Babelsberg Park

Geschichte

Babelsberg Park is a 114 hectare park in the northeast of the city of Potsdam, bordering on the Tiefen See lake on the River Havel. The park was created in rolling terrain sloping down towards the lake by the landscape artist, Peter Joseph Lenné and, after him, by Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau, by order of Prince William, later Emperor William I and his wife, Augusta.ParkAfter Glienicke Palace had been built for his brother, Charles and Charlottenhof Palace for his brother, Frederick William IV, Prince William also strove to have his own residence built. He received support for this idea from Lenné, who wanted to turn the area around Potsdam into an artistic synthesis and saw the opportunity of landscaping the eastern end of the area, the Babelsberg, into a park and to incorporate it into the overall plan.In 1833 the thrifty King Frederick William III of Prussia gave his second son permission to lay out a garden and that same year Karl Friedrich Schinkel was given the contract to design a palace.Financial resources were tight, so Lenné could only proceed slowly. A hot summer withered most of his planting because the irrigation system failed. In addition, there were disputes between him and Princess Augusta, because they each had different visions for the future garden. The consequence was that Lenné was dismissed.