OLD CASTLES OF GERMANY BEING RESTORED

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23042, 5 September 1949, Page 6

OLD CASTLES OF GERMANY BEING RESTORED

(By lan Fraser, a Reuter Correspondent in Berlin).

The castles and palaces of the Hohenzollern fa'milv in their Prussian capital of Berlin which were handed over to the German State after the First World War and severely damaged, almost without exception, in the second are slowly returning to a semblance of their former selves. The Berliner Schluss, Berlin’s Buckingham Palace. however, is one of those that will probably never be restored. It was completed destroyed by a cluster of bombs in 1944 and those of its treasures which could be salvaged from the cellars were taken out to Potsdam and to Wiesbaden. Its shell today stands on an island in the Spree in the Soviet sector, in the centre of Berlin, surrounded by signs marked: “No enry, danger from falling debris.” Scliloss Charloltenburg The next largest palace. Schloss Charlottenburg, in the capital’s western suburb of that name, is being restored in part, and certain rooms may be open to the public some time in the ’fifties. A third, the Grunewald Hunting Lodge, in the middle of the parkland on Berlin’s western outskirts, has been fairly well restored and will be open to the public by the middle of May. The only two which were practically undamaged, the Schloss Koepenick and the miniature palace on the “Isle of Peacocks.” a delicate conceit for the taste of Frederick the Great, are now respectively a house of Soviet culture and an American hostel for German youths. Frederick’s private retreat, built intentionally as a ruin, but which he never lived to enjoy will however, soon be restored to the Berlin public. The better-known palaces, such as Sans Souci and the Neues Palais, built by Frederick the Great at Potsdam, 20 miles out of Berlin, may no longer be visited by western allied subjects. While Sans Souci is again open to the German public, the Neues Palais still forms part of Soviet Military Administration for Germany.

Famous Hunting Lodge The Grunewald Hunting Lodge, which was recently shown to journalists by the Fine Arts Administration of Western Berlin, was built in 1542 by the Hohenzollern Elector of Brandenburg, Joachim 11, for his boar-hunting parties in the Grunewald Forest. It is a small neat edifice built in the style of the time, and contains in addition to hunting trophies with their weights and dates, a number of Dutch and Flemish masters which managed to survive the war. Among, them are paintings by Van Dyek. Weenix, a Water-Nvmoh by Lucas Granach and a Caesar by Rubons.

The lodge suffered minor damage from bombs and fire during the Anglo-Ameri-can air raids, and much of the furniture was destroyed or looted by the Russians when they entered Berlin.

The broad low palace of Charlottenburg. formerly one of the architectural beauties of Berlin, was about two-thirds destroyed during the bombing. As with much of Berlin, most of the actual masonry of Schloss Cnarlottenburg is still standing. Fire and blast, however, nlaved havoc with the interior. Floors and doors were blown out and plaster and pannelling which was a feature of the baroque style in which the palace was built, was destroyed. The pleasing vellow stone exterior of the palace! standing in generous grounds, is divided into two parts. Versailles Style The small central mansion was built as a self-contained who’e bv the Baroque Master, Andreas Schlue'ter, for the Electress Sophie 'Charlotte, a sister of George I of England, as a spiritual Mount Olympus for herself and her philosophically minded companions. When she died at the beginning of the Eighteenth Century, her husband, then King Frederick I of Prussia, commissioned Eosander Von Goethe to add two spreading wings after the style of \ ersailles. which dominated all royal architecture in the Age of Absolutism. Her grandson, Frederick the Great, added a further wing to the building, g’.ving it a total garden front of 580 yards. By an irony of fate, his building, which contained some of the best rooms, was also the most damaged in late war. All that remains of his grc-ii ‘Golden Gallery,” a huge dining hall decorated in gold and light green, are a few wisps of gilt plaster on the inside wall of a room which now has* neither floor nor ceiling. Another room n the palace, the Porce'ain Cabinet, burn to house King Frederick’s china collection, was also severely damaged, although here restoration work has begun in earnest.

Frederick (he Great’s Quarters

The restoration of Frederick the Great s apartments has also been started. For although he left Charlottcnburg soon after he came to the throne to occupy the magnificent palaces he built for himself at Potsdam, his rooms there are some of the finest. Workmen are now busy re-copying the beautifully carved oak panels and re-creating whole areas of painted ceilings and wall in the attractive gold-and-grey and silver-and-blue rooms. With few skilled carpenters and decorators available to do work of a type that has not been much in demand for a century, the administration has set itself no target for undoing the ravages of war. At present, all it can hope to do is to restore the best rooms one at a time, to prevent the rest from deteriorating through damp and exposure and to hope that a German Government will one day make a really substantial grant with which to set about serious reconstruction.

Mr. C. J. Oliver, a former New Zealand Rugby and cricket representative, has taken over the license of the Spa Hotel, Taupo.