Neuhardenberg

Neuhardenberg is a municipality in the district Märkisch-Oderland, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is the site of Neuhardenberg Palace, residence of the Prussian statesman Prince Karl August von Hardenberg. The municipal area comprises the villages of Altfriedland, Quappendorf and Wulkow. Neuhardenberg ist part of the Amt ("municipal federation") Neuhardenberg.Names of the placeThe oldest record mentioning the place, then named Quilicz, dates back to 1348. Later the spelling was changed into Quilitz. When in 1814 Karl August von Hardenberg received the manor, he renamed the place right away into Neu-Hardenberg. On Labour Day, 1 May 1949, the place was renamed into Marxwalde after Karl Marx. This was reversed on January 1, 1991. Since then the place bears again the old name Neuhardenberg in this slightly altered spelling.HistoryThe construction of Neuhardenberg Manor with interior designs by Carl Gotthard Langhans dates back to the late 18th century. In 1763 the Prussian general Joachim Bernhard von Prittwitz had received Quilitz, a former property of the Pfuel noble family. The historic village was devastated by a blaze in 1801 and reconstructed as a Neoclassical model settlement according to plans designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel. In 1814 King Frederick William III vested Hardenberg with the locality together with the princely title as a gratification for his merits as Prussian state chancellor. From 1820 on Schinkel also rebuilt the mansion, while the gardens were redesigned by Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau and Peter-Joseph Lenné.