Sondershausen Palace Gardens

Sondershausen Palace is surrounded by a landscape park covering some 30 hectares. It was created in the 19th century out of the former pleasure garden on the palace hill and a newly designed section on the floodplains of the Wipper River. An avenue connects the two park areas with their different elevations.

The historical starting point for the park ensemble was a kitchen garden planted in front of the palace’s west wing, which was converted into a pleasure garden around 1700. This garden featured numerous buildings, such as the octagonal house originally erected to house a carousel, an alley for playing pall mall, later replaced by an equestrian hall, and the court theatre, subsequently destroyed. Pineapples were one of the rare specialties cultivated in the orangerie.
Around 1800 interest shifted to an area called Lohplatz located to the north of the palace hill, where various entertainment facilities, such as a shooting range, were established. Starting in 1836, the palace gardens were extended onto the floodplains north of the palace and this area was incorporated.

Between palace hill and river, court gardener Tobias Ekart and garden artist Eduard Petzold created an elongated landscape park. Paths were laid out and trees and shrubs planted, while two of the existing ponds were made into lakes. The park was heavily damaged in the Second World War and is currently being restored based on the work of Ekart and Petzold.