Glienicke Palace and Park

Neo-Classical in style, Glienicke Palace (in Berlin's Kleingliennicke), originally a small country house, was built in its present form in 1826 by Karl Friedrich Schinkel as a summer residence for Prince Carl of Prussia, son of Queen Luise. The main block is linked to the Cavalier Wing built in 1832 and to other buildings. They surround an Italian-style courtyard with a fountain. Built into the walls of the house and courtyard are antique fragments and inscriptions brought back by Prince Carl from his travels. At present the Palace is closed to visitors owing to work being carried out. It is currently used as a high school for local children, but there are plans to install a Palace Museum. The park of Schloss Glienicke (area 116 hectares/287 acres), opened to the public in 1934, was originally the creation of Peter Joseph Lenné. The park was begun in 1816 for Prince Hardenburg, but both palace and park came into the possession of Prince Carl of Prussia in 1824. The park affords fine views over the Havel river and towards Potsdam, and there is a beautiful riverside and lakeside walk running from the Glienicke Bridge to the very popular Pfaueninsel or Peacock Island.

The Klosterhof, as it is known, not far north of the Palace, was built to a Venetian design by Ferdinand von Arnim in 1850. Over one hundred Byzantine works of art which Prince Carl had integrated into the structure are a special feature of the building.

Eastwards from the palace a road of the same name leads to the Nikolskoe viewpoint, which was also the work of Lenné. Here Frederick William III had a log cabin built for his daughter in 1819, naming it Nikolskoe in honor of his son-in-law Tsar Nicholas of Russia (today it is a restaurant).

The Church of SS Peter and Paul, with its Russian-style onion-dome, was built here by the architects F. A. Stüler and J. G. Schadow in 1834-37. It is still used for worship.

South of Königstrasse, on the northern bank of Lake Glienicke, can be found the hunting lodge which was built for the Great Elector in 1682-83. It was converted to the Baroque style in 1859. It is at present being used as a youth center, but is to become the home of the local high school at a later date.