Schloss Bellevue | |
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Location within central Berlin.
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General information | |
Architectural style | Neoclassical |
Town or city | Spreeweg 1 10557 Berlin-Tiergarten |
Country | Germany |
Coordinates | 52°31′03″N 13°21′12″E / 52.51750°N 13.35333°E |
Construction started | October 13, 1785 |
Completed | 1786 |
Design and construction | |
Architect | Michael Philipp Boumann |
Bellevue Palace (Schloss Bellevue), located in Berlin's Tiergarten district, has been the official residence of the President of Germany since 1994. It is situated on the banks of the Spree river, near the Berlin Victory Column, along the northern edge of the Großer Tiergarten park. Its name – the French for "beautiful view" – derives from its scenic prospect over the Spree's course.
Designed by architect Michael Philipp Boumann, Schloss Bellevue was erected in 1786 as a summer residence for Prince Augustus Ferdinand of Prussia, Herrenmeister ("Master of the Knights") of the Johanniterorden ("Order of Saint John") and younger brother of King Frederick II of Prussia, on the site of a manor house which Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff had built in 1743. Bellevue was the first Neoclassical building in Germany, characterized by its Corinthian pilasters, with wings on either side ("Ladies' wing" and "[River] Spree wing"). The upper floor holds a ballroom designed by Carl Gotthard Langhans. The Palace is surrounded by a park of about 20 hectares.
In 1843, King Frederick William IV of Prussia acquired Bellevue, which, in 1865, became the residence of his niece Princess Alexandrine after her marriage with William of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. It served the royal and imperial princes of the Hohenzollern dynasty until the German Revolution of 1918–19.