Crystal Room (Ballroom, Blue Room)
Adjoining the theater was the large Concert Hall, also known as the Ballroom, Crystal Room, and Blue Room. This space was created by combining the two largest rooms in the palace - the large Red Room and the Concert Room. On the tenth of March, seventeen hundred and seventy-eight, in celebration of Queen Luiza's birthday and on the occasion of Frederick William the Third's return to health, a solemn Lutheran service was held here with an oratory and a ceremonial speech.
In the middle of the nineteenth century, this largest room was given a particularly lavish decor: stucco and painted ceiling decoration in white, gold, and blue, large mirrors, and a parquet floor. The effect of opulence was intensified by crystal chandeliers and eighteen sconces, whose light was reflected in tall, floor-reaching mirrors. The interior decor remained unchanged until nineteen hundred and forty-five.
In the post-war period, the decoration of this room changed significantly. After the reconstruction of the vault, burgundy tapestries and gilded paneling were introduced on the walls, along with richly gilded ornaments on the barrel-vaulted ceiling.
Currently, the Crystal Room is a unique place with excellent acoustics, where artistic events, business ventures, and private ceremonies take place. The room is equipped with a new, professional stage along with conference audio equipment.
Looking at the of this room, it's essential to mention Dorota Talleyrand - Périgord more specifically. It is worth noting some crucial facts from the life of the duchess here. Let them paint her self-portrait. For Duchess Dino, who was also a painter, painted her best self-portrait with her exceptional life.
The greatest European of her time was born on the twenty-fourth of August, seventeen hundred and ninety-three in Friedrichsfelde near Berlin, in a baroque palace, which her father, Peter Biron, Duke of Courland, bought in seventeen hundred and eighty-five. At baptism, she was held by Duchess Luiza Radziwiłłowa, under whose care Dorota remained until her early youth. Raised at the Prussian court by the Radziwiłłs, six-year-old Dorota Biron began her education. Her teacher, Scipio Piattoli, co-author of the Constitution of the Third of May, taught her foreign languages, history, geography, and astronomy. He also introduced her to the political realities of Europe and the art of negotiation. For ten years, Piattoli gave her a view of a world full of human triumphs, defeats, cynicism, and cunning, but also the wealth of mercy and kindness. Adam Czartoryski was her lover, but Prince Maurice de Talleyrand – Périgord - Napoleon's foreign affairs minister, chose her as a wife for his nephew. Thus, Dorota stood on the wedding mat with Colonel Edmund Périgord on the twenty-third of April, eighteen hundred and nine in Frankfurt am Main.
And so, the Courland princess, likely the daughter of a Polish aristocrat, a subject of the Russian tsar, intellectually shaped by an Italian Catholic, co-creator of the Constitution of the Third of May, who as a child played with the future Prussian king, became the wife of a French aristocrat. Initially a Protestant, then a Catholic. The Prussians considered her too French, and the French considered her too Prussian. She participated in the Congress of Vienna, where she undoubtedly gained a reputation as a scandalous figure but also a woman with a big heart.
Duchess Dorota, known as Duchess Dino, played a prominent role in the social and diplomatic life of France. Parties and balls at the French embassy in Vienna quickly gained fame - attracting the entire congressional elite. Dorota opened doors for Minister Talleyrand to salons that were hostile to him. In eighteen hundred and thirty, she went with the minister on his last diplomatic mission to London. There she became an icon of style and elegance. Londoners wanted to emulate her.
After the death of Minister Maurice de Talleyrand – Périgord, in eighteen hundred and thirty-eight, Dorota moved to France and distributed her estates to her children. Later, after a short stay in Berlin, she came to Zatonie - an estate that belonged to her as part of her dowry. Żagań was then inherited by her sister Wilhelmina, who, upon her death, transferred her inheritance rights to her sister Paulina, and she to her son Konstantin. This was contrary to the will of Duke Peter Biron, who stipulated in his will that as long as an heir in the first line is alive, the next generation cannot inherit. After a four-year legal battle with Konstantin, Dorota obtained the feudal title with the right of inheritance in the male line. Thus, on the nineteenth of June, eighteen hundred and forty-four, Duchess Dino received the Żagań Duchy patent from the hands of Frederick William the Fourth - King of Prussia - her childhood playmate from Berlin.
Dorota passed away in eighteen hundred and sixty-two after a long and severe illness, following complications from a carriage accident while traveling from Zatonie to Żagań. It was then that her body was placed in this hall, and for the first time, the inhabitants of Żagań could come and bid farewell to their duchess. Ten thousand people from the duchy attended her funeral, showing the scale of love the residents of Żagań had for the duchess. She was buried in the Holy Cross church in Żagań, whose conversion into a family necropolis she funded in eighteen hundred and forty-nine.
In the middle of the nineteenth century, this largest room was given a particularly lavish decor: stucco and painted ceiling decoration in white, gold, and blue, large mirrors, and a parquet floor. The effect of opulence was intensified by crystal chandeliers and eighteen sconces, whose light was reflected in tall, floor-reaching mirrors. The interior decor remained unchanged until nineteen hundred and forty-five.
In the post-war period, the decoration of this room changed significantly. After the reconstruction of the vault, burgundy tapestries and gilded paneling were introduced on the walls, along with richly gilded ornaments on the barrel-vaulted ceiling.
Currently, the Crystal Room is a unique place with excellent acoustics, where artistic events, business ventures, and private ceremonies take place. The room is equipped with a new, professional stage along with conference audio equipment.
Looking at the of this room, it's essential to mention Dorota Talleyrand - Périgord more specifically. It is worth noting some crucial facts from the life of the duchess here. Let them paint her self-portrait. For Duchess Dino, who was also a painter, painted her best self-portrait with her exceptional life.
The greatest European of her time was born on the twenty-fourth of August, seventeen hundred and ninety-three in Friedrichsfelde near Berlin, in a baroque palace, which her father, Peter Biron, Duke of Courland, bought in seventeen hundred and eighty-five. At baptism, she was held by Duchess Luiza Radziwiłłowa, under whose care Dorota remained until her early youth. Raised at the Prussian court by the Radziwiłłs, six-year-old Dorota Biron began her education. Her teacher, Scipio Piattoli, co-author of the Constitution of the Third of May, taught her foreign languages, history, geography, and astronomy. He also introduced her to the political realities of Europe and the art of negotiation. For ten years, Piattoli gave her a view of a world full of human triumphs, defeats, cynicism, and cunning, but also the wealth of mercy and kindness. Adam Czartoryski was her lover, but Prince Maurice de Talleyrand – Périgord - Napoleon's foreign affairs minister, chose her as a wife for his nephew. Thus, Dorota stood on the wedding mat with Colonel Edmund Périgord on the twenty-third of April, eighteen hundred and nine in Frankfurt am Main.
And so, the Courland princess, likely the daughter of a Polish aristocrat, a subject of the Russian tsar, intellectually shaped by an Italian Catholic, co-creator of the Constitution of the Third of May, who as a child played with the future Prussian king, became the wife of a French aristocrat. Initially a Protestant, then a Catholic. The Prussians considered her too French, and the French considered her too Prussian. She participated in the Congress of Vienna, where she undoubtedly gained a reputation as a scandalous figure but also a woman with a big heart.
Duchess Dorota, known as Duchess Dino, played a prominent role in the social and diplomatic life of France. Parties and balls at the French embassy in Vienna quickly gained fame - attracting the entire congressional elite. Dorota opened doors for Minister Talleyrand to salons that were hostile to him. In eighteen hundred and thirty, she went with the minister on his last diplomatic mission to London. There she became an icon of style and elegance. Londoners wanted to emulate her.
After the death of Minister Maurice de Talleyrand – Périgord, in eighteen hundred and thirty-eight, Dorota moved to France and distributed her estates to her children. Later, after a short stay in Berlin, she came to Zatonie - an estate that belonged to her as part of her dowry. Żagań was then inherited by her sister Wilhelmina, who, upon her death, transferred her inheritance rights to her sister Paulina, and she to her son Konstantin. This was contrary to the will of Duke Peter Biron, who stipulated in his will that as long as an heir in the first line is alive, the next generation cannot inherit. After a four-year legal battle with Konstantin, Dorota obtained the feudal title with the right of inheritance in the male line. Thus, on the nineteenth of June, eighteen hundred and forty-four, Duchess Dino received the Żagań Duchy patent from the hands of Frederick William the Fourth - King of Prussia - her childhood playmate from Berlin.
Dorota passed away in eighteen hundred and sixty-two after a long and severe illness, following complications from a carriage accident while traveling from Zatonie to Żagań. It was then that her body was placed in this hall, and for the first time, the inhabitants of Żagań could come and bid farewell to their duchess. Ten thousand people from the duchy attended her funeral, showing the scale of love the residents of Żagań had for the duchess. She was buried in the Holy Cross church in Żagań, whose conversion into a family necropolis she funded in eighteen hundred and forty-nine.