Oranienbaum Palace

Schloss Oranienbaum stands in the town of Oranienbaum-Wörlitz in Saxony-Anhalt, part of the Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz. Built east of Dessau-Roßlau, it lies only a few kilometres from the Wörlitzer Park. The Dutch master builder Cornelis Ryckwaert designed the first summer residence for Princess Henriette Catharina of Anhalt-Dessau between 1681 and 1685. A 28-hectare Baroque garden in Dutch style was laid out at the same time. The princess also founded a glassworks in 1669 and a brewery in 1693, and introduced tobacco cultivation. After her husband’s death in 1693, Henriette Catharina converted the palace into a three-winged residence for her widowhood. The interior once featured costly leather wallpapers, Delft tiles and paintings, including the tiled summer dining room in the cellar. After her death in 1708, the building served mainly for hunting parties until Prince Leopold Friedrich Franz of Anhalt-Dessau restored it after 1780. He added Chinese-style rooms and reshaped the gardens with advice from the English designer Sir William Chambers. Today visitors find the restored Fliesenkeller and Ledertapetensaal, the Mirror-Crystal Hall with modern glassworks, and the English-Chinese garden laid out between 1793 and 1797. The five-storey pagoda, the water-accessible Chinese teahouse and several arched bridges remain. The southern garden contains the 175-metre Orangerie, one of Europe’s largest, still housing citrus trees and rare shrubs. A café and carriage display occupy part of the Orangerie, while the surrounding grounds show historic citrus collections and a late-18th-century nursery.