Poppelsdorf Palace

Bonn, Germany

The design of a new structure to replace the old ruined castle of Poppelsdorf commenced in 1715 at the request of the owner, Joseph Clemens, Archbishop-Elector of Cologne, who engaged the French architect Robert de Cotte. Clemens wanted a maison de plaisance that would be near his remodeled Bonn Palace one-half mile to the north. There was to be a canal between the two, following the example of the Palace of Versailles and the Trianon de Marbre.

Work came to a halt after Clemens' death in 1723, but his nephew and heir, Archbishop of Cologne Clemens August, undertook a second campaign of construction in 1745–1746.

Under the Prussian rule, in 1818 the Palace and the nearby Park became part of the University of Bonn. In the same year the Park was converted to the Botanical Garden of Bonn, which today contains about 0.5 hectares of greenhouse area with eleven greenhouses and about 8.000 different plants.

In 1944 the Palace was heavily damaged by an Allied air attack. It has been rebuilt in a much simpler appearance from 1955 on.

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Address

Clemens-August-Weg, Bonn, Germany
See all sites in Bonn

Details

Founded: 1715-1746
Category: Palaces, manors and town halls in Germany
Historical period: Thirty Years War & Rise of Prussia (Germany)

More Information

en.wikipedia.org
www.bonn-region.de

Rating

4.4/5 (based on Google user reviews)

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Cologne Cathedral (25,8 km)
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Great St. Martin Church (25,4 km)
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Cologne City Museum (26 km)
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St. Maria im Kapitol (25,1 km)

User Reviews

Lark Sisterman (3 years ago)
Looks nice from the outside, unfortunately it was closed when we went there.
MD SABBIR-BIN HOSSAIN (3 years ago)
Nice place for spend time with friends and family and also for running.
MrRoelWouters (3 years ago)
The Poppelsdorf Palace is a beautiful palace that is mostly surrounded by beautiful gardens. You can visit the inner courtyard free of charge. Inside you can find the Mineralogical-Petrological Museum and the Institute for Zoology. Outside the gardens have been turned into botanical gardens for which you have to pay to visit them.
Kathy Newman (3 years ago)
Nice palace and surrounding gardens, nice for a stroll and picnic
Catherine Widmann (4 years ago)
200 year old Mineralogical Museum great for adults and kids! Hands-on exhibits and examples of how minerals are used in our daily lives were well received. Thank you! Next year 2018 look out for events celebrating its 200 year anniversary. The interiors are beautiful and the collection impressive.
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Glimmingehus is the best preserved medieval stronghold in Scandinavia. It was built 1499-1506, during an era when Scania formed a vital part of Denmark, and contains many defensive arrangements of the era, such as parapets, false doors and dead-end corridors, 'murder-holes' for pouring boiling pitch over the attackers, moats, drawbridges and various other forms of death traps to surprise trespassers and protect the nobles against peasant uprisings. The lower part of the castle's stone walls are 2.4 meters (94 inches) thick and the upper part 1.8 meters (71 inches).

Construction was started in 1499 by the Danish knight Jens Holgersen Ulfstand and stone-cutter-mason and architect Adam van Düren, a North German master who also worked on Lund Cathedral. Construction was completed in 1506.

Ulfstand was a councillor, nobleman and admiral serving under John I of Denmark and many objects have been uncovered during archeological excavations that demonstrate the extravagant lifestyle of the knight's family at Glimmingehus up until Ulfstand's death in 1523. Some of the most expensive objects for sale in Europe during this period, such as Venetian glass, painted glass from the Rhine district and Spanish ceramics have been found here. Evidence of the family's wealth can also be seen inside the stone fortress, where everyday comforts for the knight's family included hot air channels in the walls and bench seats in the window recesses. Although considered comfortable for its period, it has also been argued that Glimmingehus was an expression of "Knighthood nostalgia" and not considered opulent or progressive enough even to the knight's contemporaries and especially not to later generations of the Scanian nobility. Glimmingehus is thought to have served as a residential castle for only a few generations before being transformed into a storage facility for grain.

An order from Charles XI to the administrators of the Swedish dominion of Scania in 1676 to demolish the castle, in order to ensure that it would not fall into the hands of the Danish king during the Scanian War, could not be executed. A first attempt, in which 20 Scanian farmers were ordered to assist, proved unsuccessful. An additional force of 130 men were sent to Glimmingehus to execute the order in a second attempt. However, before they could carry out the order, a Danish-Dutch naval division arrived in Ystad, and the Swedes had to abandon the demolition attempts. Throughout the 18th century the castle was used as deposit for agricultural produce and in 1924 it was donated to the Swedish state. Today it is administered by the Swedish National Heritage Board.

On site there is a museum, medieval kitchen, shop and restaurant and coffee house. During summer time there are several guided tours daily. In local folklore, the castle is described as haunted by multiple ghosts and the tradition of storytelling inspired by the castle is continued in the summer events at the castle called "Strange stories and terrifying tales".

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