it as she was brought to be very stiff and formal and most of the time she spent her life in Glienicke devoted to the education of her children...
In the Schloss Glienicke,one could see many portraits of Princess Marie Luise,Prince Carl,his favorite sister Princess Luise,his daughter in law Princess Marianne,King Friedrich Wilhelm III,Queen Luise etc.Most of them are in the red room or red Salon which was the also an audience room in the central part of the second floor.There is also a room with painted china and porcelain which describes all the travels of Prince Carl which I found to be very interesting...
The park outside the Schloss is just so green,beautiful and it looks directly into the Potsdame Lake...as is the Lion fountain which stands in front of the main entrance!
Here are few pictures I took:
Portikus,which was a House used for Ladies in waiting:
Inner garden or an inside yard where one could see antique heads between the windows incorporated into the walls:
Inside 1:
Inside 2 with portraits of Marie Luise riding and Queen Luise on the right:
Palace from the main entrance:
Lion fountain:
Park 1:
Park 2:
View from Glienicke Bridge to Schloss Babelsberg across the Lake:
And this same image zoomed in,which I find to be great:
