Tiergarten. The Tiergarten is Berlin's most popular inner-city park, located completely in the district of the same name. The park is 210 hectares in size and is among the largest urban gardens of Germany. Only the Tempelhofer Park and Munich's Englischer Garten are larger. The beginnings of the Tiergarten can be traced back to 1527. It was founded as a hunting area for the Elector of Brandenburg, and was situated to the west of the Cölln city wall, which was the sister town of Old Berlin. It also sat in the same vicinity as the City Palace. In 1530 the expansion began; acres of land were purchased and the garden began to expand towards the north and west. The total area extended beyond the current Tiergarten, and the forests were perfect for hunting deer and other wild animals. The Elector of Brandenburg had wild animals placed within the Tiergarten, which was fenced off from the outside to prevent the creatures from escaping, and was the main hunting ground for the electors of Brandenburg. This hobby, however, began to fade away as the city of Berlin began to expand and the hunting area shrank to accommodate the growth. Frederick Wilhelm I, Elector of Brandenburg, feeling the need to bring change to his private hunting grounds, built many structures that are still visible today. As the King was expanding Unter den Linden, a roadway that connected the City Palace and the Tiergarten, he had a swathe of forest removed in order to connect his castle to the newly built Charlottenburg Palace. Der Große Stern, the central square of the Tiergarten, and Kurfürstenplatz, the electoral plaza, were added, with seven and eight boulevards respectively. This is seen as the beginning of a transformation in the Tiergarten, a movement from the king's personal hunting territory to a forest park designed for the people. Frederick Wilhelm I's son and successor, Frederick II did not appreciate the hunt as his predecessors did, In 1740, he opened the park's first public gardens. In 1742 he instructed the architect Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff to tear down the fences that surrounded the territory and to turn the park into a Lustgarten, one that would be open to the people of Berlin. In the baroque style popular at the time he added flowerbeds, borders and espaliers in geometrical layouts, along with mazes, water basins and ornamental ponds; he also commissioned sculptures to add cultural significance. Unique to the time period, areas of congregation called salons were established along the many different walkways in the park. These salons were blocked off from the walking path by hedges or trees and often furnished with seating, fountains and vases, offering guests a change of pace and a place to discuss intellectual matters in private. Such freedom was common under the rule of Frederick II; there were even residents allowed to live within the Tiergarten. Refugees, Huguenots in hiding from the French, were allowed to erect tents and sell refreshments to the pedestrians walking through the park. A pheasant house was erected, which would later become the core of the Zoological Garden, a zoo founded in 1844 that lies within the greater Tiergarten. During the revolutions of 1848, the park hosted the first assembly demanding the abolishment of the national censors. At the end of the 18th century, Knobelsdorff's late-baroque form had been all but replaced by ideas for a new, scenic garden ideal. The castle park Bellevue and Rousseau Island were laid out by court gardener Justus Ehrenreich Sello in the late 18th century. It was then in 1818 that the king commissioned the help of Peter Joseph Lenné, a young man who was at the time the gardener's assistant at Sanssouci in Potsdam. His plans involved the creation of a rural Volkspark, or people's park, that would also serve as a sort of Prussian national park that would help lift the spirits of those who visited. However, the King Frederick William III rejected Lenné's plan. Against the opposition of a hesitant bureaucracy, Lenné submitted a modified version of his concept. This plan was accepted and realized between 1833 and 1840. The park was modeled after English gardens, but Lenné made sure to pay attention to Knobelsdorff's structures and layouts. By draining forests areas he allowed for more footpaths, roadways, and bridleways to be laid down. Several features became characteristic components of the Tiergarten. Wide-open grass lawns traversed by streams and clusters of trees, lakes with small islands, countless bridges like the Löwenbrücke, and a multitude of pathways became distinguishing features of the new garden. Up until 1881, the Tiergarten was owned by the monarchy, and came under the direct control of the King and later the Emperor.