Tierpark Berlin: Schloss Friedrichsfelde - Berlin Animal Park (Tierpark Berlin): Friedrichsfelde Manor House
Berlin boasts two zoological gardens, a consequence of decades of political and administrative division of the city. The older one, called Zoo Berlin, founded in 1844, is situated in what is now called the "City West". It is the most species-rich zoo worldwide. The other one, called Tierpark Berlin ("Animal Park"), was established on the long abandoned premises of Friedrichsfelde Manor Park in the eastern borough of Lichtenberg, in 1954. Covering 160 ha, it is the largest landcape zoo in Europe. In front of and behind the manor, the original design of the gardens was carefully restored. That is why you won't see any animals in this part of the enormous premises of the Animal Park. But you'll find plenty of them at a short distance.
Friedrichsfelde Manor house, designed in the early neo-Classical architectural style, is located in the Berlin Animal Park in the Friedrichsfelde district of Berlin. It was built in 1685 as Rosenfelde Manor by the Electorate of Brandenburg's Director General of the Navy, Benjamin Raule. This first five-axes building was probably constructed in the Dutch country house style according to plans by Johann Arnold Nering. In 1698, Benjamin Raule fell from grace and was imprisoned and expropriated. The castle fell to the Prussian Elector and later King Frederick I and was renamed Friedrichsfelde. After the king's death, the property was transferred to his half-brother Margrave Albrecht Friedrich von Brandenburg-Schwedt in 1717. In 1719, court architect Martin Heinrich Böhme enlarged the palace by three axes each to the east and west to its present width and added a three-winged Baroque staircase made of oak.
The castle survived the Second World War relatively undamaged. After the expropriation in the course of the land reform, both the building and the surrounding manor park fell into disrepair. When the decision was made in 1954 to create a separate zoo for East Berlin, the palace served for a few years as the headquarters of the organisers of the garden's conversion; parts of the building were used as stables for the zoo. It was not until the period between 1970 and 1981 that the castle was renovated on the initiative of Tierpark Berlin. The director of the Animal Park at the time, Heinrich Dathe, campaigned massively for the preservation of the manor house and prevented plans to demolish it.
Tierpark Berlin: Schloss Friedrichsfelde - Berlin Animal Park (Tierpark Berlin): Friedrichsfelde Manor House
Berlin boasts two zoological gardens, a consequence of decades of political and administrative division of the city. The older one, called Zoo Berlin, founded in 1844, is situated in what is now called the "City West". It is the most species-rich zoo worldwide. The other one, called Tierpark Berlin ("Animal Park"), was established on the long abandoned premises of Friedrichsfelde Manor Park in the eastern borough of Lichtenberg, in 1954. Covering 160 ha, it is the largest landcape zoo in Europe. In front of and behind the manor, the original design of the gardens was carefully restored. That is why you won't see any animals in this part of the enormous premises of the Animal Park. But you'll find plenty of them at a short distance.
Friedrichsfelde Manor house, designed in the early neo-Classical architectural style, is located in the Berlin Animal Park in the Friedrichsfelde district of Berlin. It was built in 1685 as Rosenfelde Manor by the Electorate of Brandenburg's Director General of the Navy, Benjamin Raule. This first five-axes building was probably constructed in the Dutch country house style according to plans by Johann Arnold Nering. In 1698, Benjamin Raule fell from grace and was imprisoned and expropriated. The castle fell to the Prussian Elector and later King Frederick I and was renamed Friedrichsfelde. After the king's death, the property was transferred to his half-brother Margrave Albrecht Friedrich von Brandenburg-Schwedt in 1717. In 1719, court architect Martin Heinrich Böhme enlarged the palace by three axes each to the east and west to its present width and added a three-winged Baroque staircase made of oak.
The castle survived the Second World War relatively undamaged. After the expropriation in the course of the land reform, both the building and the surrounding manor park fell into disrepair. When the decision was made in 1954 to create a separate zoo for East Berlin, the palace served for a few years as the headquarters of the organisers of the garden's conversion; parts of the building were used as stables for the zoo. It was not until the period between 1970 and 1981 that the castle was renovated on the initiative of Tierpark Berlin. The director of the Animal Park at the time, Heinrich Dathe, campaigned massively for the preservation of the manor house and prevented plans to demolish it.