Jaap van 't Veen's photos with the keyword: Oranjeroute

The Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm, also known as the English Grounds of Wörlitz, is one of the first and largest English parks in Germany and continental Europe. It was created in the late 18th century under the regency of Duke Leopold III of Anhalt-Dessau (1740-1817) The Gardens had its origin in the 17th century, when the marriage of Leopold's great-grandfather Prince John George II of Anhalt-Dessau to the Dutch Princess Henriëtte Catharina van Oranje in 1659 brought a team of engineers and architects from the Low Countries to lay out the town, the palace and a baroque garden in the former settlement of Nischwitz, which was renamed Oranienbaum in 1673. The Dutch influence remained prevalent in the Principality of Anhalt-Dessau for many decades. The central Wörlitzer Park lies adjacent to the small town of Wörlitz at an anabranch of the Elbe river, making it rich in water and diversity. It was laid out between 1769 and 1773 as one of the first English gardens on the continent. According to the ideals of Duke Leopold III the park would also serve as an educational institution in architecture, gardening and agriculture, therefore large parts were open to the public from the beginning.

In 1646 Princess Louise Henriëtte van Oranje-Nassau married with Friedrich Wilhelm I, Elector of Brandenburg. A few weeks after her move from Kleve to Berlin (1650) she visited a hunting lodge in Bötzow. She was pleasantly surprised by the beautiful surroundings and her husband decided to donate the lodge and the town to her. Princess Louise Henriëtte ordered the construction of a new palace at the site of the old hunting lodge, which was done by Dutch craftsmen. They were also helpful in the reconstruction of Bötzow, which was severely damaged during the Thirty Years' War. In 1652/1653 the new palace and the rebuilt city were both named Oranienburg. From 1689 on Louise’s son Elector Friedrich III ordered considerable extensions to the palace and gardens. With the addition of wings on the front and back of the main building Oranienburg Palace became an H-shaped plan. After the death of the Elector in 1713 the castle was no longer permanently inhabited. In 1794 it became the property of the later Prussian Queen Louise, who spent two years in a row her summer holidays in Oranienburg. The palace was sold in 1802 and served as a factory, seminary and - from 1933 to 1937 - as SS barracks. Between 1952 and 1990 it was used for housing the border troops of the GDR. After a major restoration Oranienburg Palace - Brandenburg’s oldest baroque palace - was reopened in 1999 and nowadays houses the town hall of Oranienburg and two museums.