Pictures from the Mark Brandenburg

[selenak]

I had a (happily) exhausting week travelling through the Mark Brandenburg. Now, I've just put up four extensive photo posts complete with explanations at rheinsberg, which I'll link you to, but for everyone wanting just a short overview:



Wusterhausen: for Frederick the Great's father Friedrich Wilhelm, aka "the Soldlier King", his favourite palace, for his older children, a nightmare.



The "Tobacco Parliament", where FW and friends smoked, drank and occasionally terrorized:



Depicted in this painting hanging in the room itself:



Wust, where the Katte family had its seat and where Friedrich's beheaded friend and probable lover, Hans Herrmann von Katte, is buried in the family vault:









More of Wusterhausen and Wust here.


Rheinsberg, home to Frederick for four years (of which he later said these were the only years in which he was happy) and to his younger brother Heinrich for nearly half a century:







More of Rheinsberg here.

Oranienburg, once one of the great palaces:



Schönhausen, once home of Frederick's unwanted queen Elisabeth Christine, then seat of the GDR head of state, then guest house for foreign visitors to the GDR (Gorbachev was the last but one):



More of Oranienburg and Schönhausen here.

And of course the big highlight, Sanssouci:









More of Sanssouci here.

Comments

[tree_and_leaf]

Rheinsberg is gorgeous.

[selenak]

Isn't it just? I melted.

[tree_and_leaf]

There's a tremendous amount to see in the Mark in general.

[selenak]

Very true.

[watervole]

If there was ever a power statement, that garden at Sanssouci is it!

[selenak]

Not compared to Versailles, though. Far less vineyards and fruit at Versailles, much more geometric hedges. :)

(Mind you, I think Kew Gardens are probably a better comparison, not least because Frederick was the son and grandson of Hannover queens. The 18th century was great for gardens around palaces, and there's a playfulness there which the earlier French strictness in Versailles is missing.)