Schloss Benrath

Düsseldorf, Germany

Schloss Benrath is a Baroque-style maison de plaisance (pleasure palace) in Benrath, which is now a borough of Düsseldorf. It was erected for the Elector Palatine Charles Theodor and his wife, Countess Palatine Elisabeth Auguste of Sulzbach, by his garden and building director Nicolas de Pigage. Construction began in 1755 and was completed in 1770. The ensemble at Benrath has been proposed for designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The main building, the central corps de logis, for the Elector Palatine and his wife is flanked by two arched symmetrical wings, the maisons de cavalière, which originally housed the servants. They partially surround a circular pond, the Schlossweiher (palace pond), in the north. On the southside lies a long rectangular pond, the Spiegelweiher (mirror pond). From the predescant castle, which stood formerly in the mid of the long rectangular pond on the southside of the palace, is conserved only one of the servant wings, the so-called Alte Orangerie (Old Orangery).

The main building is a museum with guided tours. Sometimes music concerts are also performed. The two wings house two museums since 2002: the Museum for European Garden Art in the east wing and the Museum of Natural History in the west wing.

The palace is surrounded by a baroque square hunting park with two crossing diagonal alleys and a circular alley.

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Address

Benrather Schloßallee 106, Düsseldorf, Germany
See all sites in Düsseldorf

Details

Founded: 1755-1770
Category: Palaces, manors and town halls in Germany
Historical period: Emerging States (Germany)

More Information

www.schloss-benrath.de
en.wikipedia.org
www.duesseldorf-tourismus.de

Rating

4.5/5 (based on Google user reviews)

Interesting Sites Nearby


Cologne Cathedral (25,2 km)
Romano-Germanic Museum (25,3 km)
St. Andrew's Church (25,1 km)
Great St. Martin Church (25,5 km)
Schlossturm (10,1 km)
Broich Castle (29,6 km)
Wallraf-Richartz-Museum (25,6 km)
St. Lambertus Church (10,2 km)
Bonn Minster (50,2 km)

User Reviews

Linda Novitt (5 months ago)
This is more like a French chateau from the 1700s than a German Castle. It’s beautiful and has a clock collection, beautiful French decor, and great gardens for walking. Nice part of town and easy to get to by train.
Dan Mihai (8 months ago)
Lovely castle with extensive gardens and green spaces. Only seen the gardens at this point but will definitely get back in the area to see more. The forested area makes you feel like you're far away from the city.
Padmini M S (9 months ago)
The palace is pretty. We took the guided tour but it was a bit of a disappointment. The tour guide was not very knowledgeable. Also, we were just shown a few rooms. The servant rooms, the passage to other wings were just explained verbally. Also at the upper floor, we could just peep into the guest rooms. Access was denied there too. We would have appreciated if we could access more rooms. The rooms that we saw were, no doubt very pretty. It is a shame to spend 14 euros on a guided tour and see only a few rooms with very little explanation.
Mariam (9 months ago)
The whole park behind the castle is prettier than the castle itself. If you really want to see the castle from the inside then it’s fine, but I don’t recommend buying the other ticket where you can enter only the two castles from left and right. Now in May/June is the prettiest time to go and visit it, especially when it’s sunny?
Ariful Haque (12 months ago)
Fantastic place to visit. Nice, calm and beautiful landscape. Combination of nature and architecture with a lots of birds chirping can give you the mental peace you looking for. Totally recommended place for single, couple or family time. It can take easily 4/5 hours to complete the visit.
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The castle, often besieged (notably by Simon de Montfort in 1211 and 1212), resisted assault and was only taken once, in 1486, thanks to treachery during the war between two branches of the Foix family.

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As seat of the Governor of the Foix region from the 15th century, the castle continued to ensure the defence of the area, notably during the Wars of Religion. Alone of all the castles in the region, it was exempted from the destruction orders of Richelieu (1632-1638).

Until the Revolution, the fortress remained a garrison. Its life was brightened with grand receptions for its governors, including the Count of Tréville, captain of musketeers under Louis XIII and Marshal Philippe Henri de Ségur, one of Louis XVI's ministers. The Round Tower, built in the 15th century, is the most recent, the two square towers having been built before the 11th century. They served as a political and civil prison for four centuries until 1862.

Since 1930, the castle has housed the collections of the Ariège départemental museum. Sections on prehistory, Gallo-Roman and mediaeval archaeology tell the history of Ariège from ancient times. Currently, the museum is rearranging exhibits to concentrate on the history of the castle site so as to recreate the life of Foix at the time of the Counts.

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