Rheinsberg Palace

Frederick, then crown prince, lived at Rheinsberg from 1736 to 1740 before becoming king, remodelling the house with Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff and spending his time on music, reading and correspondence with Voltaire; he wrote later that these were his happiest years. He gave the palace to his brother Heinrich, who lived there for over fifty years and laid out the park and a small theatre. Kurt Tucholsky's 1912 story Rheinsberg made the town a destination for young couples and a museum in the palace covers him. The palace stands directly on the Grienericksee with a landscape park behind.

History

A moated castle stood here in the Middle Ages, and the von Bredow family, who acquired the lordship by marriage in 1464, built a Renaissance water castle on the spot in 1566; after passing through several hands it was sold in March 1734 for 75,000 thalers to the Prussian king, who gave it to Crown Prince Frederick. Frederick moved in with his wife Elisabeth Christine in 1736 and until 1740 had Johann Gottfried Kemmeter and Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff enlarge it, calling these the happiest years of his life, and four years after his accession he gave it to his brother Henry, who moved there in 1752. Henry extended the house and park, added the palace theatre in 1774 and raised an obelisk in the early 1790s honouring his brother Augustus William and officers of the Silesian wars, and he was buried in 1802 in a tomb shaped as a broken pyramid in the garden (Wikipedia, Rheinsberg Palace).

What you'll find

• The lakeside setting - a palace built to the water's edge with a park behind.
• The Knobelsdorff rooms - rococo interiors from Frederick's remodelling.
• The Tucholsky museum - the writer whose story drew visitors to the town.
• The park - an eighteenth-century landscape with an obelisk and theatre.

When to go

April to October; the palace closes Mondays and reduces to weekends in winter. Chamber music festivals use the theatre and park in summer.

Things to know

Winter opening is minimal. The town is small with limited services. Boat trips on the lake are seasonal.

Nearby

The Ruppin lakes surround it; Berlin lies southeast.

Key facts