Peacock Island

Every country, even most regions, have their quirky attractions that just don’t seem to fit in with the local atmosphere. America may be the king of the out-of-place. Every midwestern county with two acres of unoccupied interstate-side land seems to host the worlds tallest this or biggest that. What the world’s biggest twine ball is doing in Darwin, Minnesota is beyond me, but what Peacock Island is doing in the Havel River is no mystery.

Peacock Island is pretty much what it sounds like, an island with peacocks. Most people don’t imagine frivolous beauty when they think of Germany. The country has a reputation for austere design and imposing architecture dominated by even more imposing personalities. It may be for just those reasons that King Wilhelm Friedrich II designed a purpose built work-of-art landscape project so ambitious his successor had to help him complete it.

Everything about Peacock Island was planned with typical German precision and attention to detail, but extraordinary aesthetic ingenuity. The paths were planned with line of sight in mind and each turn presents an architectural treat or stunning panorama. The island is a work of art in flora and fauna, and each structure is similarly special. From the artificial gothic ruin, the diary, to the palace which was designed as a ruined Roman country mansion, every inch of Peacock Island begs exploration.