Belvedere on the Klausberg
The Belvedere on the Klausberg is a lookout building built between 1770 and 1772 on the eponymous Klausberg in Potsdam , northwest of the Sanssouci Park . The builder Georg Christian Unger created the design according to the specifications of Friedrich II . In what was then the royal seat of the city, it was the first brick belvedere and the last building with a relationship to the park to be built in the Frederician era.
The Belvedere on the Klausberg is managed by the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg (SPSG) and, as part of the Berlin-Potsdam cultural landscape, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site .
history
After the completion of the New Palace in 1769, Friedrich II planned to beautify the surrounding area. On the northern edge of Park Sanssouci, work began on a horticultural use outside the park area. A vineyard with vines and fruit trees was laid out on the southern slope of the Klausberg , which supplied the royal court with fruit. Several buildings were planned for architectural embellishment, of which only the Belvedere and the dragon house, which was built at the same time, were implemented. In addition to its decorative function, the Belvedere served its name for the beautiful view of the park, the city and the surrounding area.
At the end of the Second World War, the building was almost completely destroyed. It burned out due to artillery fire in April 1945 and could only be poorly secured in the following decades. The Munich Messerschmitt Foundation decided in 1990 to finance the reconstruction. After the completion of the restoration work on the exterior and the restoration of the upper hall, the Belvedere was returned to the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg in 2002.
architecture
A drawing by the Italian archaeologist Francesco Bianchini from his volume Del Palazzo de 'Cesari , published in 1738, served as a template for the drafts for the observation building created by Georg Christian Unger . Biancini had attempted to reconstruct the imperial palace on the Palatine Hill in ancient Rome. He relied only on the traditions of ancient writers, ruins and the depiction of a temple-like fountain building on a coin that was on the macellum magnum market in Rome, which was built under Nero . The antique coin shows an open round building surrounded by columns with a vaulted roof, with open colonnades on both sides.
Exterior design
Like the fountain temple from antiquity, the Belvedere also rests on a round floor plan. The lower part of the building is surrounded by twenty Ionic columns on a surrounding pedestal . They in turn support the overlying circumference with twenty Corinthian columns. The building has balconies facing west and east . The domed floor runs around a balustrade with twenty figures of gods from ancient mythology, which give the building a further optical height. The sandstone figures originally came from the workshops of various sculptors and were partly replaced by copies between 1990 and 1994. Eight arched French windows each illuminate the two halls lying one above the other.
The in the basement with square plaster and upstairs with smooth plaster designed exterior facade adorned Lorbeerfestons and putti reliefs with attributes of different sciences. For maintenance purposes, stairs lead from the upper walkway to the dome. It was formerly made of wood and was replaced in 1858 by a spiral staircase made of cast iron.
The originally S-shaped, double flight of stairs on the north side was redesigned in a horseshoe shape in 1839 after moisture damage made renovation necessary. The inner area of the stair stringers got ventilation openings, arched windows and doors. During a comprehensive second renovation in 1903, Wilhelm II also had a sideboard and lounge for servants as well as sanitary facilities built into the stair strings to enable the imperial family to socialize in the observation building.
Interior design
The lower round hall has not yet been restored after its destruction in 1945. When it was decorated in the 18th century, it was clad in white and gray Silesian marble and between and above the French windows, areas of red jasper . The gray marble slabs of the floor were laid in the middle in the shape of an eight-pointed star, which was surrounded by a circular area with trapezoidal slabs. These noble polished stones gave the hall a special shine. The star motif of the floor was taken up again on the vaulted ceiling by applying white stucco marble in frames that tapered towards the center. The simple furniture consisted of sixteen carved, gilded table chairs with red leather seat cushions.
In the upper restored round hall, pale green (celadon) marbled stucco marble is applied to the wall surface, which shimmers pale blue depending on the incidence of light. Gilded plaster ornaments frame the French doors. The parquet floor was given a trapezoidal pattern made of different woods. The ceiling picture, which was formerly painted by Karl Christian Wilhelm Baron (1737 – after 1775) and Friedrich Wilhelm Bock, depicting clouds and various birds, could also be restored from a black and white photo. The design of the upper hall reinforced the impression of being at a lofty height. As in the lower hall, the furniture consisted of only sixteen carved, gilded table chairs, which were upholstered with green saffiano leather cushions to match the color of the wall .
literature
- Official guide of the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin Brandenburg: The Klausberg. 1st edition, Potsdam 2003.
- General management of the Foundation Palaces and Gardens Potsdam-Sanssouci (Ed.): Potsdam Palaces and Gardens. Building and gardening art from the 17th to the 20th century. Castles and Gardens Foundation and Potsdamer Verlagbuchhandlung , Potsdam 1993, ISBN 3-910196-14-4 , pp. 140–144.
Web links
- Entry in the monument database of the State of Brandenburg
- Foundation Prussian Palaces and Gardens Berlin-Brandenburg: Belvedere on the Klausberg
Coordinates: 52 ° 24 '25.3 " N , 13 ° 1' 9.1" E