Castle park Jahnsfelde

The history of the village of Jahnsfelde is closely linked to the family of Pfuel who were aristocrats of ancient stock. The land was acquired by them as long ago as 1449 and has been shaped by them ever since. The palace is built from its base as a two-storey, solid plaster-walled building and has some basement rooms with groined vaults that date back to the 17th century . Around 1831, the appearance of the oldest surviving section of the building was apparently redesigned in the classicist style. A sandstone coat of arms of the von Pfuel family adorns the gable of this section. A further extension of the aristocratic residence once again changed the appearance of the palace in 1871 when the German Empire was founded, with brick extensions in Neo-Gothic forms typical of Mark Brandenburg. The palace’s prevailing features are two circular stair towers, a tower with a pyramid-shaped brick pinnacle and a stepped gable crowned with battlements.

The park is now owned by the municipality and covers a surface area of three hectares. It also contains the palace church built of field stones dating back to the 13th century. When it was laid out in the second half of the century, the design of the park was influenced by Hermann von Pückler-Muskau, probably the most important landscape architect of the 19th century after Lenné and also referred to as the “Green Prince”. Its basic features have been preserved to this day and it also marks the centre of the village of Jahnsfelde.

In the hot season, stately trees provide plenty of shade for visitors while at the same time bearing living witness to the park’s centuries-old history. They include a weeping beech, probably the thickest lime tree in the district, black pine, cucumber magnolia, plane tree, black walnut, thuja and numerous oak trees. One special representative of the “tree family” is an approximately 150-year-old ginkgo tree right next to the palace. Since 1977, the Jahnsfelde palace park has been recognised as an individual monument because of its long-established tree population.

Year of construction: circa 1850​
How to get there: Car: B1/B5 in the direction of Müncheberg; access: coming from Müncheberg, Seelow or Fürstenwalde, head for Neuhardenberg. Then turn left across Schlossplatz between the Schlosskirche and the palace.