Ettlingen Palace: A Baroque Palace and Cultural Centre in Germany
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.5
- Popularity
- Medium
- Country
- Germany
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Domestic
- Remains
- Palace
On this page9 sections
History
Ettlingen Palace is a Baroque palace in Ettlingen, Germany, rebuilt between 1727 and 1733 in an elaborate architectural style associated with theatrical decoration. The present building succeeded earlier medieval and Renaissance residences and reflects the long political history of the city.
Medieval Foundations
Ettlingen was founded by the Staufers, a medieval German ruling dynasty that included Emperor Friedrich II. Friedrich II enfeoffed Hermann V, Margrave of Baden, with the city. In the mid-thirteenth century, Hermann’s son, Margrave Rudolf I of Baden, built a castle complex at Ettlingen. The castle may have incorporated the remains of an earlier Staufer building, although that predecessor has not been verified.
Renaissance Palace and Destruction
During the sixteenth century, the medieval castle was replaced by a grand Renaissance palace. Renaissance architecture revived classical forms in Europe. The new residence was completed in 1600 as a three-wing complex arranged around the older keep. Two round corner towers were added to its southern wing, while the keep received a timber-framed upper storey.
French troops destroyed the palace and the city in 1689 during the Palatine War of Succession, a late-seventeenth-century conflict in which French forces attacked territories in the German southwest. The destruction left ruins that later became the basis for a new residence.
Augusta Sibylla’s Residence
After the death of her husband, Margrave Ludwig Wilhelm, in 1707, Margravine Augusta Sibylla selected Ettlingen as her widow’s residence and later home. Between 1727 and 1733, the surviving ruins were rebuilt as the present palace. Johann Michael Ludwig Rohrer created the new luxurious Baroque complex, incorporating portions of the earlier structures.
Later Uses and Civic Role
Following Augusta Sibylla’s death in 1733, the palace served several purposes over nearly two centuries. It was used as a guest house and became a military hospital in 1812. In 1871, Prussian authorities converted it into a school for non-commissioned officers, military personnel trained for ranks below commissioned officers. The city of Ettlingen acquired the palace in 1912.
The courtyard was restored in 1978. The palace now functions as a museum and event centre. Its collections include local history and archaeology, regional art from 1900 onward, paintings including works by Karl Hofer, and East Asian handicrafts displayed in the Baroque state rooms. The courtyard hosts the annual Ettlingen Palace Festival, while the former chapel is used for concerts, including Schubertiade performances devoted to the music of Franz Schubert.
Remains
The palace is a four-wing Baroque complex built from sandstone quarried at Lossburg. Its inner courtyard preserves elements from several building phases, including the lower storeys of the medieval keep, which date from the thirteenth century. The courtyard also retains features associated with the earlier Renaissance palace and the later Baroque rebuilding.
Courtyard and Renaissance Features
The inner courtyard has a clearly organized layout and includes illusionistic Baroque painting on the wall facing the southern wing. This painted architectural illusion creates the appearance of built forms through decoration. An elaborately designed doorway and a dolphin fountain from 1612 also survive there. The fountain was designed by Johannes Schoch, a Renaissance architect.
Asam Hall
The former palace chapel was dedicated to Saint John Nepomuk, a fourteenth-century Bohemian Catholic saint traditionally associated with martyrdom and the protection of the seal of confession. Its decoration includes 30 frescoes, wall paintings made on fresh plaster, by Cosmas Damian Asam, an eighteenth-century German Baroque painter and architect. The scenes depict the saint’s martyrdom. These are described as the only surviving frescoes by Asam in the Upper Rhine region. The former chapel now serves as the palace’s main hall and is known as the Asam Hall.
Great Hall and State Rooms
The Great Hall, also called the Rittersaal, served Augusta Sibylla as a ballroom. Its window recesses contain mural paintings, and a gently curved gallery runs within the room. A large Bohemian chandelier forms part of the hall’s interior. The palace’s Baroque state rooms now display East Asian handicrafts, while a separate gallery presents paintings from the museum collections.
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