The Neo Byzantinian Empire of Stropon

[Emperor Stormont]

I adore the Bernini wing, simply fabulous and I love the water.

My dear Hubert, again you amaze me with the fabulous and luxurious Stropon, in so many ways similar to dear Atlantis, great minds do think alike 

I await the fabulous gardens, in fact I know they will be fantastic

[Strechnitz]

With my last update I had not enough time to make all nescesary personal replies. I am sorry for that. So I make that up right now It is quite a list so I should start typing if I want to finnish it in time. 

Replies on Listerlunde update 3

Bat Thank you my friend glad you liked it

Kwakelaar Thanks a lot. I'm glad to be "back". It is nice that you like the palace and my presentation of it. including interiors that fit is quite a task. but I would not settle for less

Emilin Thank you emilin, and no problem. I wish I had the time I need to keep a track on all the good threads here. People would look good than empty tiles yes, but the palace is as yet closed to the public. After this 'televised' preview the palace will open and than I will post a pic with the palace swarming with tourists that's a promiss.

Patfirefighter Oh dont mind that Pat. I never held it against you my friend.

Yoder I am very glad that you like these updates Yoder. how was reading them for the third time?

Replies on Listerlunde update 4

M ok, talking about sending mixed signals here M. but I guess that you liked the update.

BatThanks a lot Bat!

Rooker Hello and Welcome Rooker I am glad that you like the building and lot. I guess it is modular but I don't really know. I have only lotted the palace. You should ask Debussyman for that.

Nova Vesfalo Thank you for your enthousiasm my friend I am glad that you like it so much. This project has taken a lot of time to get it right. And I have been very fortunate that Debussyman wanted to help me to make my very own dream palace. The Berniniwing is indeed modeled after the sketch Bernini had made for the facade of the Louvre. But his bid was thwarted because Louis XIV preferred a more french design instead of the frivolous curves of Bernini. And now centuries later his plan for the facade is actualy built even though it is only virtual. The large windows are open galleries in Bernini's plan but we have taken the liberty that Listerlunde is not the Louvre after all

Urban Thank you for your praise and appreciation. I see what can be done about the wish of Karen Walker to have a private visit. 

Russel Thank you so much for your nice words Russel. I am glad that you like and aprove the Listerlunde palace. I must confess it is quite an undertaking but really worth it!

Kwakelaar Thank you Kwakelaar. I like to be spoilt myself. And like to spoil others where I can I hope you will like the gardens as well.

Cabrabuitre I am glad that you like it so much. I do hope you will like the gardens as much. It will also be themed according the classical mythology.

Jerebannus Hello and Welcokme to Stropon Jerebannus. I am sorry it is such a medical ordeal for you to look at it No seriously, start with a small dose of Stropon each visit. and after you have conditioned yourself enough, return to the Listerlunde updates and enjoy them without physical harm I hope you will like the future updates as much as these don't be a stranger.

KimcarThank you Kimcar. your nice words make me blush  And don't worry for not coming here before, I don't hold that against you. I still find MD's that exist for quite some time and appeal to me while I never knew they were there. So don't worry and enjoy the updates here when you return

SebesAh you are back from your holiday! Good to see you backmy friend. I am glad that you like the palace so much. Where I get my inspiration? From all kinds of different places. mostly my own imagination combined with my interest in history and the arts. And I have a terrible nack to want to have a complete story where everything fits. including dates names and customs. Perhaps that's why Stropon comes complete with it's own Religion and knightly orders and such.

But don't worry. there is so much I still want to make and do regarding Stropon. I think I have enough ideas and material to go on for at least two years! So beware 

Belfastuniguy Thanks my friend. The moat is very well done by Debussyman indeed.

I am happy to please and to amaze. You do know luxury is my middle name. a bit tacky I know...but still
And I could not agree more, great minds do think alike






Well that's for the personal replies. The garden will come very soon. The reason I had to let you all wait so long is due to a few last minute alterations. they rendered most of my pics useless. So your patience is rewarded very soon.

Take care,

Strechnitz.

[JanYpe]

Love the palace (and Bernini). Great show. 

[Strechnitz]

Jan Ype Welcome and thank you my fellow countryman. Always happy when people enjoy my work.


You had to wait a bit longer than expected and my apologies for that. but here is part 5 of the Listerlunde Marathon.


Welcome back dear viewers My name is Alexandra von Hofenburg and we are about to go down into the gardens that surround Listerlunde Palace. will you join me on this tour? Well, come along then.


Now a palace never stands on its own. Espescialy not an Imperial residence build to impress. So surrounding the palace away from the kitchengarden servantwings and the stables, are Listerlundes gardens. Leading from the palace down to the shore of Lake Zerlingen.

The garden can be divided in 3 main areas. The Upper garden, directly surroundng tha Palace facades. The Terraces, divided by the huge cascade fountain. And the Lower garden, with the grand canal gently caressed by the water of the lake.


Since we stand on top of the slope we naturally start with the upper garden. This is divided into two main parts. The Grand Basin and the vase garden. The vasegarden is named after the large carrara marble vases that originally when Empress Liselotte Regine II had the gardens constructed was covered in a Hedge labyrinth. It is said to have been one of her favorite games to let courtiers search for the centre of it while she watched their attempts from above on a palace balcony cheering her favorite or sending them the wrong way. ha, what a silly girl that was.


The Grand Basin is surrounded by statues personifying the months in the year. Although fountains liven up the basin it's main purpose is to collect water from the streams up in the hills to feed the many fountains in the gardens.


Overlooking the Grand Basin is Lisselotte Regine II's favorite pavillion. The garden pavillion of Narcissus. named after the beautiful man who was foolish enough to fall in love with his own reflection. This selflove caused him to drown in the very pool that he admired himself in.


Her choice for Narcissus showed that the empress who still is imfamous for her reign where she only gave parties and had numerous affairs and escapades had a good sense of humour. She was often criticised amongst others as being narcistic. With this pavillion she mocked her opponents.



And here we have a lovely view on the terraces of the Terraced garden with its knot gardens and the great Cascade fountain with the Poseidonfountain.


The Cascade starts with the 4 grotto arches that were filled with statues of Tritons representing the four Stroponian Rivers. Spilling their water downwards into the "sea" or in other words the basin with Poseidon. Unfortunately the original statues are irretrievable. replica's according the original drawings are being made however. The curators hope to have them in place befre new year.


On the left and the right of triton basin we see two identical pavilions that betray the masterly hand of Don Carlos Christobal San Eustacio de Merveilhosa. These Pavilions are respectively dedicated to Nemesis and Nike. The greek goddesses of Divine Wrath (Nemesis) and Victory (Nike). Wrath for the usurper who dared to crown himself Emperor and Victory for the fact that the Alliance finally could thwart Napoleons armies and let him flee to America.


The terraces are covered with knot gardens in all kinds of sizes and patterns. adorned with statues, fountains and topiaries.


If we would stand still at every single piece we would have to fill several programs. That would take too long for you and me. And you my dear viewer, do need to keep something to discover when you visit this site yourself, now don't you?


Next to the Basin of Poseidon where the Sturdy seagod rides his chariot stand two copperroofed pavilions. The one on the left is dedicated to the mythical hunter Actaon.


The one on the right is dedicated to Orion. The two well known hunters and demigods in classical mythology. Just to show you that this palace was once a very popular hunting retreat for the Imperial dynasty.


And here is another one of the Baroque knot gardens Listerlunde will again be famous for. Would you not want one yourself? I know I would.


on the far right jetting out from the garden stands the Listerlunde mausoleum. Mausoleum? I hear you say? Aren't all the Emperors and Empresses buried in the Imperial MAusoleum in Strechnitz?


And the answer to that question is ofcourse affirmative. This beautiful structure is erected to house the remains of Empress Atalanta Victoria II's children. The poor lot who all died in their infant years despite the best medical care of the time. Although the Empress refused to leave the palace for the remainder of her life she wanted to be able to see the last restingplace of her children from the galleries of the Bernini wing. Thus this Mausoleum was built.


On the far left of the garden stands a whole different structure. It is the Hemicycle dedicated to David who has slain the head of Goliath. represented by a gilded statue by the hand of the famous Stroponian Sculptor Heinrich Pierrophon.


Everyone knows the story of David and Goliath where cunning intellect wins from brute force. When one takes a closer look at the statue one will notice that Davids head has a remarable likeness with Emperor Hector Heraclius the great. And also Goliaths head s not that of a typical bearded filistine but a clean shaven lookalike of Napoleon Bonaparte.
Now if that ain't the best example of self glorification, I don't know what is.

Well dear viewers. this part has come to an end. but stay tuned. after the commercials we will broadcast the 6th and last part of the Listerlunde Marathon where we will explore the treasures and secrets of the remaining Lower garden.





Well folks, 5 down and one to go
Strechnitz.

[bat]

Wonderful new update, Strechnitz! And great looking parks and canals!

[bat56]

Brilliant, I do not dare to imagine time that you passed above.   
I will follow that of near.

[rooker1]

Strechnitz...........OMG.  The palace and the parks around it must have taken you a lot of time.  I can't imagine.  Great pitures, I love the mountians on the side and the terrafroming through out the parks looks great.



Robin   

[Russell]

Dear Strech, what a masterpiece! Never before have I been so impressed. 

The amount of time you have spent on this work of art must surely be staggering. 

Too bad the hemicycle and the pavillions aren't avaliable for the rest of us...although I doubt any of us could put them to same spectacular use as you.

[Yanyan]

 

wow !!!!!!!!!

You realize a dream !!!!!
The Louvre, the dependances and the gardens are really perfect !!!!!!!!

you are the last Neoclassical architect of the World !!!!!!!!!

What about the palace of Versailles ?   

With congratulations,

Yanyan

[urban]

wow, all those pavillons and the fountains and the statues = amazing
and Empress Atalanta Victoria II had a good flavour of mausoleoms

cya dAVid

[Yoder7652]

so what is left to say  that is alot of palace for any royal family! the shear size of the complex is staggering, does it take up a whole small or medium city tile by itself? I think I could easily sit Payen's Citadel inside just the boundaries of the palace itself! as always, the gardens are very well done (I love the levels) and all the pavillons are just icing on the cake. a truly grandious and stunning addition to Stropon.

[sebes]

Strech- OMG - you must have spent soo much time building this... I cannot even imagine. The result is absolutely unbelieveable high quality! The terraced gardens are unique - have never seem some masterpiece like that before I guess. Good job.

[Dark_Jedi06]

Oh my...that palace is HUGE. Not to mention absolutely beautiful, I totally want to live there.

Just a quick question...Domena Lorella was reviewing the possibility of official diplomatic ties with Stropon as well as a variety of other nations, however we realized that we were completely unaware of Stropon's location. To my knowledge I've never encountered a map in this thread...

[Madeira aka Constantina]

beautiful

[meinhosen]

The palace gardens and parks are by far the best parks that I've ever seen on a MD.  Well done Strech. 

[Emperor Stormont]

Well isn't that just lovely (I got a sneak peek) nevertheless in full show they continue to impress me.

I would like to thank you for the use of the gardens, I am still working on my new surprise, so more on that soon (I'll send you some pics also)


This MD is truly stunning Hubert and I love it (as you will know), the work involved is a pleasure to view. Again my congratulations on the fabulous work and also to Debussyman for such a glorious building.

[Strechnitz]

Bat Thanks Bat, Btw, how do you manage to be always one of the first to comment in almost every MD around?  you are truly a rely magicia!

Bat56 Thank you, I am glad that you like it. It took a lot of time before the terraforming and the gardens were nearing completion. while in the meantime Debussyman worked on the buildings.

Rooker1 Thanks Robin. It took us roughly three months to put the entire complex of buildings and gardens together.

Russel Thank you Russel. you are too kind.

YanYan Welcome and thank you for the praise YanYan.

you are the last Neoclassical architect of the World !!!!!!!!!

Now that's a compliment that really makes me blush!  This project has become exactly as I envisioned it. Also thanks to Debussymans ability to turn my thoughts and ideas into those stunning bats. I am very proud of the result and it is realy nice to see how you and others apreciate and enjoy Listerlunde.  thank you.

BTW The facades and pavilions of the palace are indeed based on the Louvre, but the floorplan is fictional. As well as that the facades and the pavilions are not located in the same places as at the Louvre. for example, the facades with the long galleries/balconies n the Listerlunde Palace that face the gardens are located facing the Cour in the real Louvre.

I have more Imperial/principal Residences that are half built.(using existing palatial bat's) If Versailles would be made by anyone, it would be a pleasure to use that into another residence.

Urban Thank you for your kind words my friend. And I am happy that you aprove of the empress' taste for Mausoleums.

Yoder It is indeed a whole lot of palace. the main building rests on a 18x22 lot. And that is without the servant wings who are 6x7 each. The width of the Imperial Stables is for instance 13 tiles. True regal dimensions indeed! And to answer your other question the whole complex sits on a medium citytile and uses just over half of it. around 55 to 60% of the total city tile. One of the reasons it took quite some time to finnish it.
And remember my friend, you have not seen all yet. The lower garden is still to come.

Sebes Yes Sebes, as I said above it took me/us almost 3 months to complete this project. And when I started showing the palace the gardens were not even finnished yet  But I'm glad that you like it so much.

Dark_Jedi06 Indeed it is quite huge. you can read the dimensions in my reply to Yoder. I would want to live there too if it was possible  unfortunately it is just imagination I am glad that you like it so much.

Ah yes the location. if you read the First contact and Flags of the Empire post you can read that the Stroponian motherland lies in between of Austria and Hungary in the north, the former Yugoslav Republic in the south, Romania in the east and Italy in the west.
As you may know that is only a frontierline in RL. And there is no map because I am very bad at making one So that's why you can't find one. 

Furthermore Stropon has her two colonies ruled by the Vice roys. They are Quitaniania which lies on the Atlantic coast of South America. and Nargoon in South East Asia which lies on the Pacific coast. That's where Stropon's possesions lie. So If I compare that with the map in your MD, we can conclude that our countries are in fact neighbouring states. I hope that this answers your question to your satisfaction?

Madeira Thank you, and welcome.

Meinhosen Thank you very much for your compliment. Meinhosen. I am happy that you like it so much.

Belfastuniguy Thank you so much for your kind words Michael. And you are welcome for the garden pieces. I am looking forward to the progression of your surprise. I am sure that it is gorgious!

Well that's it for the replies, thank you all for sharing your thoughts and comments. Interaction is always a pleasure
If I find the time I will post the last Listerlunde update with the little wonders of Debussyman. If not. I will do so on monday.

Strechnitz.

[Madeira aka Constantina]

Even the replies images look good.

[Strechnitz]

My dear viewers, welcome back for the last episode in the Listerlunde Marathon where we explore every nook and crany of the restored Palace and gardens. Now we go down the last set of steps and enter the "Lower garden".


Now follow me down the steps to the lower garden.Where the upper garden and the terraces revolve around the concept of order and symetry where one standing on the edge of the upper terrace or the Second floor of the palace can see the entire garden while standing in the middle of a terrace one can only see that terrace...


Where the lower garden consists of the grand canal surrounded by enclosed gardens and paths enclosed with walls of lush green hedges. here is the realm of privacy and tranquility Empress Liselotte Regine II used as the decor for her numerous scandalous loveaffairs. As is depicted in this frivolous painting of her standing in the lower garden.


One of the first things we encounter is the Temple of Eros, dedicated to the little rascal shooting his arrows left and right.


The largest enclosed garden centers around a fountain and is adorned with ten statues depicting the wives of some of Rome's illustrious Emperors. They are all copies of the originals who are on display in the Museum of the Vatican.


Now at the end of the long Allee stands this impressive structure. It is styled as a roman temple clad with colourful African marbles. It is however not a temple, it is one of the rare remainders of the gardens prior to these we walk in today and were ordered by Liselotte Regine II. The building was erected in the days when the 9th Marquis of Listerfeldt donated the castle and grounds to Emperor Caesar Frederick I. In those days this building stood in the middle of the woods. It was and still is the most elaborate ice-house in the western hemisphere. Blocks of ice were stored here to cool dishes in summer and make elegant ice desserts.


Dividing the Long Allee in the middle is an Equestrian Statue of Fieldmarshal Belligerensis Von HohenFürther. The hero of Waterloo. A rare honour for someone who is not of imperial blood.


If we turn to our right and walk towards the lake we enter the 4 seasons garden. adorned with vases fountains and statuary the garden gives ample opportunity to relax and enjoy the symbiosis of nature and culture.


Now we follow the shoreline and reach the Amphitrite pavillion, standing in between the lake and the canal alligned with the Poseidon fountain and the Tritons. Amphitrite was ofcourse the spouse and wife of Poseidon.


The Gardens of Listerlunde also hold an Asian pavillion. compared to the Chinese garden in the Kayserbürgen residence it is very modest and small, yet it has a very nice interior.



Next up is this wonderful garden.


now if we go through this opening in the hedge we find this basin surounded by a marble peristyle. It is the same peristyle as in the portrait of Liselotte Regine II above many of the decorations in the painting however have been lost in the course of time unfortunately dear viewers.


Behind this fountain hidden amidst the lush trees stands another marvel of 19th century gardens. The Listerlunde Palmhouse. This marble clad palmhouse is filled with exotic palms plants and flowers taken back to Stropon by botanists of the Imperial Stroponian Botanical Society on their expeditions in the jungle of Nargoon.




And finally even the longest marathon has to come to an end eventually. So we end this programm with a Mosaic showing the gardens in their full beauty. It has been a great pleasure dear viewers to show you so many of the wonders of Listerlunde Palace. So lovingly restored by a small army of restaurers and other specialists Now the rooms and the gardens we've seen were empty but in 2 weeks time they will fill with the cheery buzz of tourists when the palace will be opened for the public on the 14th of October. I do hope to see you there. bye bye and till the next episode of Sights and Seeings. I am Alexandra von Hofenburg and I bid you good night!




And that was the last part of the Listerlunde Marathon.
Strechnitz.

[kimcar]

Ok just let me replace my chair, because i just fall down... the first thing who`s comming in my head it`s i`m jalous of your creations . But i`m also happy to discover so much nice beauty in your work . you keep my attention on top.Thanks for sharing it.