Karlsruhe Palace

Karlsruhe, Germany

Karlsruhe Palace was erected in 1715 by Margrave Charles III William of Baden-Durlach, after a dispute with the citizens of his previous capital, Durlach. The city of Karlsruhe has since grown around it. The first building was constructed by Jakob Friedrich von Batzendorf. The city was planned with the tower of the palace at the centre and 32 streets radiating out from it like spokes on a wheel, or ribs on a folding fan.

Originally partially made of wood, the palace had to be rebuilt in 1746, using stone. Charles Frederick, Margrave of Baden-Durlach at the time, and who eventually became Charles Frederick, Grand Duke of Baden then had the palace altered by Balthasar Neumann and Friedrich von Kesslau until 1770, adding larger windows and doors, pavilions and wings. In 1785, Wilhelm Jeremias Müller shortened the tower, adding a cupola.

During the Revolutions of 1848, Leopold, Grand Duke of Baden was expelled in 1849 for some time. In 1918, the last monarch Frederick II, Grand Duke of Baden had to move out. The former residence of the Rulers of Baden is since used as Badisches Landesmuseum.

Much of the city centre, including the palace, was reduced to rubble by Allied bombing during World War II but was quickly rebuilt after the war.

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Address

Schloßbezirk 3, Karlsruhe, Germany
See all sites in Karlsruhe

Details

Founded: 1715
Category: Palaces, manors and town halls in Germany
Historical period: Thirty Years War & Rise of Prussia (Germany)

More Information

www.karlsruhe-tourismus.de
en.wikipedia.org

Rating

4.6/5 (based on Google user reviews)

Interesting Sites Nearby


Heidelberg Castle (49,6 km)
Speyer Cathedral (33,9 km)
Maulbronn Monastery (29,8 km)
Bruchsal Palace (19,1 km)
Schwetzingen Palace (42,9 km)
Herrenberg Church (57,6 km)
Mannheim Palace (52,4 km)
Speyer Old Gate (33,9 km)
Hohenbaden Castle Ruins (28,8 km)

User Reviews

Liya Roo (14 months ago)
beautiful but the posters for the art exhibitions aren't that pretty
Prashant Adkoli (14 months ago)
Great place. Also connects to any corner of the city.
KW Peter Koeppel (14 months ago)
The focal point for Karlsruhe's original layout and plan. Destroyed during WW 2 and restored since, it houses the State Museum of the former State of Baden. In that role, it houses and exhibits artifacts related to local history. It also hosts major temporary exhibits. Recent such exhibits offered insights into the Etruscans, Ramses II, etc. Always worth a visit. Visitors are expected to leave bags or backpacks in lockers at the entrance - pack accordingly!
C. E. (14 months ago)
Beautiful and very historic. During summer there are alot of people hanging out here, walking, jogging and strolling. They also have lightshow which is one of a kind. It gathers the crowd. It is a landmark of Karlsruhe.
Belle 0412 (15 months ago)
A view that’s worth seeing again. The front garden is beautiful and it really fits the palace you see behind it. The palace almost transport u to Buckingham since it’s appearance is so alike, and in my opinion that’s really amazing cos you feel the mix of the two nations together united by their palaces. I really felt great just by looking at its design and colors that fit perfectly in every time of the year. Inside it has a history museum and honestly I didn’t like it that much. In my opinion the price does not fit its worthiness, especially if you’re not a native German or fluent on the language since everything is written in German. Kind of disappointing cos if it weren’t for that I would probably give a five star, cos I love History. In conclusion, I would come back again cos the surroundings are really beautiful, as well as to see this magnificent palace again, but i maybe during summertime or spring so I would be able to spend more time in the gardens.
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Kromeriz Castle and Gardens

Kroměříž stands on the site of an earlier ford across the River Morava. The gardens and castle of Kroměříž are an exceptionally complete and well-preserved example of a European Baroque princely residence and its gardens and described as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The first residence on the site was founded by bishop Stanislas Thurzo in 1497. The building was in a Late Gothic style, with a modicum of Renaissance detail. During the Thirty Years' War, the castle was sacked by the Swedish army (1643).

It was not until 1664 that a bishop from the powerful Liechtenstein family charged architect Filiberto Lucchese with renovating the palace in a Baroque style. The chief monument of Lucchese's work in Kroměříž is the Pleasure Garden in front of the castle. Upon Lucchese's death in 1666, Giovanni Pietro Tencalla completed his work on the formal garden and had the palace rebuilt in a style reminiscent of the Turinese school to which he belonged.

After the castle was gutted by a major fire in March 1752, Bishop Hamilton commissioned two leading imperial artists, Franz Anton Maulbertsch and Josef Stern, arrived at the residence in order to decorate the halls of the palace with their works. In addition to their paintings, the palace still houses an art collection, generally considered the second finest in the country, which includes Titian's last mythological painting, The Flaying of Marsyas. The largest part of the collection was acquired by Bishop Karel in Cologne in 1673. The palace also contains an outstanding musical archive and a library of 33,000 volumes.

UNESCO lists the palace and garden among the World Heritage Sites. As the nomination dossier explains, 'the castle is a good but not outstanding example of a type of aristocratic or princely residence that has survived widely in Europe. The Pleasure Garden, by contrast, is a very rare and largely intact example of a Baroque garden'. Apart from the formal parterres there is also a less formal nineteenth-century English garden, which sustained damage during floods in 1997.

Interiors of the palace were extensively used by Miloš Forman as a stand-in for Vienna's Hofburg Imperial Palace during filming of Amadeus (1984), based on the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who actually never visited Kroměříž. The main audience chamber was also used in the film Immortal Beloved (1994), in the piano concerto scene.

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