The New Orangery stands on the northern edge of the Sanssouci Park on the Bornstede ridge. However, this does not resemble a huge greenhouse, as is often the case in other parks, but is an impressive complex in the style of a palace and does not bear the name Orangery Palace for nothing.
An idea is rescheduled
It was originally planned to build an elevated road about two kilometers long along the existing grounds of the Sanssouci park. In the course of these construction measures, the plan also included the erection of new buildings such as a temple complex, an amphitheater, viaducts and an orangery castle.
Frederick William IV was a self-confessed lover of Italy, and after his first trip to Italy in 1828, he made numerous drawings that clarified his ideas for the design of Sanssouci. When he then took over the government in 1840, he decided to use Sanssouci as a summer residence and had numerous modernization and restoration works carried out. There were also plans to push ahead with the Höhenstrasse project. Here, however, the regent had to cope with some setbacks. For example, the owners of the required land demanded a lot of money for the sale, political unrest and a lack of financial resources ultimately made only partial realization possible. In the course of this realization, the Orangery Palace with the terrace system was finally built.
The Orangery Palace is built
The newly built Orangery Palace was not only to be representative, but also to have a practical use. Thus, the planning took into account that the old greenhouses had to be replaced. A new place was needed for the plants to overwinter. In addition, a hall was planned to house the Raphael collection of Frederick William III. Initially, there were no more precise ideas for the use of other rooms.
In the winter of 1848/49, construction work could finally begin and the building site was leveled, a water basin dug and the southern slope terraced. Peter Joseph Lenné was responsible for the design of the exterior, and from 1850 Friedrich August Stüler took over the project management for the construction of the Orangery Palace.
In 1851, the first plant hall was in place and could serve as quarters for the plants during the winter, before it was finally completed in 1854. In the meantime, the king had decided on a design by the architects. Construction work on the central building could begin and the second plant hall was erected. Unfortunately, Frederick William IV did not live to see its completion; he died in 1861. His successor had the Orangery Palace completed in the 1870s with the completion of the corner pavilions, facade and terrace design.
With a length of about 304 meters, it was the longest building in Sanssouci Park.
Use of the Orangery Palace
In addition to the use of the plant halls for wintering potted plants from the park, the orangery offered plenty of space for other ideas for use.
In the middle building, for example, is the Raphael Hall, a painting room extending over two floors for specially made copies of paintings by the artist Raphael. The walls are designed without windows, providing plenty of space for the works of art. Natural light enters the hall through a skylight window in the vault. Besides the collection of paintings, sculptures by some contemporary artists were also placed in the hall.
The Raffael Hall was open to visitors at all times and is one of the most important museum rooms in Germany with furnishings from the 19th century.
From the Raphael Hall, one enters the residential apartments through small doors in the east and west walls.
The east- and west-facing apartments were divided into a sumptuously furnished anteroom, adjoined by a living room and bedroom, which were no less impressively designed. Each of these rooms was color-coordinated in itself and dedicated to a particular “theme”. For example, there was an ivory room and a lapis lazuli room.
The apartments served as guest residences until the end of the monarchy, where, for example, Alexandra Feodorovna (the king’s sister and widow of Russian Tsar Nicholas I), Nāser ad-Dīn Shāh of Persia in 1889 or Umberto I of Italy in 1892 stayed during their visit.
After the First World War, the state confiscated the assets of the House of Hohenzollern and from 1926 the Orangery Palace was owned by the Prussian state. In 1927, the Prussian Administration of State Palaces and Gardens was founded, which then also took over the care of the complex. The use remained largely the same. The plants wintered in the plant halls, the central building became a museum, and tenants moved into the apartments.
The Orangery Palace survived the Second World War almost unscathed. Due to a reduction in the amount of plants, not quite as much space was needed, so in 1949 part of the Brandenburg State Archive (now Brandenburgisches Landeshauptarchiv) moved into the eastern hall. Since 2010, the archive no longer needs this location and plants moved back in. After extensive renovation work was carried out in 1993, some rooms are now available for administrative purposes and as apartments. Other rooms are used for exhibitions.
Visit to the Sanssouci Orangery Palace
A walk at the Orangery Palace is already something special. Even the path along the 103-meter-long plant halls with their large windows interrupted by pillars with figure niches gives a touch of Italy. Here are planters with palm trees and you can hear the fountain splashing in front of the castle. The statues in the figure niches are supposed to represent allegories of the months and seasons, made by various artists. Good that you can read this information, I would not have recognized it.
When you enter the plant hall, the first thing you notice is the floor paved with bricks. Under the stones runs a kind of underfloor heating, which allows a constant temperature in the hall and still works today. In addition, at that time they installed a channel that regulated the transport of fresh air.
Between the two plant halls you stand in a kind of courtyard.
I am particularly impressed by the structure of the corner pavilions. Two high portals served the passage and connects two buildings with each other. One stands between the portals in a small green courtyard.
In front of the plant halls there are terraced gardens connected by double staircases. The uppermost terrace (Orangery Terrace) is characterized by a water basin. A small fountain splashes here. On the lawns there are vases made of marble. From the upper terrace, you can easily see the terraces below. I really like the fact that there are numerous small and larger statues that have been designed by various artists.
Orangery Palace as a film location
Such a beautiful facility is naturally also suitable as a film location. So it is not surprising that film and television production companies like to use the ambience.
In 2003, for example, filming took place at the Orangery Palace for the movie “Around the World in 80 Days” with Jackie Chan and for “Beyond the Sea – Music Was His Life” with Kevin Spacey. In 2010, the grand staircase was featured in the fairy tale adaptation “Des Kaisers neue Kleider”. The series “Deutschland 83” filmed in 2015 also used the castle as a backdrop.
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