Charlottenhof Palace or Charlottenhof Manor (german: Schloss Charlottenhof) is a former royal palace located southwest of

Sanssouci Palace Sanssouci () is a historical building in Potsdam, near Berlin. Built by Prussian King Frederick the Great as his summer palace, it is often counted among the German rivals of Versailles. While Sanssouci is in the more intimate Rococo style an ...

Sanssouci Park Sanssouci Park is a large park surrounding Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam, Germany, built under Frederick the Great in the mid-1700s. Following the terracing of the vineyard and the completion of the palace, the surroundings were included in the st ...

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

. It is best known as the summer residence of Crown Prince Frederick William (later King

Frederick William IV of Prussia Frederick William IV (german: Friedrich Wilhelm IV.; 15 October 17952 January 1861), the eldest son and successor of Frederick William III of Prussia, reigned as King of Prussia from 7 June 1840 to his death on 2 January 1861. Also referred to ...

). Today it is maintained by the

Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg The Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg (german: Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg; SPSG) was founded by a treaty of 23 August 1994 between the German federal states of Berlin and Brandenburg a ...

Location

Charlottenhof Palace and its surrounding park are located in the ''Brandenburger Vorstadt'' district of Potsdam's ''Westliche Vorstädte'' borough. Being located adjacent to

, it is part of the ''Berlin-Potsdam Palaces and Parks'' system.

Transport

The palace is located between the Potsdam-Park Sanssouci and Potsdam-Charlottenhof railway stations, both offering direct DB Regio regional rail connections to

Potsdam Central Station Potsdam Hauptbahnhof is the main station in the German city of Potsdam, capital of the state of Brandenburg. It lies on the Berlin–Magdeburg railway and was founded in 1838. However, it has had this name only since 1999. It was originally calle ...

and

Berlin Central Station Berlin Hauptbahnhof () (English: Berlin Central Station) is the main railway station in Berlin, Germany. It came into full operation two days after a ceremonial opening on 26 May 2006. It is located on the site of the historic Lehrter Bahnhof ...

. Several Potsdam Tram lines connect the palace to central Potsdam at ''Schloss Charlottenhof'' and ''Bahnhof Charlottenhof/Geschwister-Scholl-Straße'' stations.

Overview

The park area with its various buildings can be traced back to the 18th century. After it had changed hands several times, King

Frederick William III of Prussia Frederick William III (german: Friedrich Wilhelm III.; 3 August 1770 – 7 June 1840) was King of Prussia from 16 November 1797 until his death in 1840. He was concurrently Elector of Brandenburg in the Holy Roman Empire until 6 August 1806, w ...

bought the land that borders the south of

and gave it to his son Frederick William and his wife Elisabeth Ludovika for

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

in 1825. The Crown Prince charged the architect

Karl Friedrich Schinkel Karl Friedrich Schinkel (13 March 1781 – 9 October 1841) was a Prussian architect, city planner and painter who also designed furniture and stage sets. Schinkel was one of the most prominent architects of Germany and designed both neoclassic ...

with the remodeling of an already existing farm house and the project was completed at low cost from 1826 through 1829. In the end, Schinkel, with the help of his student

Ludwig Persius Friedrich Ludwig Persius (15 February 1803 in Potsdam – 12 July 1845 in Potsdam) was a Prussian architect and a student of Karl Friedrich Schinkel. Persius assisted Schinkel with, among others, the building of the Charlottenhof Castle an ...

, built a small Neoclassical palace on the foundations of the old farm house in the image of a

Roman villa A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house built in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions. Typology and distribution Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) distinguished two kinds of villas n ...

. With designs he created himself the artistically inclined Crown Prince participated in the planning process for the palace and surrounding park. He referred to this summer residence as "Siam", which at the time was considered "the Land of the Free", and to himself jokingly as the "Siam House architect". Officially the palace and park were named "Charlottenhof" in honor of Maria Charlotte von Gentzkow who had owned the property from 1790 to 1794. The interior design of the ten rooms is still largely intact. The furniture, for the most part designed by Schinkel himself, is remarkable for its simple and cultivated style. The palace's most distinctive room is the tent room fashioned after a Roman Caesar's tent. In the tent room both ceiling and walls are decorated with blue and white striped wallpaper and the window treatments and bed tent and coverings continue that design. The room was used as a bedroom for companions and guests. The blue and white theme is continued throughout on the palace's window shutters, it seems, in deference to the

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...

n heritage of then crown princess Elisabeth. Between 1835 and 1840 the explorer and world traveler

Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 17696 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, naturalist, explorer, and proponent of Romantic philosophy and science. He was the younger brother of the Prussian minister ...

was invited and stayed in the tent room during the summer months.

Charlottenhof Park

The landscape architect

Peter Joseph Lenné Peter Joseph Lenné (the Younger) (29 September 1789 – 23 January 1866) was a Prussian gardener and landscape architect. As director general of the Royal Prussian palaces and parks in Potsdam and Berlin, his work shaped the development of 19 ...

was charged with the design of the Charlottenhof gardens. He completely recreated the originally flat and partly marshy area into an English garden with trees, lawn and water features. He also linked the new park at Charlottenhof to the older one at

Sanssouci Sanssouci () is a historical building in Potsdam, near Berlin. Built by Prussian King Frederick the Great as his summer palace, it is often counted among the German rivals of Versailles. While Sanssouci is in the more intimate Rococo style and ...

from the time of

Frederick the Great Frederick II (german: Friedrich II.; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the Sil ...

World Heritage Site

Since 1990, Charlottenhof Palace has been part of the UNESCO

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin (german: Schlösser und Gärten von Potsdam und Berlin) are a group of palace complexes and extended landscape gardens located in the Havelland region around Potsdam and the German capital of Berlin. The te ...

". The palace is administered by the '' Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg''.

References

* Wolfgang Fabian: ''Potsdam. Die Stadt-Die Könige und ihre Bewohner''. Vision Verlag, Berlin 1997, . * Paul Sigel, Silke Dähmlow, Frank Seehausen und Lucas Elmenhorst, Architekturführer Potsdam - Architectural Guide, Dietrich Reimer Verlag, Berlin 2006, . * Gert Streidt, Klaus Frahm. ''Potsdam. Die Schlösser und Gärten der Hohenzollern''. Könemann Verlagsgesellschft mbH, Köln 1996 .

External links

Potsdam Park Sanssouci - Charlottenhof Palace
{{Coord, 52, 23, 44, N, 13, 01, 33, E, region:DE-BB_type:landmark, display=title Houses completed in 1829 Buildings and structures in Potsdam Castles in Brandenburg Palaces in Brandenburg Karl Friedrich Schinkel buildings Royal residences in Brandenburg Prussian cultural sites Museums in Potsdam Historic house museums in Germany World Heritage Sites in Germany