Germany

Pfaueninzel Palace

Pfaueninzel Palace is a small, pretty castle with a park. It was built by the king for his mistress. The palace is stylized as ruins and looks a bit fake. You can only get to it by ferry.

Palace Pfaueninsel (Schloss Pfaueninsel), photo TsungTsung Wu

The name Pfaueninzel translates as Peacock Island. The park and the Pfaueninsel Palace (Schloss Pfaueninsel) are really located on a small island (1.5 km long and 0.5 km wide) surrounded by stunningly beautiful nature. Only a ferry can get there. The island is a nature reserve, so you can’t ride bicycles, skateboards and skis here; spoil the nature; disturb the birds; to smoke. The island does not sell food.

Romantic love story

In the XVII century there was a rabbit farm, then the alchemist lived until his laboratory was burned down. For a hundred years the island was empty, right up to the 18th century. The further history of the island is a love story of the twenty-year-old crown prince Friedrich Wilhelm and the thirteen-year-old daughter of the palace trumpeter, whose name was Wilhelmina Enke. Two years later, this illegal couple had their first child (there were four in total), and Wilhelmina became the official favorite.

Pedestrian bridge between the towers, photo riesebusch

In 1794, the king decided for his long-term girlfriend to build a palace on the island, then peacocks were brought to the island, and he got the current name. Over the year, a wooden palace appeared on the island - a small cube with two towers connected by a pedestrian bridge, first wooden, and later metal. The gates on the facade of the building were painted. The palace in the form of romantic ruins was erected by the palace carpenter Brendel.

Drawn gate, photo by Wolfgang Staudt

Wilhelmina in 1796 received the title of Countess, and a year later, Frederick Wilhelm II died and the favorite was "demoted." The owner of the palace was the son of Frederick William II, making it his favorite residence.

Palace and park today

Palace and park Pfaueninsel, photo by riesebusch

Two architects worked on the palace building - Karl Friedrich Schinkel and Peter Joseph Lenne. The palace is built in the English style. The 2nd floor of the building was completely erected, and the 3rd floor was left unfinished. Today in the palace a museum dedicated to the history of Peacock Island and the Pfaueninzel Palace is open.

Fountain in the park, photo riesebusch

Flowerbed, photo by michael.berlin

Around the castle there is a park, a kitchen, a hunting lodge and other farm buildings were built on its territory. The park from 1821 to 1834 was designed by Peter Joseph Lenne according to the English model. Today it is a landscape park where trees alternate with green meadows. In summer, one lawn is reserved for lovers of grass!

View of the palace from the river, photo Karin

Working hours

From April to October: VT-Sun 10:00 - 17:30;
Mon day off.
Closed from November to February.

Tickets

A full ticket costs € 6;
preferential - € 5.

How to get there

By city train to Berlin Wannsee station, then by bus 218 to Peacock Island, and then by ferry.

Popular Posts

Category Germany, Next Article

Dancing priest conquers Rome
Society

Dancing priest conquers Rome

A priest danced in a square in the center of Rome, surrounded by parishioners. Amazed tourists, as well as a group of schoolchildren from France, helped in every possible way to create a special atmosphere, supporting an incendiary clergyman, who thus tried to draw public attention to the upcoming canonization of Pope John Paul II and John XXIII.
Read More
Pope named the names of 19 new cardinals
Society

Pope named the names of 19 new cardinals

Pope Francis of the evening named the names of 19 priests who will receive a new dignity and become cardinals. He stated that the solemn appointment of clergymen would take place in 9 days, i.e. January 22 in Rome. The pontiff announced his decision on Sunday in the Vatican after he finished reading the prayer “Angelus”.
Read More
The Italian kept her mother's corpse in the freezer
Society

The Italian kept her mother's corpse in the freezer

The woman kept the corpse of her mother in her own home refrigerator, while regularly receiving the pension of a dead old woman, Italian tabloids report. Such a terrible thing hit the police desk in the small town of Borgomanero, located in the Novara region. This terrible story "surfaced" after the residents of one of the houses called an ambulance Tiziana Devecchi, a 62-year-old woman who did not feel well and could not open the door, which was locked from the inside.
Read More
Italian prostitutes want to pay taxes
Society

Italian prostitutes want to pay taxes

The most famous Italian transgender prostitute, Efe Bal, has undressed this morning in front of the entrance to the editorial office of the popular Corriere della Sera newspaper in Milan. In such an eccentric way, she expressed her protest to Equitalia, which billed her 425 thousand euros in income tax from prostitution.
Read More