Biesdorf Castle

Biesdorf Palace is located in the Biesdorf district of Marzahn-Hellersdorf in Berlin.

It was built in 1868 as a late-classical tower villa on the grounds of a manor for Hans-Hermann von Rüxleben. The merchant Günther von Bültzingslöwen acquired the Biesdorf estate and palace in 1887, but suffered great losses in the sugar crisis. Werner von Siemens, who had been connected to him since his school days, had learned surveying from his father, and had been recommended by him for Prussian engineering, gave him a loan and finally took over the approximately 600-hectare estate on February 17, 1887. In 1889, he transferred it to his son Wilhelm von Siemens. The latter had the palace park expanded to 14 hectares between 1891 and 1898 and designed as a landscape park by garden architect Albert Brodersen. In 1897, the distillery, which had been established in 1864 but was now disused, was reopened with equipment from Siemens' own production.

The palace, to which the architects Martin Gropius, Heino Schmieden, and later Theodor Astfalck gave its once distinctive appearance, passed into the possession of the City of Berlin in 1927 along with the entire estate and has since been subject to constant neglect. A fire in 1945 destroyed the upper floor, which has not yet been rebuilt. Since 1979, the old manor house, the palace park, and the historic Biesdorf village center have been listed as historical monuments.

The facade design, unique for the Berlin area, in colored Roman cement mortar (artificial stone facade, executed by master stucco plasterer H. Beyerhaus, Berlin, as "my first facade in cement casting") is considered a special protected asset.

Biesdorf Palace was used as a leisure facility in the past and has been used as a socio-cultural center since 1994.

The palace park also houses an open-air stage, the so-called Parkbühne Biesdorf. In addition, the Biesdorf Blossom Festival takes place in the palace park every spring.

In 2010 and 2012, Biesdorf Palace Park received the British Green Flag Award, rarely awarded in Germany, as an award for its parkland.