Pillnitz Palace () is a restored

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

castle at the eastern end of the city of

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

in the German state of

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

. It is located on the right bank of the River

Elbe The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Ge ...

in the former village of

Pillnitz Pillnitz is a quarter in the east of Dresden, Germany. It can be reached by bus, ship, walking along the river or by bicycle. Pillnitz is most famous for its Baroque palace and park, the Pillnitz Castle. Pillnitz Palace consists of the Rivers ...

. It was the summer residence of many electors and kings of Saxony; it is also known for the Declaration of Pillnitz in 1791. The complex consists of three main buildings, the Riverside Palace (''Wasserpalais'') on the riverfront; the Upper Palace (''Bergpalais'') on the hillside, both Baroque with

Chinoiserie (, ; loanword from French '' chinoiserie'', from '' chinois'', "Chinese"; ) is the European interpretation and imitation of Chinese and other Sinosphere artistic traditions, especially in the decorative arts, garden design, architecture, lite ...

elements; and the later Neoclassical New Palace (''Neues Palais''), which links them together on the east side. The buildings enclose a

Baroque garden The Baroque garden was a style of garden based upon symmetry and the principle of imposing order on nature. The style originated in the late-16th century in Italy, in the gardens of the Vatican and the Villa Borghese gardens in Rome and in the ...

and are surrounded by a large public park. Today, the buildings house the arts and crafts museum (''Kunstgewerbemuseum'') of the Dresden State Art Collections and a ''Schlossmuseum''.

History

As early as the 14th century, a modest residential fortress existed on the site of today's palace. It was enlarged in the 16th and 17th centuries to a four-winged building.Hans-Günther Hartmann: ''Schloss Pillnitz'', Verlag der Kunst Dresden, 1991, The

château A château (, ; plural: châteaux) is a manor house, or palace, or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking re ...

was acquired by the Wettin dynasty in 1694 when Elector John George IV of Saxony bought it as a present for his mistress, Magdalena Sibylla of Neidschutz. Both died soon afterwards. In 1706, John George's brother

Augustus II the Strong Augustus II the Strong (12 May 1670 – 1 February 1733), was Elector of Saxony from 1694 as well as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1697 to 1706 and from 1709 until his death in 1733. He belonged to the Albertine branch of the H ...

gave the facilities to one of his numerous mistresses, Anna Constantia of Brockdorff, only to rescind the gift after she fled to Berlin in 1715. Augustus II then ordered the château to be converted into an oriental summer palace for riverside festivities, necessitating extensive rebuilding. Starting in 1720, the first church and buildings were replaced by elaborate

palaces designed by

Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann (1662–1736) was a German master builder and architect who helped to rebuild Dresden after the fire of 1685. His most famous work is the Zwinger (Dresden), Zwinger Palace. Life Pöppelmann was born in Herford ...

and Zacharias Longuelune. First, in 1720/21, the Riverside Palace (''Wasserpalais'') was constructed on the river bank to plans by Pöppelmann. The upper staircase built on the Elbe side in 1722 was supplemented in 1725 by water stairs forming a gondola dock, designed by the French architect Zacharias Longuelune. In 1723/24, an almost identical complement to the Riverside Palace, the Upper Palace (''Bergpalais''), was completed. At the same time, a garden was laid out between the two palaces. Construction continued until 1725, with a focus on the

style. Augustus apparently then lost interest in his renovated palace, shifting his focus to other locations. In 1765, Elector

Frederick Augustus I of Saxony Frederick Augustus I (; ; ; 23 December 1750 – 5 May 1827) was a member of the House of Wettin who reigned as the last Elector of Saxony from 1763 to 1806 (as Frederick Augustus III) and as the first King of Saxony from 1806 to 1827. He was al ...

, a great-grandson of Augustus the Strong, made Pillnitz his summer residence. At the time, an

English garden The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (, , , , ), is a style of "landscape" garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal ...

with an English pavilion, a Chinese garden with a Chinese pavilion and an artificial ruin were added. When the Countess' palace burnt down in 1818, Frederick Augustus asked his architect, Christian Friedrich Schuricht, to design a new palace at the same location.Hans-Günther Hartmann: ''Pillnitz – Schloss, Park und Dorf'', Hermann Böhlaus Nachfolger, 1996, The Neoclassical New Palace (''Neues Palais'') was completed in 1826. Schloss Pillnitz was used as the summer residence of the House of Wettin until 1918.

Buildings

The main buildings are the Hillside Palace (''Bergpalais''), built between 1722 and 1723, the Riverside Palace (''Wasserpalais''), built between 1720 and 1721, and the New Palace. The Riverside Palace has elegant steps down to the river. The two older palaces are connected on the east side by the New Palace (''Neues Palais''), built in

Neoclassical style Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassici ...

between 1819 and 1826 after the Countess' palace burnt down in 1818. The New Palace contains a central hall with a dome, the royal kitchen, a Catholic chapel, and several more rooms. The roofs and moldings in each of the buildings exemplify the Oriental-influenced chinoiserie style fashionable during that period. Today, the New Palace contains the Palace Museum (''Schlossmuseum'') with a permanent exhibition presenting its eventful history as a former royal Saxon summer residence. It houses the only neo-classical domed hall in Dresden, opened in 1823. The royal kitchen shows “cooking machines” and original copper pots and pans in its reconstructed historical setting. Here, approximately 27 employees prepared meals for the royal family and their entourage. The Catholic chapel in the eastern wing of the New Palace is also part of the Palace Museum. Its multiple frescos by the court painter,

Carl Christian Vogel von Vogelstein Carl Christian Vogel von Vogelstein (26 June 1788, Wildenfels, Electoral Saxony – 4 March 1868, Munich), born ''Vogel'', was a German painter. Life Son of the child and portrait painter Christian Leberecht Vogel, Vogel was trained early in ...

, depict scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary. The Hillside Palace and Riverside Palace house the Arts and Crafts Museum (''Kunstgewerbemuseum'') of the Dresden State Art Collections. It exhibits furniture, ceramics and other objects from the 13th to the 20th century, including the throne of Augustus II. Some of the exhibition rooms retain the original decoration. The visitor center is located in the ''Alte Wache'' (Old Guardhouse), a small building east of the New Palace.

The park

The buildings surround a Baroque flower garden, whose centrepiece is a pond with a large fountain. From this, a chestnut-lined

allée In landscaping, an avenue (from the French), alameda (from the Portuguese and Spanish), or allée (from the French), is a straight path or road with a line of trees or large shrubs running along each side, which is used, as its Latin source ' ...

approximately long runs parallel to the river bank, flanked by small rectangular hedged

parterre A ''parterre'' is a part of a formal garden constructed on a level substrate, consisting of symmetrical patterns, made up by plant beds, plats, low hedges or coloured gravels, which are separated and connected by paths. Typically it was the ...

s. The 28-

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...

park surrounding the main buildings contains botanical attractions from all over the world. Among them is a

camellia ''Camellia'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in tropical and subtropical areas in East Asia, eastern and South Asia, southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are ...

tree more than 230 years old – one of the oldest in Europe. Legend has it that

Carl Peter Thunberg Carl Peter Thunberg, also known as Karl Peter von Thunberg, Carl Pehr Thunberg, or Carl Per Thunberg (11 November 1743 – 8 August 1828), was a Sweden, Swedish Natural history, naturalist and an Apostles of Linnaeus, "apostle" of Carl Linnaeus ...

brought it from

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

Kew Gardens Kew Gardens is a botanical garden, botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botany, botanical and mycology, mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1759, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its li ...

in 1776. The

Camellia japonica ''Camellia japonica'', known as common camellia, or Japanese camellia, is a species of Camellia, a flowering plant genus in the family Theaceae. There are thousands of cultivars of ''C. japonica'' in cultivation, with many colors and forms of flo ...

was planted in its current location in 1801. It extends and, from February to April, produces up to 35,000 blooms. During wintertime, the tree is protected by a glass house on rails. The park also features a late 18th-century

with an English pavilion, a Chinese pavilion, a

conifer Conifers () are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a sin ...

garden and an

orangery An orangery or orangerie is a room or dedicated building, historically where orange and other fruit trees are protected during the winter, as a large form of greenhouse or conservatory. In the modern day an orangery could refer to either ...

. The English pavilion, built in 1780, is a copy of

Donato Bramante Donato Bramante (1444 – 11 April 1514), born as Donato di Pascuccio d'Antonio and also known as Bramante Lazzari, was an Italian architect and painter. He introduced Renaissance architecture to Milan and the High Renaissance style to Rom ...

's Tempietto in Rome. It is located next to a pond in the English garden. A statue with the head of Juno Ludovisi, a replica from the Roman marble head of the 1st century A.D. that is now in the

National Museum of Rome The National Roman Museum (Italian: ''Museo Nazionale Romano'') is a museum, with several branches in separate buildings throughout the city of Rome, Italy. It shows exhibits from the pre- and early history of Rome, with a focus on archaeological ...

, was placed on the pond's island in the English Garden in the 19th century. In 1804, the Chinese Pavilion was erected on the northern edge of the park. While the Chinese elements are only decorations, this small pavilion was built in the authentic Chinese style. The paintings on the walls inside depict actual Chinese landscapes. Also shown is a replica of the red royal

gondola The gondola (, ; , ) is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian lagoon. It is typically propelled by a gondolier, who uses a rowing oar, which is not fastened to the hull, in a scul ...

which Frederick Augustus I used for transport between his residence in Dresden, the royal palace, and his country seat in Pillnitz. Together with its green counterpart, the original red gondola was built under the supervision of the architect Christian Friedrich Schuricht around 1800. Deterioration of both gondolas required a restoration in 1954, when this replica was built by using parts from both boats. The palm house was built between 1859 and 1861. Covering 660 square metres and in length, it was the largest greenhouse in Germany at the time. After extensive restoration completed in 2009, it now contains plants from

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. File:Pillnitz13.jpg, Hillside Palace with the Baroque garden and fountain File:Pillnitz-Kamelienhaus.jpg, The

tree with its glass house File:Pillnitz teehaus.JPG, English pavilion File:Pillnitz chinesischerPavillion.JPG, Chinese pavilion File:Pillnitz gondel.JPG, Royal gondola

Surroundings

Schloss Pillnitz is also harmoniously integrated with the natural setting of the Elbe valley and the surrounding hills and vineyards. In 1723,

asked his architect,

, to build the country Church of the Holy Spirit in the east. Due to its location in the middle of vineyards, it is also known as the Vineyard church (''Weinbergkirche''). Around 1780, the valley to the northeast, called ''Friedrichsgrund'' (Frederick valley), was landscaped for Frederick Augustus I to take walks. It features many small stone bridges and other small decorative buildings that can still be seen today from the path to the former

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as mill (grinding), milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in ...

, the ''Meixmühle''. As was fashionable in German interpretations of Baroque and English gardens, in 1785, an artificial ruin was built on a hilltop in the north. Its

Gothic Revival architecture Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

was meant to contrast with the Baroque style of the palace, its expression of the fleeting vanity of life with the pleasurable nature of the gardens.Fritz Löffler, ''Das Alte Dresden: Geschichte seiner Bauten'', 16th ed. Leipzig: Seemann, 2006, , p. 335 File:Weinbergkirche Pillnitz 2.jpg, Vineyard church File:Friedrichsgrund heute.jpg, Frederick valley File:Pillnitz ruine.JPG, Artificial ruin File:RuinePillnitz.JPG, View from the artificial ruin towards Schloss Pillnitz File:Johan Christian Dahl - View of Pillnitz Castle - G 35 - Museum Folkwang.jpg, '' View of Pillnitz Castle'' by Johan Christian Dahl, 1823

Notes and references

External links