Schloss Meseberg

The baroque palace Schloss Meseberg in Brandenburg is the guest house of the German Federal Government. It is situated 70 kilometers north of Berlin in Meseberg, a district of Gransee with 150 inhabitants. The site is located immediately southeast of the Huwenowsees.

History

After the old mansion burned down in Meseberg in March 1721, Count Hermann von Wartensleben built the present castle from 1736. The property had wife Dorothea, nee introduced by the Groeben, with the marriage in 1723 in the family; since the second half of the 16th century the manor was in the possession of the Groeben.

According to Bernhard Ludwig Bekmann the plant in the garden and in 1737 the construction was started in 1736 Meseberg. 1739 the construction was completed. The architect is not known by name, but is suspected in the vicinity of Berlin's top construction director Philipp Gerlach. The designer of the terraced Baroque garden was Münther.

Hermann von Wartensleben had been erected as a residence shortly after his marriage palace Rauschendorf. His brother Friedrich Ludwig had in 1735, following a decree of the king, began the construction of the Palais Wartensleben on Pariser Platz in Berlin.

Ten years after the death, the estate was acquired Wait life in 1774 along with another cargo complex of the resident in Rheinberg Prince Henry of Prussia, and made ​​the following year, his favorite Christian Ludwig of Kaphengst ( 1740-1800 ) to the present. The purpose of this generous donation was commanded by the brother of Prince Kaphengsts Distance from Rheinberger yard. Kaphengst let expand the existing system to other buildings, including the royal stables. He led in Meseberg a lavish lifestyle, which eventually drove him into financial ruin. Under him and his successors, the garden was extended mainly to the south and turned into a park, which included large parts of the lakeshore.

Among the later owners was the editor of the newspaper Voss, Carl Robert Lessing. He bought the property for his son Gotthold Ephraim Lessing Younger (1861-1919), for which a mausoleum was built later in the park. The wife of the publisher of Emma Gelbke gave to Theodor Fontane the story of Baroness Elisabeth von Ardenne on and so provided the model for the novel Effi Briest. In his wanderings through the Mark Brandenburg Fontane Meseberg referred to as an "enchanted castle ".

In another embodiment of the estate, the family Lessing played an important role. The family coat of arms - three rings, symbolizing the Ring Parable of the Related poet Gotthold Ephraim Lessing - was mounted several times. The house was provided, among other paintings by Carl Robert Karl Friedrich Lessing Lessing's brother and his nephew Konrad Lessing. Otto Lessing - another nephew Carl Roberts - created for Meseberg including various busts of family members and ancestors, as well as a many-figured Cross for Gutskirche. The Lessing family owned the estate until 1931 bezw. , 1934.

In 1945 the property was expropriated without compensation. The planned demolition of the Red Army of the castle could be prevented by the mayor Franz Rhode. In the following decades, a grocery store, a children's garden, the church office and other facilities were housed in the castle. After the turn fell Meseberg Palace - which was not returned to the owner - until the Messerschmitt Foundation in 1995 acquired the dilapidated property without concrete use concept. With the government's move to the turn of the millennium, there was a need for a new federal guest house in Berlin instead of the previously used federal guest house on the Petersberg. Castle, garden and park were restored by the Foundation by the standards of historic preservation. The foundation, which it spent around 25 million euros, leaving the federal government in 2004, the use of the castle for 20 years, first for a symbolic rent of one euro. The federal government invested an additional 13 million euros for security and communication technology and also comes for the ongoing maintenance costs on. Connected to these Terms and hedging were also interventions in the historic fabric of the building. Besides its function as the government guest house, the castle is to be used further for other events such as cabinet retreats and conferences. The transfer to the then head of the chancellery Thomas de Maizière took place on 26 January 2007, the first guest in the house was the French President Jacques Chirac.

Garden

The baroque terrace garden has been restored consuming. The breakdown by axes emerged from the existing stock. The altitude of the parts of the garden was based on the building fabric and excavation findings.

The Seeparterre received two Broderiekompartimente in elongated outline, as was customary in the time of origin. For the undocumented Broderie a modern form was developed. In the downstream southwestern ground floor a lawn floor seemed appropriate, the ornamental structure was also designed modern.

Garden stairs were not documented from the Baroque period, for the use, however, necessary. Since the former baroque western staircase of the castle (foundation, original parts) had been rebuilt after findings, the two new garden stairs were carried out in the major axis with the same step profile. These form three flights of stairs, seen from the other shore, a unit and act as part of the castle. All other steps in the garden were non-profiled block steps.

For the assumed diagonal division of the four Boskettkompartimente the structure of very similar design garden of Castle Burgscheidungen was used.

The barnyard was no longer needed as such, and therefore received by measurement and documentation of all foundations under recording of the axes of the Baroque garden and the cavalier house a geometrically structured lawn parterre reminded that here is a continuation of the garden was present or planned under Wartensleben.

Along the lake also cover a publicly accessible landscaped garden with the mausoleums of families Hovel and Lessing.

Events (selection)

In the castle, including the following state visits and official meetings took place:

• February 23, 2007: Reception of the French President Jacques Chirac by German Chancellor Angela Merkel
• April 23, 2007: Reception of the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Durão Barroso
• August 23, 2007: closed meeting of the Federal Government (Cabinet Merkel I)
• September 10, 2007: Reception of the French President Nicolas Sarkozy by German Chancellor Angela Merkel during the Blaesheim meetings
• November 20, 2007: Reception of Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi by Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel
• June 10, 2008: Reception of U.S. President George W. Bush by Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel
• November 2009: closed meeting of the Federal Government (Cabinet Merkel II)
• June 5, 2010: Reception of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev by German Chancellor Angela Merkel
• June 18, 2010: Future summit with representatives from business and trade unions
• January 25, 2011: Reception of the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Durão Barroso
• 12-13. April 2013: Reception of British Prime Minister David Cameron by German Chancellor Angela Merkel
• 22-23. January 2014: closed meeting of the Federal Government (Cabinet Merkel III)

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In summer 2009, an agricultural cooperative took in only a kilometer away from the castle a pig farm with almost 1500 animals in operation. The Messerschmitt Foundation feared odor of state guests, which could be problematic especially those of the Muslim faith.