Nikolskoe log cabin
The block house Nikolskoe (older spelling: Nikolskoë , also called Russian house ) is a monument in the Berlin district of Wannsee and is used as a restaurant. It was founded in 1819 by King Friedrich Wilhelm III. Built in the style of a Russian farmhouse on the occasion of the visit of his daughter Charlotte and her husband Nikolaus (later the Russian Tsar). Damaged in a fire in 1984, it was then rebuilt true to the original.
In 1837 the Russian-inspired Church of St. Peter and Paul on Nikolskoe was built nearby.
History and origin of the name
The history of the Russian house is closely related to the Prussian-Russian brotherhood in arms against Napoleon and the friendship between Alexander I and King Friedrich Wilhelm III. connected. It is I. brother of Alexander and son of Friedrich Wilhelm III., The Grand Duke and later Tsar Nicholas I paid. The name Nikolskoe comes from the Russian word Никольское / Nikolskoje , literally 'that belonging to Nikolai', whereby the neuter noun belonging to it is omitted in Russian for simplicity. Since the name is usually written without a trema today, the two successive vowels 'o' and 'e' are often viewed as an umlaut in local usage and pronounced 'Nikolskö'.
Friedrich Wilhelm's eldest daughter Charlotte met Nikolaus during the Allied victory celebrations over Napoleon in Berlin in 1814 and 1815. At the request of Friedrich Wilhelm III. and Alexander I. the wedding took place on July 13, 1817 in Russia.
Friedrich Wilhelm III. visited his daughter in 1818 on the occasion of the birth of his first grandchild, who later became Alexander II , in Pavlovsk , where she stayed for the summer. Empress Maria Fjodorovna had the park of the summer residence and the surrounding area decorated with typical buildings from Western Europe. After the victory in the Patriotic War against Napoleon, Russian patriotism had almost become a fad and so Maria Feodorovna now developed the idea of having a typical Russian village built in the park (after her death in 1828, the project of an entire village in the " Russian style ”, however, no longer pursued). For the implementation of the project, the favorite architect of the Tsar's mother, Carlo Rossi, had drafted plans for the transformation of the village of Glazovo into a "Russian village". These also included a new type of “Russian” country house.
If one believes a later tradition, this Russian house is said to have particularly pleased Charlotte and she showed it (or at least the plans of it) to her father Friedrich Wilhelm III. during his visit.
The establishment and naming of Nikolskoe
Friedrich Wilhelm III had a plan for Rossi's architectural style. Taken with me to Berlin to have such a house built in Prussia, near the Pfaueninsel between Berlin and Potsdam , "to beautify the landscape". The island was a favorite place of his late wife Luise and was home to his private zoo, which after his death in 1840 formed the basis for the creation of the Berlin Zoo . In addition to the "beautification of the landscape", there were also objective reasons for the establishment of permanent accommodation. On the one hand, the island location of the palace and garden area, which was extremely popular with the royal family - and on Tuesdays and Thursdays also with the people of Berlin and Potsdam on public visiting days - made regular ferry operations necessary. On the other hand, the British Prince Regent Georg IV. Friedrich Wilhelm III. when he visited England in 1814, following the Allied victory celebrations in Paris, a small frigate was given as a souvenir of the brotherhood in arms. This frigate arrived in Potsdam at the end of 1814 and was stationed at Pfaueninsel. Already decommissioned in 1828 and rotten in 1830, a new ship arrived on July 18, 1832, the somewhat larger frigate " Royal Louise ", which was now housed in a boathouse on Pfaueninsel and had other moorings in Babelsberg and in front of Glienicke Castle . It was used by the royal family for pleasure trips throughout the 19th century.
After the construction site on the hill opposite the Pfaueninsel in the Royal Forests, the house was built in 1819/1820 by the Guard Pioneer Department under the direction of Capitain Adolf Snethlage (1788-1856) according to the plan of Carlo Rossi and according to Russian design erected round logs. It was increased by one floor: On the first floor, the sailors should use it as an apartment, but on the upper floor Friedrich Wilhelm III. set up a tea room and a small apartment for a supervisor.
On June 19, 1820, he appointed his coachman Ivan Bockow as overseer. The employment relationship between Iwan Bockow as " castellan " of Nikolskoe and the court marshal began on July 1, 1820. The contact for Bockow was the court gardener Ferdinand Fintelmann . In August 1820 the sailors Johann and Christian Schult and Peter Bot, who were supposed to carry the ferry traffic to the Pfaueninsel, moved into the apartment provided for them.
On October 24th, 1820, the grand duke couple Charlotte / Alexandra and Nikolaus visited Berlin and Potsdam and proudly showed Friedrich Wilhelm III. them the log cabin for the first time. It is possible that the name “Nikolskoe” (from Russian Никольское Nikol'skoje - “Nikolaus own”) goes back to this visit, but the name “Russian house” remained a popular name that is mainly found in older travelogues.
From 1820, frequent visits by Friedrich Wilhelm III. noted in his diary about "Thee" in Nikolskoe. It can be found as an image motif in tourist descriptions as well as in Friedrich Wilhelm III's order book. for the Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur (KPM) of Berlin.
On August 13, 1837, a Protestant church decorated with “Russian” elements was inaugurated near the log house, dedicated to Peter and Paul and built according to plans on which his art-loving son, who later became Friedrich Wilhelm IV, had a decisive influence.
According to the king's diary, Friedrich Wilhelm III. on October 13, 1839 for the last time the " Church in Nikolskoe " and then took the "déjeuner" in Nikolskoe. He died on June 7, 1840.
After his death, the royal tea room became orphaned - none of his successors had as deeply an emotional bond with Russian culture as he did. In the turmoil of the revolutionary unrest in 1848, the overseer of the tea room gave shelter to Prince Wilhelm (later King and Kaiser Wilhelm I ), who was fleeing from Berlin to England , but Hohenzoller did not use the house as a tea room either. In 1902, Kaiser Wilhelm II had the royal crockery from the tea room brought to the silver chamber of the Potsdam City Palace, and that is why the inventory of the tea room is known: a copper casserole and teapot, various jugs and a cream pot, 24 pairs of cups, 12 soup plates, six dinner plates white porcelain with depictions of Russian wagons, butter plates made of white porcelain, water carafes and glasses were removed from the log cabin. This ended the special position of Nikolskoe as a royal tea house. A lease system replaced the jurisdiction of the court marshal's office. After the emperor's abdication, the log cabin became state property.
Iwan Bockow (tea house overseer)
Ivan Bockow became Ignatowskoe, Gouv. Kostroma , Nerechta district , born the son of a carter. From his service as Tsar Alexander I's personal coachman, he changed to King Friedrich Wilhelm III on August 1, 1808. and took part in the Wars of Liberation 1813–1815 as his body coach : Friedrich Wilhelm III. and his family had fled to East Prussia after the defeat of the Prussian army near Jena and Auerstedt against Napoleon in 1806 and visited the tsars from there.
After the victory of Prussia and Russia over Napoleon, he was awarded the Prussian commemorative coin of 1813 for his services. He is mentioned for the first time in a note dated Sunday, April 30, 1815, by Prince Karl, who was then fourteen: "Then the Russian coachman Iwann gave me two Easter eggs as it is Russian Easter."
Bockow married Friederike Schulz (e) on October 27, 1817, born on March 30, 1794 in Potsdam, daughter of Schulze, a road user. His first, as yet illegitimate, son was Iwan August Phillipp, born on August 25, 1817, baptized August Guwilampi Philipp on September 3, 1817. Guwilampi Philipp Iwan Bockoff, royal body coachman , and Friederike Wilhelmine Schulz are registered as parents in the church register. A second son of the "royal body coach Ivann Bockoff", Friedrich Alexander, was born on May 11, 1819 in Potsdam and baptized there on May 31. Among the baptismal witnesses were the Sergeant in the 1st Guards Regiment on foot and Russian singer Ivan Wawiloff.
In May 1820, Bockow applied for the position of overseer for the Nikolskoe log cabin. Bockow's duties, which were laid down in writing on October 5, 1820, included the supervision and care of the wooden house, the immediate notification of damage, compliance with cleanliness and order, supervision of the impeccable behavior of the sailors and supervision of the royal family Inventory. The serving of refreshments to an audience was expressly forbidden and the royal rooms were not allowed to be used otherwise than by the king or with his consent. In addition, however, Bockow was still obliged as a body coachman, so that he had to practice coaching every week and, as would be the norm for any royal servant, to devote himself to a righteous life. His salary as overseer of the log house was paid from the court marshal's office treasury and over the years rose to an impressive 250 thalers total annual income. The Hofmarschall-Amt also carried the cost of the livery for Bockow.
Bockow's private happiness was promoted by his new position and he was now given the highest honors: When Bockows had a daughter on December 15, 1825, she was baptized on December 25, 1825 in the court and garrison church in Potsdam under the name of Charlotte Alexandra Luise , their baptismal witnesses entered in the church register prove the high reputation that Bockow enjoyed in the meantime with the royal family: Among other things, "Her Imperial Highness the Grand Duchess Alexandra" and "Her Royal Highness the Princess Alexandrine" are listed there. "Her Imperial Highness the Grand Duchess" did not take part in the baptism: On December 1, 1825, Tsar Alexander I died, the succession of the Tsar, who died childless, surprisingly raised questions, since the intended heir to the throne, the brother Constantine, because of civil marriage for the Succession to the tsar left, Grand Duke Nikolaus became the new tsar and his Prussian wife Charlotte / Alexandra tsarin.
Contrary to the written instructions, Bockow ran an unregulated inn by the mid-1820s at the latest, which was however tolerated by the court marshal's office. On the public visiting days of the Pfaueninsel, Tuesdays and Thursdays, the inn in Nikolskoe quickly enjoyed great popularity. As early as 1825, Johann Gottfried Schadow's travelogue reported about the "Muscovite hut" and the "loop-friendly foreign landlord", in 1827 a Baltic count reported about the restaurant, which he mistakenly assumed was "for the coachman of Blessed Queen Luise" been erected.
But precisely because of the inn, the sailor Christian Schulz filed a complaint in 1829, because swarms of guests would pollute the area considerably and abuse the royal rooms as dance salons. To his surprise, court gardener Fintelmann stood protectively in front of Bockow. The court gardener assured the court marshal's office to take better care of compliance with the rules and order in the future and stated that it was certainly not Bockow, but the "not always well-behaved public [...] whose rush is often large" could have tried to abuse the royal rooms. Bockow, on the other hand, is known to him as being orderly and respecting his king's property far too much to allow such transgressions to pass. However, Fintelmann admitted that Bockow played the piano and the audience danced. On the basis of these assurances, on December 22, 1831, the king gave the court marshal's office instructions not to remove Iwan Bockow, but to remove the unrest-causing Christian Schulz from the blockhouse.
Having become aware of the conditions at the log house, however, the Rent Police Office in Potsdam now also checked the location and indeed recorded the presence of an unauthorized pub. As a matter of duty, it imposed a fine of 16 thalers on Ivan Bockow for lacking a trade license - but the court marshal's office was still gracious towards Bockow on higher instructions and had the sentence suppressed.
Bockow's first son, Iwan August Phillipp, died of pneumonia on March 13, 1836. His obituary notice in the Potsdam weekly newspaper calls him the "son of the. Royal Castellans auf Nikolskoe ”, Iwan Bockow himself was listed in the address book of the city of Potsdam in 1849 as“ Bockow, Iwan, kgl. Hoflakai Neuen Markt 10 ehm. Personal forerunner, guest host. auf Nikolskoe ", but at the same time it is in the" Address Calendar of the Royal and State Authorities ... "1846–1849 for the first time in the" Castellans "column as" Mr. Iwan Bockow, overseer on Nikolskoe near Potsdam ". From then on, until his death he was listed in the “General Housing Gazette for Potsdam and Surroundings” in the 1st department “Court” or “Castellans” as “Overseer of Nikolskoi”.
Since the 1840s, Bockow's inn on Nikolskoe had evidently established itself as an excursion restaurant. In the travel guides of the time it was praised as a sight and a place to visit. The series Illustrierte Wegweiser by the publisher Theodor Grieben counts the inn in 1858 as one of the most recognized places to relax in the area. In 1860 it was described simply and naturally in the latest guide through Berlin, Potsdam and the surrounding area : "Opposite the Pfaueninsel is Nikolskoe, a Russian log house with restoration."
Bockow's wife died on July 26th, 1848. Ivan apparently enjoyed the special recognition of his superior employers right up until the end, because he was awarded the General Badge of Honor at the coronation festival on January 18th, 1856.
Ivan Bockow died of old age on December 22, 1857. The Russian legation preacher in Berlin, Vasily Polissadoff, who, like Ivan, came from Ignatovskoe, gave him the Last Supper. One last outstanding honor may have been bestowed on him because, according to an unprovable claim, he was in the presence of his small family and a "Berlin-based Russian singer" on December 26, 1857 at the Alexander Nevsky Memorial Church in Potsdam, which he was consecrated in 1829 invited and whose parishioner he was since then, was buried. A grave of Bockow is not to be found, however: The churchyard near the Russian chapel has two destroyed graves without grave slabs, but the church registers are lost.
Ivan Bockov's fortune, which he left behind when he died, was given by the royal government as 10,000 thalers and, according to Bockov's will, benefited his children, with Friedrich Alexander only receiving the compulsory portion, the unmarried daughter Alexandrine the usufruct of the main portion. However, she later gave the assets to the Potsdam District Court as only 200 thalers.
This daughter Alexandrine, also called "the beautiful Alexandrine" in various reports about her father's inn, gave birth to three illegitimate children, of whom only the son Friedrich August Alexander, born in 1840, survived childhood. After her father's death, she initially continued to live in her father's apartment on Nikolskoe without livelihood until she was formally requested to vacate the apartment on February 3, 1858, after which she lived with her brother and great-aunt Schulz in house at Neuer Markt no.10 , because shortly before his death Ivan Bockov's application of November 7, 1857, to secure his daughter with an apartment on Nikolskoe and a small pension, was rejected. Even his "last request" to give his son the position of overseer in Nikolskoe so that the daughter could stay there was not granted, as the son was employed as a royal court lazy and earned more there than an overseer - but according to Prussian legal understanding if he had been entitled to the same level of salary.
In 1862 Alexandrine and her son, who initially worked as a clerk and then as a railway clerk, moved to Hohenwegstrasse 6 in Potsdam. After that, their track is lost.
Bockow's apartment on Nikolskoe remained in its original condition until at least 1881, only "on a trial" and "exceptional basis" were Bockow's successors entrusted with the supervisory position on Nikolskoe and granted them, subject to conditions, to continue serving coffee and beer. A report from the court builder Haeberlin to the chief building officer Ludwig Persius from that time describes the extremely modest original condition of the living room, kitchen and chamber with rough ceilings and walls, small, non-opening windows with folding doors, a dark cooking hole with an open fire, etc. The apartment, According to Haeberlin, "not even the most modest demands of a current household with regard to the supply of air and light."
literature
- Kurt Pomplun : Iwan disregarded the ban on serving. In: Berlin - and no end. Hessling, Berlin 1977, pp. 82-84.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Marie-Elisabeth Fritze: Berlin-Wannsee . In: Gerd Heinrich (Hrsg.): Handbook of the historical sites of Germany . Vol. 10: Berlin and Brandenburg (= Kröner's pocket edition . Vol. 311). 2nd, improved and enlarged edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 1985, ISBN 3-520-31102-X , p. 116.
Coordinates: 52 ° 25 ′ 28.2 " N , 13 ° 6 ′ 58.5" E