The gardens and grounds of Charlottenburg Palace, Berlin

Visitors to Berlin’s Charlottenburg Palace can not only enjoy the delights of its many rooms, now restored to their Baroque splendour after damage caused by a wartime air raid, but can also explore 55 hectares (136 acres) of gardens, lakes and other grounds at the rear of the Palace. These areas are free to visit and are an open space that is greatly valued by local residents.

The original owner of Lietzenburg Palace, Sophie Charlotte, after whom the Palace was renamed after her death, was very interested in garden design and planned a large formal garden after the pattern of that at Versailles, near Paris. The emphasis was on straight lines, long paths and geometric shapes, with regularly placed statues, vases and potted plants. Good use was made of the adjoining River Spree in that a harbour was created for gondolas.

Sophie Charlotte was also very keen on building an Orangery on the western side of the main building and this housed more than 500 orange and lemon trees.

However, later kings, notably Frederick William II and III had other ideas and transformed the Baroque garden into something more along the lines of an English landscape garden with grassy meadows, copses, meandering paths, isolated statues in flower beds and watercourses that surrounded irregularly-shaped islands that could only be reached by rope-ferries. By 1833 virtually nothing remained of the original Baroque layout.

World War II was a disaster for the grounds of Charlottenburg Palace, which either became completely overgrown or were used for growing crops.

Post-war restoration, between 1952 and 1968, managed to combine the designs both of Sophie Charlotte and the later kings. However, it was not until 2001 that the large French-style Baroque garden, complete with a fountain, reached its final form and now looks much as Sophie Charlotte would have seen it.

At the far end of the formal garden is a long lake beyond which, and to one side, is a large area of woodland and grassy areas, with wandering paths and watercourses, which are more in keeping with the landscaping notions of the two Frederick Williams.

There is therefore much to explore and enjoy, with many opportunities to spot birds and other wildlife.

The Mausoleum

Hidden away in the woods, at the end of an avenue of fir trees, is a small building on the model of a Doric temple. This was built between 1811 and 1814 as the final resting place of Queen Louisa, the wife of King Frederick William III. She died in 1810 at the age of 34. Her funerary monument was sculpted from Carrara marble and is a particularly moving piece of Neoclassical sculpture.

The Mausoleum was later used to house the remains of Frederick William in 1840 and the first German imperial couple, William I and Augusta.

The New Pavilion

This building, which is close to the far end of the New Wing, was built after the death of Queen Louisa and after Frederick William’s second marriage (to Augusta of Harrach). He did not wish to live in the New Wing (which had been his home with Louisa), so he had this private residence constructed instead.

The two-storey New Pavilion is cubic in shape, with a flat roof, French windows and an Italian-style all-round balcony at first-floor level. Frederick William had stayed in a very similar building in Naples and wished to have his own version of it at Charlottenburg. The interior was decorated in Neoclassical style.

The building one sees today is actually a reconstruction of the original which was destroyed in the 1943 air raid that did a huge amount of damage to the Palace. Since 1970 it has been used to house an art collection that includes works by Caspar David Friedrich and Karl Friedrich Schinkel.

The Belvedere

Towards the northern end of the Palace grounds is The Belvedere, a three-storey observation tower on an oval ground plan. The building was originally on an island, but the nearby watercourses have since been altered.

It was built in 1788 on the orders of King Frederick William II, who wanted somewhere private to which to retreat and from which he could observe his estate. It is also believed that King Frederick William, who believed in spirit manifestations, used the Belvedere for carrying out Rosicrucian seances.

After World War II only the shell of the building was left standing and the interior was rebuilt in a greatly simplified form. It is now used as a Museum of the History of Berlin Porcelain.

© John Welford

Charlottenburg Palace, Berlin

Charlottenburg Palace is a remarkable ensemble of buildings and gardens that demonstrate the wealth and splendour of the Hohenzollern monarchy of Prussia during the 18^th and 19^th centuries. Situated in the northwest of Berlin, but within easy reach of the centre, it is well worth a whole day visit.

The Palace suffered considerable damage during World War II, but the restoration work was done to a very high standard, so one can be assured that one is seeing the Palace much as it would have appeared to its first royal residents.

The Palace started out as Lietzenburg, a modest summer residence built between 1695 and 1699 for the Electress Sophie Charlotte, the wife of Elector Frederick III of Brandenburg. However, when he declared himself “King Frederick I in Prussia” in 1701, Lietzenburg underwent a major expansion with the main axis stretched out both east and west and – on the city side – two wings built at right-angles to the main building to create the Great Courtyard.

This work was completed in 1702, but Queen Charlotte did not live long to enjoy her private retreat. She died in 1705 at the age of 37, after which King Frederick renamed the place in her honour and it has been Charlottenburg ever since.

Not much changed at Charlottenburg until the grandson of Frederick and Charlotte became King Frederick II (“Frederick the Great”) in 1740. He commissioned the long eastward extension of the main axis that was known – than and now - as the New Wing. He had the rooms of the extension richly decorated in the Rococo style that was fashionable at the time and indulged his taste for collecting paintings, furniture and objets d’art that were used to fill the spaces.

Frederick’s successor, his nephew King Frederick William II, had some of the rooms redecorated in Neoclassical style and indulged a taste for Chinoiserie – Chinese style.

Later monarchs and their consorts used Charlottenburg to varying degrees and did not make huge changes to the décor. Interest waned after the death of King Frederick William IV, as neither his brother, who succeeded as King William I (and then became the first German Emperor in 1871) lived in the Palace at any time of the year.

After the end of the monarchy following Germany’s defeat in World War I in 1918, Charlottenburg Palace became a field hospital and plans were then put in place to transform it into a museum.

During World War II Berlin suffered considerable air raid damage and during the heaviest raid, on 22^nd November 1943, the Palace received several direct hits. These destroyed much of the original structure, including the central domed tower and portions of the wings to the west and east. Fortunately, most of the contents had been placed in safe storage, but nothing could be done to save elements such as many ceiling paintings.

The later reconstruction and restoration were done extremely well, and at great expense, although some of the work proved to be controversial. Most visitors, however, find little to complain about!

A look at some of the rooms

Red Chamber

This room was probably used as a conference room by King Frederick I. The walls are hung with red damask wallpaper and gold braid. Portraits of Sophie Charlotte and King Frederick I hang over the doors at each end of the room.

The Porcelain Cabinet

This room was badly damaged during the 1943 air raid and demonstrates the enormous efforts made at restoration. The porcelain collection of the Hohenzollerns was extensive and a testament to their love of chinoiserie (including pieces from Japan). Most of the pieces currently on display are replacements, there being around 2,700 items predominantly from the K’ang-hsi period (1622-1722). The ceiling painting (much restored) dates from 1706 and shows the goddess Aurora surrounded by personifications of the continents, signs of the zodiac and allegories of the seasons.

Palace Chapel

The Palace Chapel was consecrated on 5^th December 1706, which was after the death of Sophie Charlotte. She had taken particular care over its planning, which she decreed should be “the most richly decorated place of any in her palace”. She certainly got her wish, if only posthumously. Enormous care was taken over its restoration following massive air raid damage, including total reconstruction of the ceiling painting and the organ.

A carved oak pulpit stands opposite the royal gallery, above which a huge golden crown and the Prussian eagle are held aloft by trumpet-blowing angels. Temporal and spiritual power are therefore held in balance and are in accordance with the Hohenzollerns’ Reformed Calvinist faith and their belief in the divine right to rule.

The Golden Gallery

This ballroom is on the upper floor of the New Wing and extends across the whole width, being 42 metres (138 feet) long. It was completely restored between 1961 and 1973 and is a splendid example of Rococo interior design.

The gilt décor features shells, tendrils, flowers and fruits set against green marble-effect stucco.

Antechamber Room

The most notable feature of this room is the painting “Napoleon Crossing the Alps” by Jacques Louis David (1748-1825). This is one of five versions of the painting made by the artist, each of them being slightly different from the rest. This one was originally housed in the Chateau de Saint-Cloud in Paris, from where it was “liberated” by Count von Blucher after the defeat of Napoleon and presented to King Frederick William III.

© John Welford

How to Make Champagne

Have you ever made your own wine from a wine kit? Have you ever fancied going several steps further and making your own Champagne? Well – you can’t! At least, you can’t do so unless you live in a specific region of eastern France to the south of the city of Rheims. You might be able to make sparkling wine elsewhere, but unless it is produced in the Champagne region it cannot be called Champagne.

And even if it was not illegal to make the stuff anywhere else, do you really know how to make it? When you know all the steps involved, you should not be surprised at just how expensive it is.

Three varieties of grape are used for making Champagne – Pinot Noir, Meunier and Chardonnay. They are grown in three distinct areas on the chalky soils of the region, which are noted for their hot summers and cold winters. Blends are made from the produce of several vineyards.

The secret of making Champagne is the “méthode champenoise”, which was supposedly invented in the 17^th century by a Benedictine monk named Dom Perignon. At heart, the method involves two periods of fermentation, the second being inside the bottle. And that is where the fun starts!

The secondary fermentation requires the bottles to be corked and placed on sloping racks, where they are turned and shaken slightly every day. This is known as rémuage. The process originally meant that workers had to do this manually as they walked along the rows of possibly thousands of bottles, and this had to be done for anything between six months and several years. However, modern production allows for remuage to be done mechanically under computer control – the quality of the wine under this speeded-up process does not appear to have been unduly affected.

When rémuage is complete, the bottles are stood upright and upside-down so that any deposit collects on the corks. They are then placed in frozen brine so that the deposit forms a solid plug that is then removed with the corks.

This has to be done so that cane-sugar syrup can be added before the bottles are re-corked. The amount of syrup determines the sweetness or otherwise of the wine. Add little or no syrup and you have “brut” or extra dry Champagne. The other common varieties are “sec” (dry) and “demi-sec” which is actually quite sweet.

When the bottles return to their original temperature they are allowed to stand and achieve their final “fizz”

So – do you still want to make your own? Or will you stick to the wine kit and bite the financial bullet when you want proper Champers?

© John Welford