Rastatt Palace

Rastatt, Germany

Schloss Rastatt is a baroque palace built between 1700 and 1707 by the Italian architect Domenico Egidio Rossi. The palace and garden were built to Margrave Louis William of Baden. During the Palatine war of succession the residence of Margrave Louis William of Baden-Baden had been burnt by French troops. A rebuild of the destroyed castle would not have suited the representative needs of the court of Baden-Baden. Since he also needed a home for his wife Sibylle Auguste of Saxe-Lauenburg, whom he had married in 1690, he had a new residence built in place of the former hunting lodge.

During this operation the 1697 hunting lodge was demolished to leave space for the new castle. The village of Rastatt was promoted to city status in 1700 and the Margrave moved here with his court. The residence in Rastatt is the oldest Baroque residence in the German Upper-Rhine area. It was built according to the example of the French Palace of Versailles. During the 19th century the castle was used as headquarters.

Inside the palace a large staircase with stucco decorations give way to the Beletage. The biggest and most decorated hall is the Ahnensaal. It is decorated with numerous frescoes and shows paintings of ancestors and of captured Ottoman soldiers.

The castle was not damaged during World War II. Today the castle is home of two museums, the military history museum and memorial site for the German liberation movement.

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Address

Herrenstraße 18, Rastatt, Germany
See all sites in Rastatt

Details

Founded: 1700-1707
Category: Palaces, manors and town halls in Germany
Historical period: Thirty Years War & Rise of Prussia (Germany)

More Information

www.schloss-rastatt.de
en.wikipedia.org

Rating

4.4/5 (based on Google user reviews)

Interesting Sites Nearby


Kammerzell House (45,4 km)
Strasbourg Cathedral (45,4 km)
Ponts Couverts (46,2 km)
Palais Rohan (45,4 km)
Temple Neuf (45,4 km)
Barrage Vauban (46,3 km)
Speyer Cathedral (53,8 km)
St. Thomas Church (45,8 km)
Karlsruhe Palace (22,5 km)

User Reviews

Julia Alex (6 months ago)
Beautiful castle, was not expected to find this pearl in Rastatt..
Maria Shalepo (7 months ago)
Amazing little town, which provides so much to see. 100% worth visiting. We've been here before COVID era, in October. The weather were perfect, even then there were not too many people around. I've never heard of this travel destination before I had to get to Baden-Baden airport. And it's such a shame, that neither haven't many other people as well! Don't know the reason why it's less popular than Karlsruhe or Strasbourg. As a tourist in the region, you should mark it as a must-stop and surely visit it for a day (no need to stay any longer - it's really compact and one day is enough to see everything).
Sanjay Sridhar (9 months ago)
Nice glorious place
Vasi Simea (13 months ago)
A perfect place for a walk while in Rastatt, its garden and the outskirts are truely amazing. It's a pleasure walking there every time
Goldschmidt Nicolae (16 months ago)
Very nice!
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The Palace of the Kings of Navarre of Olite was one of the seats of the Court of the Kingdom of Navarre, since the reign of Charles III 'the Noble' until its conquest by Castile (1512). The fortification is both castle and palace, although it was built more like a courtier building to fulfill a military function.

On an ancient Roman fortification was built during the reign of Sancho VII of Navarre (13th century) and extended by his successors Theobald I and Theobald II, which the latter was is installed in the palace in 1269 and there he signed the consent letter for the wedding of Blanche of Artois with his brother Henry I of Navarre, who in turn, Henry I since 1271 used the palace as a temporary residence. This ancient area is known as the Old Palace.

Then the palace was housing the Navarrese court from the 14th until 16th centuries, Since the annexation (integration) of the kingdom of Navarre for the Crown of Castile in 1512 began the decline of the castle and therefore its practically neglect and deterioration. At that time it was an official residence for the Viceroys of Navarre.

In 1813 Navarrese guerrilla fighter Espoz y Mina during the Napoleonic French Invasion burned the palace with the aim to French could not make forts in it, which almost brought in ruin. It is since 1937 when architects José and Javier Yarnoz Larrosa began the rehabilitation (except the non-damaged church) for the castle palace, giving it back its original appearance and see today. The restoration work was completed in 1967 and was paid by the Foral Government of Navarre.

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