Palais Leuchtenberg

The Palais Leuchtenberg, Odeon Platz 4, west of the Odeon Square in Munich is the largest palace. It is now housed the Bavarian State Ministry of Finance.

History

Construction of Klenze (1817-1821)

Eugène de Beauharnais, brother of the later King Ludwig I of Bavaria and stepson of Napoleon commissioned Leo von Klenze the construction of a " suburban city palace ". Between 1817 and 1821 the noble palace was built with about 250 rooms and a number of farm buildings by Leo von Klenze the first building at the Ludwig street. Klenze understood the Palais Leuchtenberg as a benchmark for the design of this boulevard. He opted for the Neo-Renaissance style, modeled on the Palazzo Farnese in Rome. During the construction phase Klenze visited the French capital in order to study the odorless portable outhouse then developed just there and integrate the Palais Leuchtenberg. This " fosses inodores et mobile " were soon after standard in almost all new buildings in Munich.

Beauharnais lived in the largest mansions of the time with his wife Auguste, sister of Louis I, and his children. The palace was equipped with a ballroom, a theater room, a billiard room and an art gallery. There was also a chapel.

On August 2, 1829, the wedding of Emperor Dom Pedro by procurationem I of Brazil and Princess Amélie of Leuchtenberg was held in this chapel.

After the death of the widow of Eugène de Beauharnais, Auguste von Leuchtenberg, in 1852 bought Prince Luitpold, who later became Prince Regent of Bavaria, the palace.

By early 1933, the Palais Leuchtenberg was used for representative purposes by the Bavarian royal house or the house of Wittelsbach. During the Second World War it was 1943 and 1945 severely hit in air raids. 1957 acquired the Free State of Bavaria, the ruins and had them pay off completely.

Construction of Heid / Simm (1963-1967)

After the total demolition, a new building was built in the years 1963 to 1967 according to plans by Hans Heid and Franz Simm in a reinforced concrete skeleton with a superimposed layer of brick and reconstructed facade of the Bavarian State Ministry of Finance. The plan does not follow the original plans by Leo Klenzes. Only the facade, has been faithfully restored, including the state rooms of the Finance Ministry and the office of the State Minister of Finance are back in the " piano nobile " on the first floor. Not much has been preserved from the previous opulent interior; few pieces are now in the Nymphenburg Palace. Bertel Thorvaldsen Alexander Fries is attached as a copy in the foyer of the New Hercules hall of residence.

Works of art at the Palais

Isar mermaid fountain ( " Munich Nasentröpfelbrunnen ") in the courtyard of the Palais