Ludwigsburg Palace

The residential palace in Ludwigsburg was built 1704-1733 under the reign of Duke Eberhard Ludwig von Württemberg in Baroque style. It is one of the largest baroque castles in Germany.

1709, plans for the city of Ludwigsburg than typical baroque city plan, which should underline the absolutist claim of the Duke. As of 1718, the city west of the palace was built. At times, instead of Stuttgart Ludwigsburg was the royal residence and capital of the Duchy of Württemberg.

The castle is surrounded on three sides by a large park. For the 250 - year celebration of the castle in 1954, these gardens were created partly historical, partly in imitation of the baroque free form. Since then, the garden with its associated fairytale garden under the name " Blooming Baroque " is well known and popular as a tourist destination. The ensemble of gardens, residential palace and the surrounding pleasure palaces makes Ludwigsburg to a national tourist attraction. Gardens, architecture and original equipment show room with design forms of the Baroque, Rococo, Classicism and Empire the different views of different eras. Four new museums have been opened in the castle to 300 - year celebration of the castle in 2004.

History

At the site of the present castle was in the 17th century Erlachhof, a hunting lodge with a falconry and a maritime economy. This was burned in 1693 by French troops. Beginning of the 18th century, first planned the reconstruction of a Jagdguts. In the following years the architect Philip Joseph Jenischhaus was tasked with elaborate planning. There was a small castle, whose foundation stone was laid on May 7, 1704 and the Duke Eberhard Ludwig gave the name Ludwigsburg on 11 May 1705.

Already in 1706 designed the new and more talented master builder Johann Friedrich Nette more generous plans. These provided a then usual three wings. In subsequent years, initially built the mighty main building in the north of the plant, the later so-called " Old Corps de Logis ". Shortly afterwards extended the main building on both narrow sides of the hunt and the game pavilion and connecting galleries. At these galleries were added at right angles to the main building each have a side wing ( Ordensbau in the west, gigantic in the east ), so that was a three-wing building with an open courtyard to the south. 1709, when the construction had progressed only to a small extent, the Duke moved his permanent residence to Ludwigsburg. Until the 1730s, the continued expansion went. After the death of the architect Johann Friedrich Nette Donato Giuseppe Frisoni the former plasterer was appointed court architect. As of 1715, he planned significant increases in the existing system. The three-wing building was extended by additional wings, the two Kavalliersbauten. Behind the wings were erected in the east the Castle Church, in the West the symmetrical counterpart ( which was later used as a religious chapel ). Parallel to the Kavalliersbauten was erected in the West Festinbau, to the east the theater. Thus, the three-wing building was completed. Despite this immense extensions for banquet halls and rooms of the court, the castle did not meet yet the growing demands. There was a lack of spaces, which allowed for smooth operation and to the ducal apartments The apartment itself of the Duke was at that time still in the "Old Corps de Logis ". The size of the apartment corresponded to the originally intended function as a hunting and summer residence and did not meet the contemporary requirements of a ducal representation apartment. Further increases were necessary. Frisoni initially planned expansion through sheathing of the main building, just as it has been implemented at the Palace of Versailles. In Ludwigsburg, this solution would have been possible due to the terrain formation only with great effort and cost. Therefore, it was decided for another variant, a completely new and much larger building, the "New Corps de Logis ". This was built in the south of the three-wing building, opposite the "Old Corps de Logis ". Two long galleries ( ancestral and Picture Gallery ) connect the Kavalliersbauten the existing system with the new main building and close the previous three- to four-wing building. In the south of the new building, a large garden was created, which is from the courtyard through ( through the so-called " deer crossing " ) under the building accessible. Upon the death of the Duke in 1733 the "New Corps de Logis " was completed in the exterior, while the interior was still incomplete.

Ludwigsburg was considered one of the most splendid courts of Europe and comprises 452 rooms, two churches, a theater and a large patio ( courtyard ). In the vast palace gardens you will find, among other artificial waterfalls and rock grottoes.

The Marmorsaletta in the hunting lodge is now regarded as a space in which the Baroque design has the best preserved. The room in which the first interior of the palace has been preserved at the beginning of the 18th century, testifies to the extremely high-quality equipment. The pilasters are ornamented with colored here strapwork. The wall panels show the cross of the Order of St. Hubertus Hunting and the monogram of the Order's founder and owner Duke Eberhard Ludwig of Württemberg. Have also been preserved, the two strikingly framed fireplaces, contributing with their high levels significantly to the spatial effect.

Current usage

Ludwigsburg Palace is one of the nation 's monuments and is supervised by the institution " State Palaces and Gardens of Baden -Württemberg". In addition to tours through the rooms of the castle, the castle offers visitors:

The Baroque Gallery

Here over 150 selected masterpieces of German and Italian painting of the 17th and 18th centuries are on display from the collection of the Stuttgart State Gallery. They offer a cross section of European Baroque painting. Among them are five outstanding works by Johann Heinrich Schönfeld with the famous " treasure seekers ", one of the masterpieces of Schönfeld, portraits of Balthasar Denner and Christian Seybold.

The Palace Theatre

Even today, after a century of dormancy, listed in baroque Ludwigsburg Palace Theater of 1758 at the annual Festival opera productions of the Stuttgart house. In 1998, the Palace Theatre will be reopened after more than five years of restoration. Since then provides the architectural and historical monument the theater up to 350 spectators in addition to the annual opera about a dozen other events.

Unique is largely faithful to the original stage technology with a central corrugated tree under the stage for the exchange of two series of aiming at depth backdrop sled. They are moved by a simple mechanism. There are eight sets of different original scenes (garden, halls, village ) available. In a separate small theater - museum restoration and inventory are documented.

The Ceramics Museum

The Landesmuseum Wuerttemberg in Stuttgart is on the upper floor of the main building of the Southern New Castle from his extensive porcelain, faience and ceramics collection. Shown here on more than 2000 m² significant chunks of the large porcelain Meissen and Nymphenburg, Berlin, Vienna and Ludwigsburg, as well as contemporary ceramics.

The Porzellan Manufaktur Ludwigsburg has been operating since 1967 in the castle as the castle Ludwigsburg GmbH.

The Fashion Museum

European clothing from over two centuries shows the Fashion Museum, a branch museum of the National Museum Württemberg, in the former Festinbau the castle. On two levels around 700 original costumes and accessories are 750 square meters of exhibition space to see the 18th to the 20th century for men, women and children. The historical fashion show is organized chronologically and shows fashion as most obvious expression of social changes.

Attractions in the castle grounds

• Age main building ( Corps de Logis ): Aurora Room. Part of the former apartment of Eberhard Ludwig, Johann Jacob Stevens of Steinfels (1651-1730) in the years 1709-1711 frescoed about sunrise.
• The four arcades and the connection there with plastic stucco figures
• Its counterpart is the " hunting lodge " with its three showrooms, which were used in the capacity of rarities Cabinet.
• Order room with illusionistic ceiling fresco by Pietro Scotti and Giuseppe Baroffio 1731
• Catholic and Protestant Chapel
• In the new main house fall decorations Classicism and Empire on, especially in the central marble hall, in the audience chamber of the King, in the library of the king and the queen bedroom.

Royal tombs in the chapel

In the chapel are the graves of the following members of the Württemberg royal family:

Stamp

The German postal remembered in 2004 with a stamp on the foundation stone of Ludwigsburg Palace in the year 1704. Stamp shows in bird's-eye view from the south the entire castle complex with the New Corps de Logis front, the gebäudeumschlossenen courtyard in the center and the Old Corps de Logis back.

Other Castles in Ludwigsburg

In 1718, was also directed by Frisoni, the residence of the castle directly opposite Jagdschlösschen completed Favorite, the construction of which had begun already Nice 1707.

In the years 1760-1765, finally, was the architect Philippe de La Guêpière, the second small pleasure palace, the Sea Castle Monrepos, built, and thus completes the Ludwigsburg Palace ensemble.