Designed by Johann Arnold Nering, the Charlottenburg Palace was commissioned by Friendrich III, Elector of Brandenburg for his wife Sophie Charlotte. After crowning himself as King Friendrich I of Prussia, he begun to extend the palace, starting by adding two side wings to the one already existing and extending the main building itself. In the following years the Orangery was built and the centre of the palace was extended with a large dome tower. The baroque details and Corinthian pilasters characterise the facade, which's magnolia and ivory grandeur occupies the horizon as you approach it.
Behind the palace are the stunning baroque gardens of Schloss Charlottenburg. Free for the public to roam, the flat and vast space of lush lawns and well maintained box plants separate the formal gardens from the surrounding parkland, but were not always this way. In 1787 Steiner redesigned Simeon Godeau's baroque garden in an English landscape style, adopting a wilder and more natural looking use of the space. After the Second World War, the decision was made to restore the garden back to it's baroque roots. Grey gravel, soil and wild flowers are all used to fill-in the swirls and lines of the design, like an intricate and opulent colour-by-numbers of the landscape. The duck-egg teahouse Belevdere was added to the gardens in 1788, which was used to view the design from a more arial perspective, and the neoclassical Mausoleum was built as a tomb for Queen Luise in 1812. On a hot summers day the gardens make for a luxurious and peaceful retreat, and with the palace overlooking your frolicking, you'd be forgiven for thinking you were in Versailles.
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