Station: [10] Orangery

Goethe dreamed of a land where lemons bloom. Baroque princes also wished for a little piece of Italy. They had citrus trees grown and used them to decorate their terraces and gardens during the summer months. But where to put these heat-loving plants in autumn and winter?

The pots were placed in specially constructed quarters. Here they could overwinter, protected from the northern cold, and for this purpose magnificent, light-flooded buildings were created: the orangeries. One such example is the orangery in Ivenack, which Helmuth Burchard Hartwig von Plessen, Baron von Maltzahn, had built on the northern edge of his castle park in the second half of the 18th century.

However, there have been no orange trees in Ivenack for centuries, and the orangery stood empty for a long time. What a shame for such a beautiful building! Together with the castle and the tea house, it is now being extensively restored and revitalized. In keeping with its former purpose, a restaurant for fine dining is to be created here – and one or two orange specialties will certainly be served there in the future!

We have now come to the end of our tour. If you look down the street, you can already see the semicircular stables where we started our little tour. I hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to stay a little longer in Ivenack and enjoy the traditional atmosphere between the castle, park, and lake.

I bid you farewell, thank you for listening, and say: See you soon! In Ivenack.

Foto: © Lisa Ruschin