Glienicke Palace, Neoclassical palace in Wannsee, Germany
Glienicke Palace is a pale stone neoclassical villa with a flat, balustraded roofline and a projecting central block. A ground-level arcade of rectangular openings supports four tall green-shuttered windows, and a central staircase climbs to a columned entrance. The building stands on a stone terrace with a curved retaining wall set with circular medallions, surrounded by lawn and trees.
Architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel designed this building around 1825 for Prince Carl of Prussia. A simple cottage was transformed into a grand summer residence that reflected the taste of the Prussian royal family.
The palace holds Schinkel furniture and art objects, most of them from Prince Carl's own collection. Since April 2006 the west wing has housed Europe's first Court Gardener Museum, tracing the history of the Prussian court gardeners. The two gilded lions on the south front are versions of the Medici lions of the Villa Medici in Rome.
The palace is most easily reached on foot from the nearby waterfront. Visitors should plan enough time to explore both the interior rooms and the surrounding gardens and park areas.
The two gilded lions at the south front were designed by Schinkel himself, modelled on the Medici lions of the Villa Medici in Rome. The palace park, laid out with Peter Joseph Lenné's involvement, is now a public green space called Volkspark Glienicke.
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