Petzow Castle

The formerly independent village of Petzow has been a district of the city of Werder (Havel) in the Potsdam-Mittelmark district of Brandenburg since January 1, 1929.

The village, first mentioned in a document in 1419, became an official village in 1542.

Since 1814, the castle was owned by the von Kaehne family, particularly known through Friedrich August Kaehne. The wealthiest man in the village, estate owner and councilor, had a representative manor house built in 1825 according to plans by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, a picturesque building in a colorful mix of Moorish castle and English Tudor style, which is still visible from afar today. C. F. Kaehne was ennobled in 1840. In 1945, the owners were expropriated and expelled by the communists.

The village church of Petzow, built in 1842 on the Grelleberg, was also designed by Schinkel and consecrated by Friedrich Wilhelm IV. Today it is a cultural center in Petzow and was reopened to the public on October 30, 1994, after extensive renovation work. Around the Haussee lake, there is a fisherman's hut, a washhouse, and an old forge. The washhouse currently serves as a local history museum, the Old Forge is a restaurant, and the fisherman's hut is a privately used house.

The 15-hectare castle park was designed in 1838 by Peter Joseph Lenné. A unique total work of art of architecture and landscape was created as part of Lenné's "Beautification Plan for the Surroundings of Potsdam."

Since 1955, the German Writers' Association, from 1973 the Writers' Association of the GDR, had a recreation home in Petzow in the "Villa Berglas". In 2001, the writers' home was returned to the Jewish heirs of the Berglas family. In 2003, private individuals bought it and restored the property until 2007.

Petzow Castle is now owned by Schloss Petzow Besitz- und Betriebsgesellschaft mbH.

Petzow Castle and its park were used as an outdoor filming location for the first German telenovela Bianca - Wege zum Glück in 2004/2005. The outdoor shots for Julia - Wege zum Glück, the second telenovela on ZDF, were also made here; filming took place until August 2006 at the fisherman's hut and a boathouse by the lake. In 2011, the castle park was the backdrop for the German fairy tale film Jorinde and Joringel by Bodo Fürneisen.