#000434
Charlottenburg Palace, Berlin
Winfried Baer and Ilse Baer
*Charlottenburg Palace, Berlin* is a compact, handsomely illustrated guide to the grandest of Berlin's royal palaces, the summer residence begun for Sophie Charlotte, first queen in Prussia, and expanded by the Hohenzollerns over the following century. Written by Winfried and Ilse Baer—curators long associated with the Prussian palace collections—and published in 1995 as part of a Fondation Paribas series on European heritage, its roughly 128 pages move through the state apartments, the porcelain and picture rooms, and the gardens, with generous color photography. Charlottenburg was gutted by bombing in the Second World War and painstakingly reconstructed, and part of the book's quiet interest is that restoration story. It is more elegant keepsake than scholarly monograph, but for anyone drawn to Baroque and Rococo interiors, Prussian history, or the fate of Europe's palaces, it is a satisfying and authoritative little volume.
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The authors
Winfried Baer and Ilse Baer were curators closely associated with the Prussian palaces and their celebrated collections, particularly porcelain. Their expertise gives the guide authority beyond the usual tourist booklet: the descriptions of interiors, furnishings, and decorative arts come from people who knew the objects at first hand.
The book
Published in 1995 within a Fondation Paribas series devoted to European architectural heritage, it surveys Charlottenburg Palace—the largest palace in Berlin, built for Sophie Charlotte and enlarged by successive Hohenzollern rulers into a showpiece of Baroque and Rococo taste. Across some 128 richly illustrated pages it walks the reader through the state rooms, the famous Porcelain Cabinet, the picture galleries, and the gardens.
How it reads
This is a guide meant to be enjoyed as much as consulted, its color plates doing much of the work. It also carries a poignant subtext: Charlottenburg was severely damaged in the Second World War and rebuilt, so the splendor on the page is itself a monument to patient reconstruction.
For more context
It complements broader histories of the Hohenzollerns and of Berlin, and guides to Sanssouci and Potsdam's related palaces.
Sources - Amazon listing - Prussian Palaces Foundation (SPSG)
- Type
- Book
- Author / Maker
- Winfried Baer and Ilse Baer
- Publisher
- Fondation Paribas / Fondation BNP
- Place of publication
- Paris
- Year
- 1995
- ISBN
- None
- Shelf
- Art
- Location
- Colorado
Places