In 1834 the Prussian architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel drew the plans of a palace, intended as the residential and administrative quarters of Otto, king of the Greeks and a descendant of the Bavarian dynasty of Wittelsbach. But how was he commissioned to do this project? The result of the War of Liberation of the Greeks against the Turks (1821-1827) was the recognition of the Independence of Greece in 1830. Immediately after which the country was proclaimed a monarchy and Otto, the second-born son of the king of Bavaria Ludwig I, was appointed by the Great Powers as leader of the new state. In 1833 Athens was chosen as capital, due to its importance in antiquity. At that time Athens was a small, provincial town of approximately 10,000 people which had to be drastically reorganized in order to meet the demands of a “modern” capital. Beside the town-planning, an architectural proposal for the royal palace was necessary. Therefore, four different projects in various locations were worked out by the architects Karl Friedrich Schinkel. Ludwig Lange, Leo von Klenze and Friedrich von Gartner. Finally von Gartner’s proposal was realized and the royal palace was erected in what is today Constitution Square.
Royal palace and Greek architecture. K.F. Schinkel’s plans for the palace on the Acropolis of Athens
20 Aug 2012
by Archaeology Newsroom
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