2-982-581 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Babelsberg, the Summer Residence of the Prince and Princess Frederick William of Prussia, 1858. 'The Castle...was a creation of his Royal Highness the Prince of Prussia, who wished to reproduce on the Germanic soil the Anglo-Gothic style to which the castles in England have given so much celebrity. Situated on the heights on the eastern bank of the River Havel, the castle, surrounded by rich plantations, was commenced under the direction of Schinkel and Lenné, one so highly distinguished as architect, the other as landscape-gardener...The Royal architect, Strack, has finished the chief buildings, while around them the illustrious master of the art of gardening, Prince Puckler Muskau, has displayed all the resources of his talent...The grounds about the castle, with the various parterres of flowers, which are kept with the greatest care...are conformable to the original style of the edifice, and form the garden, properly so called, while beyond their precints the property is laid out like a park...An English lawn or pleasure-ground embellished with groups of trees descends from the castle to the basin of the river, from which springs a fountain, seen from a great distance, as it ascends to the height of 130 feet'. From "Illustrated London News", 1858.