Paretz Palace
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Paretz is a village in the German state of
Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...
in the district of
Havelland Geographically, the Havelland () is the region around which the River Havel flows in a U-shape between Oranienburg to the northeast and Rhinow to the northwest. The northern boundary of the Havelland is formed by the River Rhin and the Rhin Cana ...
, west of Berlin. Recently, a district reform made Paretz into a borough of the city of
Ketzin Ketzin (, official name: ''Ketzin/Havel'') is a town in the Havelland district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated on the river Havel, 17 km northwest of Potsdam, and 40 km west of Berlin. History Ketzin was first mentioned in 119 ...
. It has a population of approximately 400. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the village was the summer residence of King
Frederick William III of Prussia Frederick William 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, when the empire was dissolved ...
and of his wife Queen Louise.


Paretz Palace

The manorial estate of Paretz was originally property of the von Bredow family from whom, in 1677, the Brandenburg diplomat Christoph Caspar
von Blumenthal The Blumenthal family is a Lutheran and Roman Catholic German noble family, originally from Brandenburg-Prussia. Other (unrelated) families of this name exist in Switzerland and formerly in Russia, and many unrelated families (quite a few of them ...
bought it. It was from here that his daughter Wilhelmina eloped with Ernst Christian von Weiler, a married man, in 1689. The estate was inherited by Count Hans von Blumenthal, former commander of the Gardes du Corps, who in retirement was tutor to the Crown Prince Frederick William (later King
Frederick William III of Prussia Frederick William 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, when the empire was dissolved ...
). The Crown Prince had a sad childhood, but he was always happy staying with his tutor at Paretz. For this reason, in 1795 he bought the estate of Paretz from his tutor's son, his former playmate Count Heinrich von Blumenthal, for 80,000
Thaler A thaler or taler ( ; , previously spelled ) is one of the large silver coins minted in the states and territories of the Holy Roman Empire and the Habsburg monarchy during the Early Modern period. A ''thaler'' size silver coin has a diameter o ...
s (approximately €120,000 as of 2005). The Berlin architect
David Gilly David Gilly (7 January 1748 – 5 May 1808) was a German architect and architecture tutor in Prussia, known as the father of the architect Friedrich Gilly. Life Born in Schwedt, Gilly was the son of a French-born Huguenot immigrant named Jacques ...
was put in charge of the construction of the building and it was planned to become a country palace. "Just remember always that you are building for a poor farmer", the crown prince is said to have told the architect. Flanking the palace were placed two barn buildings each, on the left and right, (one on each side to house animals) thus forming a semi circular yard. In 1804 the royal couple had the entire village rebuilt to conform to David Gilly's designs but the uniform style is hardly recognizable anymore today. After the death of Queen Louise in 1810 the palace was left unchanged until 1840 when
Frederick William IV Frederick William IV (; 15 October 1795 – 2 January 1861), the eldest son and successor of Frederick William III of Prussia, was King of Prussia from 7 June 1840 until his death on 2 January 1861. Also referred to as the " romanticist on the t ...
had the wallpaper and furniture replaced in several rooms. The appeal of the ''Schloss-Still-im-Land'' was lost however and the palace remained untouched and empty until early in the 20th century. The palace continued to be owned by the
Hohenzollern The House of Hohenzollern (, ; , ; ) is a formerly royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) German dynasty whose members were variously princes, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenburg, Prussia, the German Empire, and Romania. ...
until 1945: King Frederick William IV had passed the palace on to King
Wilhelm I Wilhelm I (Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig; 22 March 1797 – 9 March 1888) was King of Prussia from 1861 and German Emperor from 1871 until his death in 1888. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he was the first head of state of a united Germany. ...
who became Emperor of Germany in 1871. In 1888 Prince Heinrich took over the palace and his wife
Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine (Irène Luise Marie Anne; 11 July 1866 – 11 November 1953), later Princess Henry of Prussia, was the third child and third daughter of Princess Alice of the United Kingdom and Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse an ...
continued after his death in 1929. In April 1945 the
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
took possession of the grounds and the troops didn't leave until halfway through 1946. A year later,
refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...
s moved into the buildings and in 1948 ownership of the palace was transferred to the ''Zentrale Verwaltung der gegenseitigen Bauernhilfe (ZVdgB)'' ("Central Administration of Mutual Aid to Farmers"). Modifications to the complex through 1950 completely changed the look of the palace and farm. Special attractions of the palace are the tapestries that are adorned with exotic plant motives, bird renditions and depictions of landscapes in the
Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...
area. The tapestries survived
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
as they had been removed and kept in the New Palace in Potsdam for safe keeping.


Gothic House

The
Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...
House is a former royal
forge A forge is a type of hearth used for heating metals, or the workplace (smithy) where such a hearth is located. The forge is used by the smith to heat a piece of metal to a temperature at which it becomes easier to shape by forging, or to the ...
. It is notable as the only neo-Gothic structure among the other rather simple buildings. Currently, a restaurant is being operated in the building.


Paretzer Erdlöcher

During the 19th century the production of
brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...
s was an important industry for the area as they could be sold to the ever-growing city of Berlin. Therefore, many villages had several tile producing companies. To make the bricks, clay was needed and mined from the clay ground common to the area. When the business slowed down after World War I, the clay mines filled with
ground water Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidat ...
and turned into small lakes, the ''Erdlöcher'' or "holes in the ground". After World War II, some holes were backfilled with rubble from bombed Berlin (in a peculiar kind of material cycle), today most of them however are home to numerous water fowl and have been placed under environmental protection. Image:Paretz ERDLOECHER08.jpg Image:Paretz ERDLOECHER15.jpg Image:Paretz Erdlöcher.jpg Image:Paretz ERDLOECHER11.jpg


Theodor Fontane

The German poet and author
Theodor Fontane Theodor Fontane (; 30 December 1819 – 20 September 1898) was a German novelist and poet, regarded by many as the most important 19th-century German-language Literary realism, realist author. He published the first of his novels, for which he i ...
liked the village a lot and came to visit Paretz three times: in the spring of 1861, 1869 and in May 1870. He describes the farm Paretz in his ''
Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg ''Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg'' ("Ramblings through Brandenburg", "Rambles in Brandenburg" or "Walks through the Margraviate of Brandenburg, March of Brandenburg") is a five-volume travelogue by the Germany, German writer Theodor Fontan ...
'' in vivid colors: :"Uetz and Paretz are separated by little more than half a mile. On a summer afternoon this is an inspiring walk. The path leads through the meadows and the smell of hay is present from the fields all around us. A thin, fog lit by the sun marks the spot where the wide Havel with its many bays and lakes lies. Paretz itself does not appear to us until the very last." :"Finally the path turns into a levee and instead of the fruit trees that so far have kept us company there are tall poplars and royal buildings everywhere until we cross a light and elegant bridge, called the ''Infantenbrücke'', and reach the village road. The road takes us through the park then grows wider just after going around a bend and we are there."


Waterways

Paretz lies on the
River Havel The Havel () is a river in northeastern Germany, flowing through the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Berlin and Saxony-Anhalt. The long Havel is a right tributary of the Elbe. However, the direct distance from its source to its ...
between the cities of
Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...
and
Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...
, and the junction of that river with two canals is nearby. Both canals were built to provide alternative routes to the river, but for rather different ulterior purposes. In the 1870s, the
Sacrow–Paretz Canal Jungfernsee The Jungfernsee (translated "Virgin Lake") is north of Potsdam, Germany. It was a glacial kettle and is now part of the River Havel, which runs along its southeastern shore, which is also the only part of its shores that is in Berlin. The rest of ...
, near
Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...
, thus providing a shorter navigation route to Berlin and points upstream for vessels navigating the River Havel. In the 1950s, the
Havel Canal The Havel Canal, or Havelkanal in German, is a canal in the German state of Brandenburg. It provides an alternate route to the River Havel, between Hennigsdorf and Paretz, thus avoiding a passage through the waterways of Berlin between Spanda ...
was constructed to link Paretz with
Hennigsdorf Hennigsdorf () is a town in the district of Oberhavel, in Brandenburg, in eastern Germany. It is situated north-west of Berlin, just across the city border, which is formed mainly by the Havel river. History The town was first mentioned in 1375, ...
, significantly further upstream than Potsdam and avoiding a passage through the reach of the River Havel that was under the political control of
West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...
. Both canals are still in use, providing shorter routes for shipping from the west to Berlin and to the
Oder–Havel Canal The Oder–Havel Canal is a German canal built between 1908 and 1914, originally known as the Hohenzollern Canal, mostly replacing the Finow Canal. Together with Hohensaaten-Friedrichsthaler Wasserstraße, the ''Oderhaltung'' and the ''Schwedter ...
and Poland.


References


External links


Paretz Palace and Garden
- Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg *
Verein Historisches Paretz
' {{Authority control Villages in Brandenburg Localities in Havelland Frederick William III of Prussia Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz