Orangery

 

The Orangery next to the castle in Börln shows many similarities to the famous orangery in Oranienburg, including the roof and especially the stucco on the walls. A short description of the Oranienburg Orangerie can be found on this page.

 

The year of construction is unknown but it was not on the map in 1807 but was already there by 1879.

 

The orangery was kept by the castle gardener Mr. Hennig until 1945 and later it was run by the LPG communist agricultural unit. When the heating oven was still there, birch branches were treated by Mr. Finsterbusch with warm air in April to make them blossom for the 1st May, earlier than they would blossom outdoors. In those days every house had to have a May Day tree outside its entrance. One half of the building was converted into an apartment, the other was used as a school workshop from 1972 for the UTP (Education in Production). The responsible teacher was Mr. Siegmar Schwenke, an engineer.

 

Today, the orangery is in a very poor state of repair, as for many years the owner could not be identified so it was used as a storage room for horse riding equipment by Landgut Börln GbR, which simply took it over. Furthermore, all the window panes were broken by vandals. Roderick Hinkel, with the help of Wilhelm Gey, son of the former estate tenant, who still knew his childhood friend the son of gardener Mr. Henning, found that the Hennig's granddaughter had inherited it but was not aware of this. Roderick Hinkel was able to purchase it for her.

 

The orangery was planned to be restored in 2007/8. The Saxon Government and European Union subsidies granted to assist the envisaged tenant who wanted to start a garden art shop were approved, then immediately withdrawn unless a 12 year ban on any form of gastronomy was accepted, as the nearby hotel had in the meantime complained that it would otherwise lose business. The approved concept never had this in mind but there was no point taking the matter further as the official in charge was corrupt and was later sacked. All the planning, approvals and architects' fees were wasted.

 

The original usage concept for the orangery is back on track, as a hothouse.

 

                      

Castle, orangery and church, ca. 1950  Orangery with original roof visible  Orangery today, half converted to an apartment, now derelict

 

European Orangery History

 

From the 16th Century it became fashionable to collect orange and other citrus trees at European courts. Such a collection was named an Orangery, the term was used only for the trees. In the beginning, the trees were location-bound as they were planted in the ground but after the introduction of plant containers they were mobile. The technical breakthrough came with the invention of the plant container transport wagon by Andre le Notre (1613-1700), the gardener at Versailles.

 

Orangeries served decorative and representation purposes as well as the growing demand by courts for exotic and especially citrus fruits. The citrus tree was an ideal representation object with mythological connotations and as it was widely travelled and therefore very expensive.

 

The evergreen citrus trees, carrying fruit and in blossom at the same time were chosen for their perfume and symbolism as the most loved plants in the baroque architectural garden.

 

Especially the strongly rooted orangeries required an adjacent conservatory in which the entire uprooted trees could spend the winter. Such orangery buildings soon became termed orangeries themselves and in today's language this is the only word used to describe them.

 

Increasingly, other exotic plants for representative decoration of gardens such as pineapples and figs were collected too. By the end of the 18th Century (later in Germany) growing oranges fell out of fashion and the orangery buildings changed their gardening use to house palm trees in the 19th Century. Modern Monument Protection experts increasingly value the orangery as a special separate garden building type, many have been restored or reconstructed.

 

Orangery in Oranienburg

 

The Orangery in Oranienburg was built between 1812 and 1818 by Carlo Ignazio Pozzi at the southernmost edge of the castle park. With 178 metres it is the longest orangery in Europe and has been used without interruption for housing a rich stock of citrus plants. In the centre of the building there are four apartments for gardeners engaged in the running of the original baroque layout gardens.