Rheinsberg Palace

Rheinsberg Palace holds a genuinely romantic place in German history as the residence where Crown Prince Frederick (later Frederick the Great) lived between 1736 and 1740 during the most intellectually stimulating period of his life, before inheriting the throne and turning Prussia into a European power. Frederick's father had given him the palace as a gift after their reconciliation, and here the young prince corresponded with Voltaire, composed flute sonatas and symphonies, hosted philosophers and artists, and refined the aesthetic sensibility that would later produce the Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam. The palace is a restrained two-winged Rococo building set directly on the shore of the Grienericksee, with a lakeside facade of warm yellow stone and a symmetrical garden front. The interior tours cover the Crown Prince's apartments, the White Hall, and the concert room, while the upper floor houses the Kurt Tucholsky Literature Museum dedicated to the satirist who wrote some of his best-known works while staying in Rheinsberg. The wooded park surrounding the palace includes the obelisk, several classical-style temples, and a beautiful lakeside terrace. Rheinsberg can be reached from Berlin by regional train to Neuruppin followed by a bus (about two hours total) and works as a day trip combined with the Ruppiner Seenland chain of lakes for swimming, sailing, or cycling.