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THE HISTORICAL NEW GARDEN IN POTSDAM
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Impressum
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POTSDAM (sst)
Potsdam
has many beautiful gardens and palaces, and among the most beautiful
is a garden laid out in 1786 by Frederick William II, the Prussian
King. Frederick William II
chose the site of this New Garden on the shores of the Heiliger See and
instructed J. A. Eyserbeck to design the plans for the New Garden in the
style of a sentimental park. The
first Palace built within the new garden in (1787) was the Marble Palace.
The outside and inside architecture can be classified as simple,
neo-classical style, directly influenced by Ancient Greece and Rome.
The Marble House was Frederick William's II favorite palace,
however he died before its completion.
From 1831 to 1835 William I, emperor of Germany, occupied the
palace and in 1882 William II moved in.
The Marble House was also home to the last German crown prince,
Wilhelm von Hohenzollern, who lived here with his family from 1905 to
1917. From 1926 to 1939 the
Palace was used as a museum and later served a variety of purposes after
World War II.
On the Southern Bank of the Heiliger See lies the remains of the
King's library. This building, nick named the Shingle House because of its
roof, was built around 1792, and until 1795 was occupied by Countess
Lichtenau (Madame Ritz) and her husband who was a friend of Frederick
William II. At the north end
of the garden, William II Germany's last kaiser ordered a new palace to be
built. This palace was
intended to be permanent residence to the crown prince and turned out to
be the last palace commissioned by the Hohenzollerns.
This palace which was built in 1917 has no particular style.
Yet its brickwork, decorative chimneys, and beautiful gardens
create the look of a country home. This palace was named after Crown
Princess Cecilie, hence the name Cecilenhof.
After WWI in 1918, the kaiser abdicated and left Germany under the
control of his eldest son. In 1923, ex-Crown Prince Wilhelm returned to the grounds of
Cecilienhof and lived here with his family until spring of 1945.
Shortly before the end of World War II, he and his family left the
palace and Cecilienhof was historically utilized as the venue for the
meeting of the Big Three. It
was here at Cecilienhof that the victorious Allied Powers- the United
States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain- agreed to hold a conference
on the future of Germany and post-war settlements.
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