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Founded: 1782Category: Palaces, manors and town halls in Germany
Historical period: Emerging States (Germany)
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Hohenheim Palace was built in 1782 by Duke Karl Eugen of Württemberg. Today it is the site of Stuttgart's oldest university, the University of Hohenheim.
After the duke had acquired the former manor of the Bombast von Hohenheim family, minor nobility - with Theophrastus von Hohenheim called Paracelsus as its most notable member - in 1768, he gave it to his mistress Franziska Leutrum von Ertingen. From 1772 Karl Eugen had the manor house rebuilt as a water castle surrounded by an extended English garden featuring several midget replicas of historic buildings, an arboretum and numerous exotic plants. The construction of the present-day palace started in 1782 but discontinued with the duke's death in 1793.
In 1818 King William I of Württemberg established an agricultural school at Hohenheim, the predecessor of today's university. Today the gardens comprise the Landesarboretum Baden-Württemberg and the Botanischer Garten der Universität Hohenheim.
References:The Petersberg Citadel is one of the largest extant early-modern citadels in Europe and covers the whole north-western part of the Erfurt city centre. It was built after 1665 on Petersberg hill and was in military use until 1963. It dates from a time when Erfurt was ruled by the Electors of Mainz and is a unique example of the European style of fortress construction. Beneath the citadel is an underground maze of passageways that can be visited on guided tours organised by Erfurt Tourist Office.
The citadel was originally built on the site of a medieval Benedictine Monastery and the earliest parts of the complex date from the 12th century. Erfurt has also been ruled by Sweden, Prussia, Napoleon, the German Empire, the Nazis, and post-World War II Soviet occupying forces, and it was part of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). All of these regimes used Petersberg Citadel and had an influence on its development. The baroque fortress was in military use until 1963. Since German reunification in 1990, the citadel has undergone significant restoration and it is now open to the public as a historic site.