So, you're a Hohenzollern, thus the owner of lots of stuff, and that includes places, land, towns, cities, nations..right? And, being the inheritor of the title "King of Prussia", you're expected to conquer more stuff, and rule the people etc. The problem is, you like poetry, and philosophy, and gardening. Your Pops is not happy about that. He wants a conquering son. So, you become Frederick II, King of Prussia, conquer stuff, win a war, take over a bunch of territory, get called "Frederick the Great" and then get back to the real interests you hold; Enlightenment, free press, philosophy, and gardening. But, you need someplace to do these things suited for an Emperor.
Look around, you've got lots of choices!
But, the sweet little holding of Potsdam is close to Berlin, and a real modern, thriving city. Open to immigration, religion, ideas and arts.
Build a house there. Just something simple, a single story, with a nice back yard.
Probably need some fountains. Add a few naked statues.
And a fine man.
Call it "Sanssouci". Without a care.
Invite your friends over for philosophical discussions in the palace.
Realize that sometimes your house parties are going to get pretty large, with important heads of state, and you don't want them that close.
Build a guest house.
Make sure its down-a-ways, and not grander than your place. Call it an "Orangery" and put a few citrus trees in it, just to make sure your guests feel like they're visiting the country.
Increase guest fitness by making the gardens for the places a focal point, must stroll, but include some steep stairs, or for extra challenge, just a hill.
Realize that your back yards are spectacular, but the front entrances, meh.
For the Orangery, dwarf the building with a giant wind mill.
You know, gardens, really great ones, need a green house. Build one of those too. Down-a-ways.
Not a small one.
Now, here you are, having a great time hanging out, talking philosophy, with guys like your pal, Voltaire- he can stay with you at Sanssouci. Give him his own rooms.
But, France and Great Britain are tussling. And one thing leads to another, and you find yourself taking over Saxony, and now you're in it. Deep. For seven years, you're stuck in a war. Let's call it The Seven Years War. And, you nearly lose, but don't. The thing is, the world is talking about you, saying your country is bankrupt after this war.
HUH!
So, you show them!
Build a new palace.
Just down-another-ways.
Make it a bit showy.
Call it the New Palace.
You're an Emperor, and you expended all naming creativity with "Sanssouci" and "Orangery".
So, "New Palace", it is.
This time, concentrate on the entrance a little more.
And add some gold folks, Three Graces, holding up a crown on top. That's impressive.
Then, get back until the good stuff, art, philosophy, gardening, apparently walking a lot. Emperors rode horses? Carriages? Piggy Back? Probably whichever they cared to. We walked. A lot.
Well, even Emperors die. And Frederick The Great did, childless. ( Not Great at romancing his wife, it seems Frederick was likely gay, and married, but Elizabeth Christine of Brunswick-Bevern is rarely mentioned and never visited his Potsdam palaces.)
So, his nephew Frederick William I inherits, but doesn't like the digs very much. Sanssouci is too much his uncle's place. The New Palace is fine, but really, not to his liking.
Build another palace!
The Marmopalais, or Marble Palace, is right on the lake shore. Now, it seems, also not creatively named, but the Marble Palace is brick!
And, yes, full of Silesian marble from the area of Poland Huz and I just left, and conquered by Uncle Frederick- the Great in his youth.
This was Frederick William I's summer place. It has stairs down to the the lake, and with access to the River Spree, you can boat right down from Berlin to visit. Remember the stairs from the Berliner Dom to the water? That was the Spree! So, boat to church and back to the Marmopalais. Doable.
The Hohenzollern line liked this place. They used it a good bit. The last residents were Prince Wilhelm (eldest son of Kaiser Wilhelm II) and his wife Cecilie. They lived here from 1904-1917. But, they were more keen on architecture of Tudor style, with half-timbered walls. Besides who really wants a used palace?
Build another palace! (Truly. Not kidding.)
Cecilienhof Palace has 176 rooms, and 55 different decorative chimney stacks. It was completed and moved into by Wilhelm and Cecilie in 1917. You might note that while this palace was being built, there was a bit of a kerfuffle going on, the First World War, The Great War, World War I.... anyhow, their inhabitance of Cecilienhof was short lived, as the German people revolted in 1918 and overthrew the Kaiser and the whole Hohenzollern bunch. They had to vacate in a hurry, but Cecilie and sons came back to live here at times.
Fun Fact- this palace is the location of the Potsdam Conference, where the leaders of the Soviet Union, United Kingdom and the United States got together to hash out how to divide up the spoils after World War II- the very folks, I suppose, who thought chunking up Berlin into "halvsies" was the best plan.
Which brings us back to A Morning in Berlin- The Wall.
And, in our time travel, Huz and I are now footsore, about 20 miles hoofing it around Potsdam. Where is a Piggy-backer when you need one?
I had wanted to see palaces, and the Hohenzollern line did not disappoint. Bear in mind, we only saw the palaces I've outlined above. We skipped Babelsburg Palace, also in the neighborhood. Prince William, later Emperor William I and his wife Augusta built that one.
Another time.
For now, we need to get back to our own palace.
Cowfeathersschlossienhofpalais.
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