Electoral Palace (Koblenz)
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50°21′20.21"N 7°36′07.08"E
The Electoral Palace (German: Kurfürstliche Schloss) in Koblenz
, Germany
was the residence of the last Archbishop and Elector of Trier, Clemens Wenceslaus of Saxony, who commissioned the building of the castle by the end of the 18th Century. In the mid-19th Century, the Prussian Crown Prince (later Emperor William I) resided in the castle for a number of years as a Rhenish-Westphalian military governor.
Today it is the location of various federal agencies. One of the most important castles of the French early classicism in southwestern Germany, and together with Schloss Wilhelmshohe in Kassel, the Prince Bishop's Palace in Münster and Ludwigsburg Palace
, one of the last residence palaces built before the French Revolution
in Germany.
Since 2002, the Electoral Palace is part of the World Heritage Upper Middle Rhine Valley, acknowledged by UNESCO
.
The simple and austere building was built as a residence and City Palace. But it is conceived by the situation on the Rhine and the interior disposition, both as part of the Rhine as well as landscape construction that integrates the environment into its premises with or taken into account. From the city the ideal path leads through the vestibule and ground floor garden room in the palace garden on the banks. The rooms on the south and east sides offer a magnificent view of the Middle Rhine Valley. The inclusion of the landscape stems from the desire of the owner. The acting by the Zirkularbauten generous forecourt situation has older models such as in St. Peter's colonnade in Rome, the New Palace in the Hermitage Museum in Bayreuth and the Schwetzingen Castle
. With the commissioning of French architects in Koblenz breaks the hitherto usual orientation of the architecture at the German and Franconian Baroque from.
After criticism of his Schlossplänen a report of the Paris Academy of architects has been obtained, which confirmed that criticism. D'Ixnard was discharged and now the Frenchman Antoine-François Peyre younger with the new construction plans of the responsible, a much simpler and smaller structure provided for the. Peyre goes back to the castle in its present appearance.
The plans for the design of the interiors and the furniture comes to 1787 by Ignace François Mangin, as Hoffstukkateur Henckel was committed. With the local construction was among others Johann Andreas Gärtner from Dresden entrusted to Koblenz in the damaged in World War II and then cleared Festungsschirrhof (now Reichenspergerplatz) was built. His Koblenz-born son of Friedrich von Gärtner built in Munich include the Louis Church, buildings on the street and the Ludwig Feldherrnhalle. Among the artists of the palace built by the Mainz include sculptor Johann Sebastian Pfaff and the painter Januarius Zick.
On 23 November 1786 drew Elector Clemens Wenceslaus of Saxony and his sister Maria of Saxe Cunegonde, Abbess of Essen, the new lock into. A year later new was close to the castle, the theater opened. Alarmed by the outbreak of the French Revolution, turned the previously reformist Elector Clemens Wenceslaus all reforms and introduced a stricter regime. The emigrants and the fugitive members of the kindred with the French court (Clemens Wenceslaus was the uncle of the French King Louis XVI.), he offered - in particular in Schloss Schönborn desire on the outskirts of the city of Koblenz - a place of refuge. This was a center of Koblenz French royalists.
1842 to 1845 the interior was designed by Friedrich August Stüler by Johann Claudius von Lassaulx changed since the building official residence of the Prussian royal house for his stays in the Rhineland was to.
Between 1833 and 1852 was at the Belvedere of the Chateau southern one optical beam Telegraph of Prussian telegraph line from Berlin-Cologne-Koblenz accommodated. It was the final station 61 of the plant, and in the castle at the same time were the telegraph office expedition as well as rooms for the management of the western parts of the telegraph line accommodated.
In the years 1850 to 1858 served here as a Prussian military governor for the Rhine province and the province of Westphalia, Prince William, later Emperor William I., with his wife Augusta. She gave the impetus to create the later named after her Empress-Augusta-Anlagen (Rhein systems). Empress Augusta visited every year until a few weeks before her death in January 1890, the castle and the city of Koblenz, their "Rhenish Potsdam".
The castle remained until the outbreak of World War I frequently visit The aim of the Prussian royal family. In 1914 it was the beginning of the war, a base for the GHQ and Kaiser Wilhelm II. Odd saw the castle, as here, 25 October 1923 to 9 February 1924, the separatists Rhenish Republic proclaimed.
In the Nazi era on 24 March 1935 on the forecourt of the Electoral Palace in Mayor Otto Wittgen a Thingstätte inaugurated. The Thing movement was created as a propaganda tool life, but a short time later reinstated, as it turned out to be ineffective. The Thing site was destroyed in an air raid in 1944 and later, debris from the city filled with.
In 1946 the country was Rheinland-Pfalz as the legal successor of Prussia owner of the building. It sold it in 1960 but the Federal Republic of Germany, the owner since then. During the last restoration in 1998 instead of the previous outer color of ocher and blue-red, for the Prussian garrison and fortifications and castles of Prussia was normal, while that of the 18 Century restored - for the gray-white walls and gray for the architectural components. Today, the former residence as an office building for various federal agencies (eg, Federal Agency for Immovable Property, which also manages the castle, the main customs office, BWB, the federal audit office ) and is therefore used only for special events open to the public.
The Electoral Palace (German: Kurfürstliche Schloss) in Koblenz
Koblenz
Koblenz is a German city situated on both banks of the Rhine at its confluence with the Moselle, where the Deutsches Eck and its monument are situated.As Koblenz was one of the military posts established by Drusus about 8 BC, the...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
was the residence of the last Archbishop and Elector of Trier, Clemens Wenceslaus of Saxony, who commissioned the building of the castle by the end of the 18th Century. In the mid-19th Century, the Prussian Crown Prince (later Emperor William I) resided in the castle for a number of years as a Rhenish-Westphalian military governor.
Today it is the location of various federal agencies. One of the most important castles of the French early classicism in southwestern Germany, and together with Schloss Wilhelmshohe in Kassel, the Prince Bishop's Palace in Münster and Ludwigsburg Palace
Ludwigsburg Palace
Ludwigsburg Palace is a historical building in the city of Ludwigsburg , Germany. It is one of the country's largest Baroque palaces and features an enormous garden in that style....
, one of the last residence palaces built before the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
in Germany.
Since 2002, the Electoral Palace is part of the World Heritage Upper Middle Rhine Valley, acknowledged by UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
.
Construction
The castle consists of a longitudinal rectangular main building (Corps de logis), who-south direction parallel to the river Rhine in nearby stretches north and two on the west side to the town, located semicircular circular wings, the big frame the Schlossvorplatz. The main building, which characterizes a horizontal layout, features 39 axes. Of these five axes as side projections formed. In the middle of the city located achtsäuliger front is a portico building height presented in. For the Rhine is a central projection formed, the six columns are presented and a relief of the sculptor Sebastian Pfaff concludes. It shows the allegory of the Rhine and Mosel, the elector's coat of arms, lions as symbols of power as well as symbols of worldly and spiritual power of the Archbishop and Elector of Trier. The lower, are unarticulated in the 1950s, reconstructed two-story circular wing.The simple and austere building was built as a residence and City Palace. But it is conceived by the situation on the Rhine and the interior disposition, both as part of the Rhine as well as landscape construction that integrates the environment into its premises with or taken into account. From the city the ideal path leads through the vestibule and ground floor garden room in the palace garden on the banks. The rooms on the south and east sides offer a magnificent view of the Middle Rhine Valley. The inclusion of the landscape stems from the desire of the owner. The acting by the Zirkularbauten generous forecourt situation has older models such as in St. Peter's colonnade in Rome, the New Palace in the Hermitage Museum in Bayreuth and the Schwetzingen Castle
Schwetzingen Castle
Schloss Schwetzingen, or Schwetzingen Castle is a palace in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. Schwetzingen was the summer residence of the Electors Palatine Karl III Philip and Charles Theodore. It is situated in Schwetzingen, roughly equidistant from the electors' seats at Heidelberg and...
. With the commissioning of French architects in Koblenz breaks the hitherto usual orientation of the architecture at the German and Franconian Baroque from.
The building
The old residence, the Castle Philip Castle in Ehrenbreitstein had become and the renovation of the Saxon-Polish Marquis and royal family dating new archbishop is not representative enough. Therefore, a new representative building was needed. The estates, which would accept the need for a new building could hardly be induced only after lengthy discussions on monetary grant. The Electoral Palace was finally from 1777 to 1793 by order of the Archbishop of Trier and Elector Clemens Wenceslaus of Saxony, New Town, built in Koblenz. Charting was first architect of the Paris architect Pierre Michel d'Ixnard of southern Germany had already planned a number of buildings in.After criticism of his Schlossplänen a report of the Paris Academy of architects has been obtained, which confirmed that criticism. D'Ixnard was discharged and now the Frenchman Antoine-François Peyre younger with the new construction plans of the responsible, a much simpler and smaller structure provided for the. Peyre goes back to the castle in its present appearance.
The plans for the design of the interiors and the furniture comes to 1787 by Ignace François Mangin, as Hoffstukkateur Henckel was committed. With the local construction was among others Johann Andreas Gärtner from Dresden entrusted to Koblenz in the damaged in World War II and then cleared Festungsschirrhof (now Reichenspergerplatz) was built. His Koblenz-born son of Friedrich von Gärtner built in Munich include the Louis Church, buildings on the street and the Ludwig Feldherrnhalle. Among the artists of the palace built by the Mainz include sculptor Johann Sebastian Pfaff and the painter Januarius Zick.
On 23 November 1786 drew Elector Clemens Wenceslaus of Saxony and his sister Maria of Saxe Cunegonde, Abbess of Essen, the new lock into. A year later new was close to the castle, the theater opened. Alarmed by the outbreak of the French Revolution, turned the previously reformist Elector Clemens Wenceslaus all reforms and introduced a stricter regime. The emigrants and the fugitive members of the kindred with the French court (Clemens Wenceslaus was the uncle of the French King Louis XVI.), he offered - in particular in Schloss Schönborn desire on the outskirts of the city of Koblenz - a place of refuge. This was a center of Koblenz French royalists.
The quick end
Due to the approach of the French revolutionary army in the 1st Coalition had elector Wenzeslaus on 7 October 1794 to escape permanently from its territory. Two weeks later was Koblenz from the French under General Francois Severin Marceau taken. The Electorate of Trier was at the end of 1801 and was largely in France affiliated. The interior of the residential palace could therefore never be complete. The mobile equipment was loaded onto the elector before his flight to ships and spend to Augsburg, where they became part of the equipment of the Episcopal residence. After the death of Clemens Wenceslaus it was partially sold. Large parts of the state rooms of the Koblenz Castle but were in the possession of the Kingdom of Bavaria about. These pieces are still in Johannesburg Castle in Aschaffenburg, in the Nymphenburg Palace in Munich, the Munich Residence, in the city residence of Landshut, and in the Neue Residenz Bamberg received. After the flight of the electors was the Electoral Palace at times as a military hospital in 1815 and after it in the possession of Prussia had come as a barracks.Under Prussian rule
From 1823 to 1842 was the Elector's Palace residence of various Prussian authorities and courts. The ground floor was until 1911 the office of the Chief President of the Prussian Rhine Province, who then in the next to the newly built castle Prefect moved. The head of the Southern Circular wing was until 1918 the main guard of the city of Koblenz.1842 to 1845 the interior was designed by Friedrich August Stüler by Johann Claudius von Lassaulx changed since the building official residence of the Prussian royal house for his stays in the Rhineland was to.
Between 1833 and 1852 was at the Belvedere of the Chateau southern one optical beam Telegraph of Prussian telegraph line from Berlin-Cologne-Koblenz accommodated. It was the final station 61 of the plant, and in the castle at the same time were the telegraph office expedition as well as rooms for the management of the western parts of the telegraph line accommodated.
In the years 1850 to 1858 served here as a Prussian military governor for the Rhine province and the province of Westphalia, Prince William, later Emperor William I., with his wife Augusta. She gave the impetus to create the later named after her Empress-Augusta-Anlagen (Rhein systems). Empress Augusta visited every year until a few weeks before her death in January 1890, the castle and the city of Koblenz, their "Rhenish Potsdam".
The castle remained until the outbreak of World War I frequently visit The aim of the Prussian royal family. In 1914 it was the beginning of the war, a base for the GHQ and Kaiser Wilhelm II. Odd saw the castle, as here, 25 October 1923 to 9 February 1924, the separatists Rhenish Republic proclaimed.
In the Nazi era on 24 March 1935 on the forecourt of the Electoral Palace in Mayor Otto Wittgen a Thingstätte inaugurated. The Thing movement was created as a propaganda tool life, but a short time later reinstated, as it turned out to be ineffective. The Thing site was destroyed in an air raid in 1944 and later, debris from the city filled with.
Reconstruction and use after 1945
When the air raids in World War II, the palace was destroyed except for exterior walls have been the 1944th In the years 1950 to 1951, she was outside on old plans, with modern interior design in the style of the fifties, rebuilt. Only the representative in the central staircase, the hall, the guard room (now the "hall of mirrors" or "elector hall were considered) and reconstructed the garden room. The classical model was there state of the construction period. This also applied to the restoration of the gardens, particularly of the Schlossplatz. The only remaining historic room is the entrance to the castle no longer exists in the north end building of the main building. The simple Zirkularbauten arisen in modern forms again and kept only the outline of the construction period. First, the building served as headquarters of the Allied Security Office.In 1946 the country was Rheinland-Pfalz as the legal successor of Prussia owner of the building. It sold it in 1960 but the Federal Republic of Germany, the owner since then. During the last restoration in 1998 instead of the previous outer color of ocher and blue-red, for the Prussian garrison and fortifications and castles of Prussia was normal, while that of the 18 Century restored - for the gray-white walls and gray for the architectural components. Today, the former residence as an office building for various federal agencies (eg, Federal Agency for Immovable Property, which also manages the castle, the main customs office, BWB, the federal audit office ) and is therefore used only for special events open to the public.