Jagdschloss Stern

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Jagdschloss Stern

The Stern hunting lodge in Potsdam was built from 1730 to 1732 under the soldier king Friedrich Wilhelm I in the style of a simple Dutch town house. The order to carry out the construction was presumably given to the grenadier and master carpenter Cornelius van den Bosch, who came from Holland, and the construction supervision was carried out by the captain of the engineer corps and court architect Pierre de Gayette .

When it was built, the building, which was only designed for hunting stays, was at the center of an extensive area that had been developed for parforce hunts since 1726 with the creation of a star-shaped aisle system . The area redesigned for this hunt was given the name Parforceheide . Today it stands between Autobahn 115 in the east and a new district built into Parforceheide from 1970 to 1980 in the west, on the edge of the Stern district of Potsdam . Due to the destruction of the city ​​palace , the Stern Jagdschloss is now the oldest preserved palace building in Potsdam. It is managed and maintained by the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg with the voluntary support of the Friends of the Jagdschloss Stern-Parforceheide eV .

history

Development of hunting castles in the Mark Brandenburg

Parforceheide , historical map from 1780

In the Mark Brandenburg , Elector Joachim II. Hector began building the first hunting lodges in Grimnitz , Bötzow (today Oranienburg ), Grunewald and Köpenick around his residences in Berlin and Cölln in the 16th century . In the time of the Great Elector Friedrich Wilhelm , in the forest and game-rich area around Berlin and Potsdam, further castles for hunting lodges were built: Groß Schönebeck and Glienicke .

Like his predecessors, the soldier king Friedrich Wilhelm I was a passionate hunter, who already pursued this passion in Königs Wusterhausen, southeast of Berlin . The lordship and castle of Wusterhausen, which he acquired as a ten-year-old in 1698 from his father, Elector Friedrich III. (from 1701 to King Friedrich I in Prussia), it was converted into a hunting lodge after his accession to the throne.

After taking office in February 1713, he made Potsdam his residence . For his extensive hunts, between 1725 and 1729 he had a "peasant heath" located southeast of the city gates for the organization of parforce hunts - the so-called parforce heath since then. The extensive, flat terrain with light forest and little undergrowth was ideal for this hunt on horseback, which was a popular form of hunting at the German courts, starting in France at the end of the 17th century. In addition to fast dogs and horses, this type of hunting required a clear area in order to be able to pursue the game over long distances until it collapsed exhausted. For better orientation of the widely separated hunting party, the area was divided into segments by sixteen star-shaped aisles (frames). From the respective sections of the approximately one hundred square kilometer area, the hunters found their way back to their meeting point via the straight aisles that led to the center of the star.

Construction of a building complex and use

The castellan's house at the Stern hunting lodge

Somewhat offset from the center of the star, between two rays, the soldier king had a hunting lodge built from 1730 to 1732 in the style of a simple Dutch town house, which he named after the location. In addition to the expansion of the hunting lodge in Königs Wusterhausen, the Stern hunting lodge was the only new building that the thrifty soldier king had built for himself. Probably at the same time as the hunting lodge, the half-timbered house, located a few meters to the south-west, was built, in which the castellan was housed, who also received licensing rights . The castellan's house was used for gastronomy until 1992. The farm buildings included a stable building in the northeast, completed in 1733, in which at least 18 horses could be stored. Since a renovation carried out around 1930, it has been used for residential purposes. A barn with a small stable, a wash house with a toilet and a fountain in the center of the star are no longer preserved. The structural remains of a brick oven could be uncovered between 2006 and 2009 and rebuilt in 2011/2012 in accordance with a listed building.

When Frederick the Great took office in 1740, there were no more par force hunts around Potsdam. In the text "Antimachiavell", in which Friedrich wrote down his thoughts on the tasks and goals of the princely exercise of power, he rejects hunting as a princely pastime and describes grazing as one of those sensual pleasures that make the body hard, but the mind give nothing. His successors, Friedrich Wilhelm II. And Friedrich Wilhelm III. , were also not interested. In 1791 there were only a few driven hunts at the Stern and during the Napoleonic occupation of Prussia the hunting lodge served as accommodation for French soldiers. Hunting events only took place again under Friedrich Wilhelm IV. , Who had the Hubertusstock hunting lodge built on the edge of the Schorfheide north of Berlin in 1847, the last Hohenzollern hunting lodge in the Mark Brandenburg. As early as 1828 there was a revitalization of the par force hunting by Prince Carl , a younger brother of the king, which was practiced until the 1890s.

Changes in use after the end of the monarchy

After the First World War and the end of the monarchy, the building was temporarily rented to artists. Like most of the Hohenzollern castles, the Stern hunting lodge came into the care of the Prussian “Administration of State Palaces and Gardens” founded on April 1st of the same year, and since 1995 the “Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg”. After the Second World War, it was used by the military protection unit for the British delegation during the Potsdam Conference and the entire complex was used as a holiday camp for school children from 1949 to the 1970s. After extensive renovation work in the 1980s, the hunting lodge was equipped with furnishings from the Königs Wusterhausen Palace for use as a museum , but these no longer belong to the inventory. Due to excessive pollution from wood preservatives, the building had been closed for years since 1996 and could only be viewed with advance notice. After the renovation work that followed, it has been open to the public again since 2007.

The parforce heather lost its area over time. From the sixteen-way system of aisles, only eight paths remain today. In the north, the construction of the first Prussian railway line Berlin-Potsdam and the Teltow Canal resulted in major territorial losses. In the west the construction of the Wetzlarer Bahn and the AVUS with their later expansion to the Autobahn 115, which passes close to the Jagdschloss and in the south through the Nuthe expressway. In addition, the Potsdam residential areas Stern, Drewitz and Kirchsteigfeld were built on former forest areas.

Jagdschloss Stern

Aversion to the pomp of the baroque

From a cultural and historical point of view, the period of the 17th and 18th centuries is considered to be the most splendid epoch in hunting history at European courts. In court society it was a pleasure and a pastime, but also a status symbol and self-expression. It also served to maintain dynastic and diplomatic relations and, with the spread of absolutism, became a matter of prestige for the sovereign rulers who loved splendor. Even for the lower nobility, the right to hunt - in a society structured according to class - was a visible appreciation with which they could stand out more clearly from the wealthy, non-aristocratic classes. In addition to the hunting event, glamorous celebrations were often held, so that hunting castles were built or existing, conveniently located buildings were only equipped for these purposes, starting as early as the 16th century.

Friedrich Wilhelm I felt a strong dislike for the luxurious lifestyle of the royal houses. He also rejected the exuberant decorative forms of the Baroque in architecture and preferred the clarity, clarity and cleanliness of the facades. During his reign, the practical building style dominated in Brandenburg-Prussia. The simplicity of the Stern Jagdschloss reflects the thrifty and spartan way of life of the soldier king. Especially in comparison with the Moritzburg near Dresden, which was expanded into a baroque hunting lodge at the same time , from 1723 to 1733, of the Elector of Saxony and King of Poland Friedrich August I / II. , it becomes clear that the Prussian monarch did not use architecture for representation, as was common practice at European courts.

Why a Dutch style hunting lodge?

In the Mark since the beginning consisted colonization by Albrecht the Bear in the 12th century a strong connection to Holland, who came to new heights in the 17th and 18th centuries. The marriage of the Great Elector Friedrich Wilhelm to Luise Henriette von Oranien-Nassau in 1646 encouraged the settlement of Dutch or Dutch trained specialists in agriculture, landscaping, canal and dike construction. In the hikes through the Mark Brandenburg, Theodor Fontane notes : “ Colonists were drawn into the country, houses were built, farms laid out and all the details pertaining to agriculture were soon worked with diligence ” and the Dutch are “ [...] the actual agricultural teachers for them Mark, especially for the Havelland ”. Friedrich Wilhelm I also vigorously pursued the economic development of the country, which had already been pursued under his grandfather, the Great Elector, with the settlement of foreign craftsmen and the simultaneous development of a strong army. Both resulted from the consequences and experiences of the Thirty Years War , from which the Margraviate of Brandenburg suffered particularly badly.

After the first expansion of the Potsdam residence into a garrison town under the soldier king, the so-called “first baroque city expansion” from 1722 to 1725, the “second baroque city expansion” followed through the increase in civil and military personnel from 1732 to 1742. During this time, between 1734 and 1742, the construction of a Dutch quarter also took place . These houses were built for craftsmen who were recruited by the soldier king in 1732 on his last trip to Holland for the expansion of Potsdam. Through the family ties to the Dutch royal house and his study trips in 1700, 1704 and 1732, Friedrich Wilhelm I got to know the engineering achievements of the Dutch, who knew how to dry up swampy terrain. The same ground conditions, which were difficult for development, also existed in Potsdam. He was also impressed by the inexpensive, fast construction of Dutch brick houses.

architecture

Star ornament on the bell gable
Stone ornament over the French window

overview

The brick houses of the Amsterdam weavers' quarter Noortse Bosch from the 17th century and the simple Zaandamer bell gables , or the simpler town houses in Leiden and Haarlem , probably served as role models for the Dutch houses in Potsdam . Since the Stern Jagdschloss with the same architecture was completed shortly before construction of the first houses in the Dutch Quarter began, it is reasonable to assume that the soldier king , who always thinks economically, served as a model house in order to better estimate the construction time and costs for the larger project. The name of the architect is not certain; possibly a plan obtained directly from Holland was built. The order for the construction was probably given to the grenadier and carpenter Cornelius van den Bosch (1679–1741), who came from Schipluiden near Delft , other sources name Schipley near Grafenhaag ( The Hague ), who came to Potsdam around 1720. The first mention of the Dutchman can be found with the dating 1726 in a shunting role (list of names) as a "tall guy " in the Royal Regiment on foot. Like the soldiers of that time, he also pursued a civilian profession after daily military service and is mentioned in the building files for the hunting lodge in connection with the ordering of timber. The building supervision was carried out by the captain of the engineer corps and court architect Pierre de Gayette, who was of French origin, like his signature under brick deliveries “to the new home in the Königl. par Force Garten ”in August / September 1730.

Exterior design

The Stern Jagdschloss, modeled in the style of simple Dutch town houses, is a single-storey building with a bell gable and a gable roof . The outer walls, which rest on a rectangular floor plan, are made of red, unplastered brickwork. By order of Friedrich Wilhelm I, bricks with a uniform size of approximately 27 × 13 × 8 centimeters were used. The square quarter stones at the corners of the gable and the masonry in a special braid shape on the courtyard facade indicate a Dutch wall style. The five tall sliding windows in the three-axis front, the entrance door and two sliding windows in each of the side walls are made with bars and simple frames, as they had become modern in the better houses, first in England and then in Holland, from 1690 onwards.

The three windows in the upper area, the upper edge of which forms a line to the attic, simulate a two-storey building. The smaller sliding windows with shutters, two on the side walls and five on the back, light up the adjoining rooms. A wooden door in the southwest wall and on the back of the house are side entrances that lead into the hallway and the adjutant's room. The only architectural decoration is a blind window with star ornament in the bell gable and a relief above the window door in the middle, which shows the head of the Roman goddess Diana with hunting equipment. The decorative elements made of light sandstone were added later in the 19th century.

Interior design

Ground plan and elevation of the Stern Jagdschloss, 1812, drawing by the building inspector Voss .

Like the simple exterior architecture, the design of the interior building is deliberately kept puristic in the spirit of Friedrich Wilhelm I, in line with the simple, bourgeois living culture of the Dutch, which corresponded to his idea of ​​clarity and cleanliness. The modest spatial program includes a hall, which is connected to a hallway and kitchen, followed by an adjutant's room and a bedroom.

The hall takes up the entire width of the front and almost half of the house. It is the largest room in the building and was used for social gatherings after the hunt. The dome-like ceiling, divided into fields, protrudes into the attic area. The walls are clad with yellowish brown wood paneling and the floor is covered with floorboards. The hall could be heated via an open fireplace made of dark red marble on the east wall, opposite the entrance door. The few room decorations include a mirror framed with golden ornamentation and five paintings set into the wall surface, which show Friedrich Wilhelm I in various hunting scenes. The sculptures presumably come from the painter Georg Lisiewski . Hunting trophies hang on the window pillars, indicating the use of the building. The five gilded deer heads carved from wood with real antlers are the drop sticks of Friedrich Wilhelm I's favorite stag, known as the great Hans , from the years 1732 to 1736. Little is known of the original, no longer preserved furniture. In an inventory list from 1826, some items are listed that could have belonged to the first furnishing of the hall: “A long pine table, painted with oil; four small square tables painted green; three of the same triangular corner tables; an old, completely unusable bench. "

Next to the fireplace, a door leads into the hallway that connects the hall with the rooms in the rear half of the house. The walls are whitewashed and the floor, as in the kitchen and the adjutant's room, covered with reddish-brown, marble-like limestone slabs, which in the 18th century were also known as cutting stones or Gothland stones and were often used as ship ballast. The manga-colored tiles of the skirting board are in rooms with grain - and checkerboard flower decorated ornamental and stylized foliage and stem from the Rotterdam factory of the former Guild of tile burner. In addition to the entrances to the kitchen and the adjutant's room, another door in the southwest wall leads out of the building.

The kitchen on the northeast side was mainly used to warm and serve the dishes that were probably prepared in the castellan's house. The walls are tiled in white from floor to ceiling, as is the chimney above the brick-built stove. The original equipment includes a low built-in cupboard with a marble top under the windows, on which the dishes could be served, and a marble sink next to it with a drain. The water pump with brass bladder is no longer preserved. In the inventory list from 1826 further items are noted for the kitchen: “A blue painted scraper [cupboard]; [...] six bowls, three candlesticks, two faience salt vats, dating from the days of the elector, all damaged; a jug; two jugs made of Chinese porcelain with silver and gilded lids; a damaged glass cup with gilding ”.

The adjutant was accommodated in the room on the southeast side of the house. It was also the vestibule and the only way to get into the king's bedroom. The building could also be entered or exited from here through a door. In the whitewashed bedroom, a built-in wall painted green dominates with fields framed in white. There is an alcove in the middle . Behind the covered doors on either side of the bed niche, a staircase leads to the attic on the right and the cellar on the left. The room could be heated by a simple fireplace built with red bricks. As in the hall, the floor is covered with floorboards.

literature

  • Literature by and about Jagdschloss Stern in the catalog of the German National Library
  • Theo M. Elsing: The Dutch Quarter in Potsdam. Potsdam undated
  • Jan Feustel: Stern hunting lodge in Potsdam. In: The Mark Brandenburg. On stalking the marrow. Hunting and hunting locks . Issue 58, Marika Großer, Berlin 2005, ISBN 978-3-910134-27-0 , pp. 14-21
  • Theodor Fontane: Walks through the Mark Brandenburg. Part III, Havelland. 1st edition 1873, Nymphenburger, Munich-Frankfurt / M.-Berlin 1971, ISBN 3-485-00293-3
  • Julius Haeckel: News from the Stern hunting lodge. Communications from the Association for the History of Potsdam, Volume V, Issue 7, Potsdam 1912, pp. 1–9
  • Peter Hutter: The hunting castles of the Hohenzollern in the Mark Brandenburg. State Palaces and Gardens of Berlin (Ed.): 450 Years of the Grunewald Hunting Lodge 1542–1992, Part I. (Articles). Berlin 1992, pp. 125-141
  • Hans Pappenheim: Hunting Gardens with Star Aisles in the 18th Century. Brandenburg Yearbooks, No. 14/15 ( The old gardens and rural parks in the Mark Brandenburg ), Potsdam / Berlin 1939, pp. 20–32
  • Adelheid Schendel: Jagdschloss Stern, Parforceheide. Edition Hentrich, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-89468-277-9

Web links

Commons : Jagdschloss Stern  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Schendel: Jagdschloss Stern, Parforceheide , p. 25.
  2. ↑ Friends of the Stern - Parforceheide e. V .: oven . Retrieved December 20, 2016.
  3. ↑ Gustav Berthold Volz (ed.): The works of Frederick the Great . Volume 7: Antimachiavell and Testaments , Chapter 14, published by Reimar Hobbing, Berlin 1913.
  4. ^ Fontane: Walks through the Mark Brandenburg. Part III, p. 134, p. 420.
  5. ↑ a b Elsing: The Dutch Quarter in Potsdam , p. 34.
  6. ↑ a b Schendel: Jagdschloss Stern, Parforceheide , p. 12.
  7. ↑ Gerd Bartoschek: Stern hunting lodge . In: Foundation Palaces and Gardens Potsdam-Sanssouci (Ed.): Potsdamer Palaces and Gardens. Architecture and garden art from the 17th to the 20th century , p. 64.
  8. ^ Elsing: The Dutch Quarter in Potsdam , p. 33.
  9. ↑ Schendel: Jagdschloss Stern, Parforceheide , p. 11.
  10. ↑ SPSG: Die Historische Mühle , p. 6.
  11. ↑ a b Schendel: Jagdschloss Stern, Parforceheide , p. 15.

Coordinates: 52 ° 22 ′ 32 "  N , 13 ° 8 ′ 50"  E

This article was added to the list of excellent articles on June 19, 2005 in this version .