Schloss Charlottenburg shows exhibition on Prussia strong women – STERN

daughter, bride, widow and rarely regent. The role of the Hohenzollern women were set at first glance narrow limits. An exhibition at Berlin’s Schloss Charlottenburg now wants to prove that the daughters and wives of the ruling house a much greater influence on the rise of the dynasty had than previously thought. The show entitled “women’s work. How Brandenburg Prussia” (22.8. Until 22:11.) Shows with a wealth of valuable exhibits, such as the Preußinnen took influence on politics, society and culture.

2015 marks the 600th time the transfer of the Mark Brandenburg to the Hohenzollern. The exhibition offers a new perspective on the history of Prussia – a “long overdue shift in perspective” as the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg emphasizes

clothes were political statements

Over. 300 paintings, clothing, sculptures, pieces of furniture and documents show how the princesses, queens and empresses lived then and worked. The exhibition organizers deliberately avoid a chronological presentation, but put the aristocratic networkers in their various areas of life. Very important was the run of the women’s marriage policy, which the royal ladies their own and influence the fate of their daughters as well as could the political orientation of the dynasty.

Here, every detail mattered. Dress was there, for example, even before the wedding is not the same dress. The noble robes were political statements. So Elisabeth of Bavaria presented at her bridal image a medallion picture of her groom Frederick William IV of Prussia -. A public vows, so to speak. It also contributes to the shoulder of the Prussian Order of Louise, which refers to their ancestry.

marriage was not a private matter

The marriage was not a private matter, but a matter of state. It was about inheritance rights, political alliances and peace treaties. Valuable wedding gifts testified to the agreements. Exhibited is a magnificent mantel clock, showing the reconciliation between Hohenzollern and Guelph 1913: two knights on horseback who shake hands.

Many garments includes original document the importance of public appearances. Among the gems is one of the coronation robe of Empress Augusta (1811-1890). Even seemingly Private politically – as the wooden mountain Stock of Marie of Prussia, Queen of Bavaria. With its hiking passion Marie wanted to publicly express their new identity Bavarian

Women in uniform or on horseback

For other strange dynasties -. Women appeared publicly in Prussia in uniform. You can see for example made of woolen cloth tunic of Victoria Louise of Prussia, which in 1909 appointed head of a separate regiment. Even on horseback made the confident Preußinnen a good figure. A drawing from 1680 shows Dorothea of ​​Holstein-Glücksburg, Electress of Brandenburg, as a rider astride. As a field mistress Wilhelmine let 1778 represent on their rising horse from Prussia (the Elder).

Since the women married very young, one in two women experienced widowhood, as the exhibition curators Nadja Bender and Alfred Hagemann explain. The negotiated in the marriage contract widow supply have the women then often the first time enables a financially independent and self-determined life. And: Was the heir to the throne when her father died still a minor, the mother was able to take the regency until his adulthood. In Brandenburg-Prussia had however never been regents. For prevailed in other realms sporadically Brandenburg princesses.