II. - Schloss Schwetzingen

Nomination
for Inscription on the
UNESCO
World Heritage List
Texts
Schwetzingen
A Prince Elector’s Summer Residence –
Garden Design and Freemasonic Allusions

Editor: Wirtschaftsministerium Baden-Württemberg;
Finanzministerium Baden-Württemberg;
Stadt Schwetzingen
All rights reserved (© 2006).
Project Management
and Contact: Landesbetrieb Vermögen und Bau Baden-Württemberg,
Referat Staatliche Schlösser und Gärten,
Schlossraum 22, 76646 Bruchsal
gerhard.wenz@vb-bw.fv.bwl.de
Informations: www.welterbeantrag-schwetzingen.de
Redaction: Andreas Förderer
Translation: Susanne Stopfel
End-papers: Zeyher/Roemer 1809
Jacket image: Orthographisches Luftbild © Stadt Schwetzingen
Verso: Gesamtplan, Verdyck & Gugenhan, Landschaftsarchitekten
Gestaltung: Struve & Partner, Atelier für Grafi k-Design,
Sickingenstraße 1a, 69126 Heidelberg
hs@struveundpartner.de

Nomination
for Inscription on the
UNESCO
World Heritage List
Texts
Schwetzingen
A Prince Elector’s Summer Residence –
Garden Design and Freemasonic Allusions

4
Contents
I. Introduction 7
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence 9
a) Elector Carl Theodor and his Palatinate – a World in Transition (Stefan Mörz) 9
b) The Summer Residence of Schwetzingen – a Type and its Realization
(Ralf Richard Wagner) 14
c) The palace Gardens – a Unique Ensemble of Masonic Images (Monika Scholl) 20
d) The Bathhouse – Synthesis of the Arts and Refuge of
Elector Carl Theodor (Ralf Richard Wagner) 36
e) The Mosque – an Embodiment of Eighteenth-Century Taste and Thought
(Susan Richter) 46
f) The Arabic Insriptions of the Mosque – a Manifestation of Inter-Cultural
Dialogue (Udo Simon) 55
g) The Palace Theatre – the Ideal of an Eighteenth-Century Theatre and Opera
House (Monika Scholl, Peter Thoma) 63
h) The Waterworks and Carl Theodor’s Scientifi c Experiments – Technical
Monuments of the Highest Order (Kai Budde) 68
i) The Palace Garden Arboreta – a Botanical Research Station (Rainer Stripf) 75
j) Harmonious Opposites: Carl Theodor’s Garden – Absolutist Display and
Utopian Idealism (Barbara Brähler) 81

Contents
III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context 87
a) The Prince Electors and their Schwetzingen Estate 87
1. A Summarized Political History (Stefan Mörz)
2. The Cultural Landscape of Schwetzingen (Svenja Schrickel)
b) History of the Town of Schwetzingen (Joachim Kresin) 98
c) History of the Palace 103
1. The Origins of the Castle and Palace (Peter Knoch)
2. The Palace Interior Through the Ages (Wolfgang Wiese)
3. The Palace’s Fortunes in the 19th and 20th Centuries
(Claudia Baer-Schneider, Peter Thoma)
d) History of the Palace Garden 130
1. The Origins of the Palace Garden (Uta Schmitt)
2. The Schwetzingen Palace Gardens – a Study in Historic Garden
Conservation (Hubert Wolfgang Wertz)
e) The Summer Residence – Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Responses 156
1. “A German Versailles” – Schwetzingen and its Status as Refl ected in
Travel Accounts, Images and Literature (Susan Richter)
2. The Schwetzinger Festspiele: the Legacy of the Summer Residence
(Peter Stieber)
IV. Biographies (Manuel Bechtold, Susan Richter, Ralf Richard Wagner,
Hubert Wolfgang Werz) 167
a) Rulers (in chronological order) 168
b) Artists (in alphabetical order) 174
V. Chronology (Tanja Fischer) 187
VI. List of Monuments in Schwetzingen (Annegret Kalvelage) 191
VII. Bibliography (Stefan Moebus) 207
5

Voltaire (François-Marie
Arouet), 1768.
„
“
Before I die there is one duty I would discharge, and one comfort I crave: I yould see
Schwetzingen again. That is the thought that fi lls my soul.
SCHWETZINGEN, BLICK VON SÜDEN
gest. von Barthélemy de La Rocque

I. Introduction
In the eighteenth century a magnifi cent country
seat was created at Schwetzingen under
the Electors Palatine – a unique complex
consisting of a town, palace and garden that
has stood largely unchanged to the present
day. In the Palatine summer residence of
Schwetzingen, courtly life was geared towards
pleasure and diversion – in contrast to the
main residence of Mannheim, where the focus
was on administration and display. It is this
annual move of the entire court from Mannheim
to the summer residence, for a stay of
several months’ duration, that explains the
unique conditions at Schwetzingen: a town
wholly aligned with the palace but formally
subordinate to it – a palace that seems huge
compared to the town but at the same time
quite unpretentious – a vast garden with a
variety of buildings that maintains its status
as an autonomous element.
The more important a cultural monument,
the more it is possible to discover about it.
History, building history, art history, garden
history, social history, the history of music, of
the sciences, of ideas – invariably the visible,
tangible remains refer to the past. And what
was artifi cially divided up into disciplines and
categories of research, because of the sheer
complexity of history, retains its original unity
in the cultural monument itself.
This volume undertakes to illuminate the
main aspects of the proposed nomination for
inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage
List from a number of different points of
view.
In Part I the focus is on individual aspects of
the eighteenth-century summer residence of
the Electors Palatine – the phenomenon of the
Elector’s institutionalized annual move to his
summer residence and back, the unique layout
of the garden with its wealth of sculptures
and “fabriques”, the status of the palace and
gardens in terms of cultural history, the relics
of scientifi c research and so on.
But the eighteenth-century electoral summer
residence and its appearance today can only
be fully understood against the historical
background that shaped it. Therefore, Part II
of this volume is dedicated to the history of
the site and the cultural landscape surrounding
it, the genesis of the town, the palace and
the palace gardens. There is also a supplementary
essay giving an overview of the responses
of visitors and the general public during the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
The concluding Parts III-VI provide a quick
overview of the basic facts: short biographies
of the rulers and the artists active at Schwetzingen
(III), a chronology of major events (IV),
a summarized description of the properties
and objects inscribed on the list of monuments
(V) and a bibliography of publications
on the town, palace and garden (VI).
The overall map with detailed captions
included at the back is intended to give an
idea of the property as a whole, and provide
information to complement the essays.
I.
7

DER APOLLOTEMPEL
Ivan Turgeniev in
,Visionen‘,1864.
gest. von Haldenwang
„ “
What is that park down there with avenues of smoothly pruned limes, with solitary fi rs cut into
shapes like umbrellas and fans, with columned halls and temples in the taste of Pompadour,
with statues of nymphs in Berni’s style, of Rococo tritons in the midst of shallow pools, held in by
balustrades of crumbling marble? Can this be Versailles? No, it is not Versailles! A small palace,
built in the Rococo style as well, peeks out from behind a group of oaks. The moon is half-veiled,
only faint light descending – it is as if a thin haze is spread on the ground. Is it mist, is it moonlight?
The eye cannot tell. A swan is slumbering on one of the ponds, his long white back gleaming
like the snow of our steppes once it is frozen, and there in the blue shadows, glow-worms shimmer
like diamonds on the bases of statues. “We are near Mannheim”, said Ellis, “this is the park of
Schwetzingen.” We are in Germany, then”, I thought, and listened. All was quiet, only a solitary jet
of water fell somewhere, unseen, softly splashing.

II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s
Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
a)
Elector Carl Theodor and his
Palatinate – a World in Transition
During the second half of the eighteenth
century, the Elector Palatine’s court was one
of the most interesting and glittering of
Germany. Mannheim was one of the European
centres of music, and visitors from all over the
continent fl ocked to the “Palatine Athens”.
The transformation of a country and city
ravaged by more than a century of almost incessant
wars into one of the places of Europe
an educated person simply had to see, was the
achievement of two electors, Carl Philipp and
his successor Carl Theodor.
A Glittering Court 1
A thoroughly Baroque despot for whom
”splendour was always more important than
reform” 2 , Carl Philipp (1661-1742), who ruled
from 1716 to 1742, had inherited the electorate
from his brother at a rather advanced age.
The new elector fi rst moved the court back
to the old residence in Heidelberg. In 1720
he chose Mannheim as his new capital. Here,
in the wide plain by the Rhine, Carl Philipp,
praised as “Palatine Aeneas”, could found a
truly baroque residence, a palace that was to
be one of the biggest in Germany, surrounded
by the spiritual and temporal pillars of
electoral might: monasteries, barracks and
no fewer than 54 aristocratic houses. Joined
to the palace was the Jesuits’ college with
its big church, a copy of Il Gesu in Rome, a
visible symbol of the close symbiosis between
the electoral house and the Catholic church.
Protestant churches, by contrast, were relegated
to the parts of town most distant from the
Elector‘s home.
1 For the follwing pages: Stefan Mörz, Haupt- und Residenzstadt.
Karl Theodor, sein Hof und Mannheim (= Kleine
Schriften des Stadtarchivs Mannheim, Nr. 12), Mannheim
1998; Stefan Mörz, Aufgeklärter Absolutismus in der Kurpfalz
während der Mannheimer Regierungszeit des Kurfürsten Karl
Theodor 1742-77 (= Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für
geschichtliche Landeskunde in Baden-Württemberg, Reihe B,
vol. 120), Stuttgart 1991.
2 Hans Schmidt, Kurfürst Karl Philipp, Mannheim 1964, p. 88.
As neither Carl Philipp nor any of his
numerous brothers had any male offspring,
the Electorate fell into the hands of another
collateral branch of the Palatine Wittelsbachs,
the line of the dukes of Pfalz-Sulzbach (a
poor and small territory in the Upper Palatinate).
The elector’s heir was Carl Theodor
(1724-1799), a young prince, orphaned at the
age of four, who had been educated by his
great-grandmother in Brussels, a devout old
lady who imbibed him with the creeds of the
house of Sulzbach and of her age – Catholicism
and absolutism in the French/Spanish
style. His native tongue was French, and he
did not learn German until he was about six.
When he was brought to Mannheim in 1734,
his education was taken over by the 70-yearold
Elector, a thoroughly un-intellectual
soldier, who was assisted by a rather wily
Jesuit and an equally old courtier, the Marquis
d‘Ittre (1683-1766). In 1742, Carl Theodor,
shy and of fragile health, was married to the
Elector‘s grand-daughter, Elisabeth Augusta
(1721-1794), a lively and very strong-minded
young woman three years his senior who
was interested in music, theatre, hunting,
amusements and not much else. The wedding
of Carl Theodor and Elisabeth Augusta turned
out to be the grandest court spectacle that
Mannheim ever was to witness. Most members
of the Wittelsbach family were present,
the Elector-Archbishop Clemens August of
Cologne (1700-1761) married the couple, the
newly erected opera-house was used for the
fi rst time.
When Carl Philip died the night before New
Year’s Day of 1743, the 18-year-old Carl Theodor
became Elector – and at fi rst was governed
by his old instructor d’Ittre. The War of
the Austrian Succession ravaged many of the
young elector’s territories, and in 1743, even
the court’s summer sojourn in Schwetzingen
had to be broken off because of approaching
foreign troups. As tax revenues fell drastically
due to the war, d’Ittre, a stern old gentleman,
insisted on the strictest economy.
II.
9

II.
Fig. 1: The territories of the
Palatine Wittelsbachs in the
18th century (From: Pfalzatlas
bzw. Mörz 1991).
10
Fig. 2: Elector Carl Theodor
(1724-1799), painting by
Johann Georg Ziesenis, 1758
(Heidelberg, Kurpfälzisches
Museum).
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
However, when the war actions moved to
more distant places, d’Ittre’s “miserly” ways
became more and more unpopular with the
courtiers and, fi rst and foremost, the electress,
convinced her husband to spend more to
restore the splendour of the Palatine court.
Carl Theodor shared the view then commonly
held by many rulers (and their subjects) that
an impressive court was most important to
demonstrate their status and gain much-coveted
“fame”. Thus he followed his wife’s wishes:
D’Ittre was forced to hand in his resignation,
and only weeks later the Elector gave orders
for the completion of the huge Mannheim
Palace. It was doubled in size and offered
suffi cient space for the display of the various
collections as well as for the big library, new
kitchens and the mews. By good fortune, the
music-loving electress also encouraged her
husband who, in this respect, was a kindred
soul, to enlarge the court orchestra which
was to become one of the wonders of the
eighteenth-century world admired by many
travellers – and by Mozart. From 1748, the
court opera began to be used again permanently,
and during the following decades a
great number of “opere serie” were staged
there, later to be complemented by “lighter”
operatic pieces performed on the stage of the
Schwetzingen theatre built in the 1750s.
While Carl Theodor and his wife looked to
France as regards design and architecture and
to Italy as regards music, the Palatine court
was organized on the model of the imperial
court in Vienna. After all, the elector was one
of the most eminent Princes of the Empire.
Thus, in the 1770s, about 750 servants and
250 guards were grouped in eight “departments”,
dealing with the maintenance of the
buildings and gardens, the court chapel and
collections, the personal services to the elector,
the court supply and kitchens, the stables and
the pages, the court music, the court hunts
and the personal services to the electress. An
incredibly intricate “clock-work” of interdependent
services helped to keep this huge
organism going. Hardly anything could be left
to spontaneous impulses, and even the elector
was subject to rigid rules.
And yet, ordinary people naturally envied
this mass of well-clad and well-fed courtiers
who enjoyed so many privileges. They hardly
noticed that many of the lower retainers
earned so little that they could never afford to
marry, that they had to spend much of their
lives in small and crammed rooms which they
shared with several others. What people saw
were the string of entertainments that all the
year round (reduced, but not stopped, during

Lent) served to please and divert courtiers,
visitors and, in many cases, the inhabitants of
Mannheim and the neighbouring countryside,
who could see the fi reworks, listen to the
music and follow the electoral barges on the
Rhine from a distance – and, as many observers
stated, were extremely keen on these
pleasures. The entertainments also emphasized
the “august” position of the Elector
Palatine. Thus the celebrations for birth- and
namedays of both the Elector and the Electress
in November, December and January
lasted for more than six days each time in the
1750s, including opera, theatre, gala-dinners
and receptions, fi reworks, balls, and often
incredibly expensive hunts both ”seated” and
”par force”. Every May, after holding reviews
of the Palatine troops in the Rhine plain near
Mannheim, that were of more ornamental
than practical value, the Elector and his court
moved to Schwetzingen which served as the
summer-residence until September. After
the de-facto-breakdown of his marriage in
the 1760s, Carl Theodor gave the palace of
Oggersheim which had been the property of a
relative of the electoral couple, to the Electress.
From then on, Elisabeth Augusta chose
to spend her summers there. Thus the Palatine
court had in fact two summer-residences
which both saw accomplished entertainments
staged by the Mannheim orchestra and opera,
the French theatre company and the ballet.
“The Spirit of our Century” Transforms the
Court3 From the early 1760s, the Elector wanted
his court and reign not only to shine with
the gold of architectural ornaments and the
glitter of perfect entertainments; he aspired
to be admired as a ruler who knew about and
appreciated the “spirit of the age” – of the Age
of Enlightenment. Well-read and intelligent,
3 Wolfgang von Hippel: “Die Kurpfalz zur Zeit Carl Theodors
(1742-1799) – wirtschaftliche Lage und wirtschaftspolitische
Bemühungen”, in: Zeitschrift für die Geschichte des Oberrheins,
N.F. 109/2000, pp. 177-244.
Mörz 1991, as above; Mörz 1998, as above; Stefan Mörz,
“Das Ende der alten Zeit: Der Raum Ludwigshafen im 18.
Jahrhundert”, in: Geschichte der Stadt Ludwigshafen, vol. 1,
Ludwigshafen 2003, pp. 133-197.
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
he proved quite accessible to modern ideas.
Twice he received Voltaire, the ”wise man of
Ferney”, at Schwetzingen.
Carl Theodor also began to emancipate
himself from personal ties that had previously
often restricted him. In 1758 his old Jesuit
confessor died. In 1761, after almost twenty
years of marriage, the Electress gave birth
to a son that died in the same night. It was
now clear that she would never have children
again. From then on, the electoral couple
began to drift apart. Carl Theodor was tired of
his wife’s tantrums and her open display of
affection for her lovers. He now took to several
mistresses himself and fathered at least a
dozen illegitimate children whom he provided
well for. Moreover, Carl Theodor and Elisabeth
Augusta had never had much in common,
and the world of the enlightenment remained
largely alien to the Electress. Even in their
shared appreciation of music and theatre great
divergencies began to appear: While Elisabeth
Augusta retained her love for the Italian opera
II.
Fig. 3: Mannheim, copperplate
by J. A. Baertels, 1758 (From:
Walter, Stadtgeschichte
Mannheim, Mannheim 1907,
vol. 1).
11

II.
12
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
and the French theatre, Carl Theodor was,
unlike Frederick the Great, quite open for the
development of the German “movement”. The
French actors were sent away, and, in 1775,
he had the fi rst German opera performed at
his court. A year later the Elector founded
the Mannheim National theater, a thoroughly
modern, new type of court-institution, open to
anyone who bought a ticket. Even before, the
opera and the so-called “musical academies”,
concerts of the famous Mannheim orchestra
in the palace’s Rittersaal, had been open to the
public – albeit a public that had to be welldressed,
educated and carefully scrutinized by
court-offi cials before they were admitted.
The new spirit of the age transformed Carl
Theodor’s splendid court in many more ways.
Enlightened criticism of idle court-life was
uttered in the Elector’s presence even by his
leading minister, and gradually, the number of
extravagant entertainments was reduced, while
at the same time a comprehensive system
of scholarly and scientifi c associations was
established: The Academy of Sciences (1763),
to which was later added a meteorological
branch with the fi rst-ever world-wide system
of weather-observation-posts; the Academy of
Sculpture and Painting; A ”German Society”
which was much favoured by Carl Theodor
who tried to promote the purity and development
of the German language. Attached to the
scholarly associations were various institutions
housed in the palace or nearby, such as
the library and the collections of paintings,
drawings, minerals, coins etc. all supervised
by experts and open to the public.
The Schwetzingen gardens also changed
their appearence: an English section began
to “embrace” the French garden laid out in
front of the palace. This addition of a new
part refl ecting the trends of the age, while
still preserving the old baroque invention, can
be seen as the most attractive expression of
Carl Theodor’s ambiguous attitude towards
old-style French absolutism and enlightened
despotism. In his Schwetzingen gardens, a
wonderful synthesis was reached which in his
governance eluded him. In the 1780s, even
the latest, pre-romantic fashion was included
in the lay-out of the new part of the Schwetzingen
gardens. Carl Theodor, who took a
close interest in the development of Schwetzingen,
opened the gardens to his subjects to
allow them to refi ne their tastes and manners
by looking at beautiful things. The same
happened with the extensive gardens surrounding
the Oggersheim palace which, however,
quite in tune with the differences in outlook
between Carl Theodor and Elisabeth Augusta,
were all in the French taste.
Enlightened openness, however, did not
mean a renunciation of class distinctions:
Throughout his reign, the Elector would only
accept as accompanying ”Gentlemen of the
Bedchamber” men of old aristocratic origin.
Court-balls were open to the Mannheim
bourgeoisie – but they were kept apart from
the nobility by a silk string partitioning
the Rittersaal. Similarly, the reduction of
entertainments did not mean their immediate
end. No less than 20 % of the total revenue of
the electoral territories were still spent on the
maintenance of the court. It has to be kept in
mind, however, that the new academic institutions
and collections also remained part of the
“court-machine” and thus their cost was part
of the aforementioned amount. It is also true
that Carl Theodor refrained from builiding
a new palace in Schwetzingen and, instead,
placed the emphasis there on the enlargement
of the gardens. The enormous sums necessary
for the construction of an “à-la-mode”-summer
residence were spent near Düsseldorf, where
the new palace of Benrath also served as an
assertion of the Palatine claims on the lowerrhenish
dukedoms in the face of Prussian
threats.
The End of Courtly Splendour
When, during the end-of-year-service at
the court chapel of his Mannheim palace,
Carl Theodor received the news that he had
inherited Bavaria, his fi rst thought was: “Now
the good days are over”. Required by the treaty

of mutual succession to reside in Munich, he
left Mannheim and Schwetzingen. Only his
wife, relieved at no longer having to keep up
appearances, stayed behind, and kept a small
court at Mannheim and Oggersheim. There
still were some balls in winter in Mannheim,
and rural “fêtes” during the Oggersheim
summer. However, the excellent orchestra and
the best singers had left for Munich; great
court entertainments were a thing of the past.
The refounded Nationaltheater and the
collections that remained at the palace in
Mannheim continued to attract large numbers
of visitors, and the Schwetzingen gardens
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
were not only maintained but enlarged. It
all came to end when revolutionary armies
swept through the electoral lands in the
1790s. The treasures of the palace were taken
to Munich, the court offi cials fl ed, and in
1802 the Palatinate as a country ceased to
exist. Carl Theodor, who during the 1780s had
unsuccessfully tried to swap Bavaria for the
Austrian Netherlands to create a “Kingdom of
Burgundy” and had thus become extremely
unpopular with his Bavarian subjects, died at
the a table in Munich in February 1799.
(Stefan Mörz)
II.
13

II.
Fig. 1: ‘Kleine Pfalzkarte’ (Small
Map of the Palatinate), etching
by Egidius Verhelst after Christian
Mayer, 1773 (Heidelberg,
Kurpfälzisches Museum).
14
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
b)
The Summer Residence of
Schwetzingen – a Type and its
Realization
The Term “Summer Residence”
The term “summer residence” evidently had
no place in the academic language of the
18th century – it does not appear in Johann
Heinrich Zedler’s “universal dictionary”. 1
For that reason we will start out by examining
the term, in this case by comparing it with
terms of similar meaning, such as “court”. A
court, declares Zedler, is “where the prince is
staying”. 2 A defi nition of “residence”, on the
other hand, can be found in Moser’s book
on courtly law: “The residence is the regular
and continuous dwelling of the ruler in the
place which is also the abode of the court
and the ministries. This is where the ruler is
really in his own home, and on determining
the ceremonial and its rules the customs due
to the residence should be observed, while
in country and pleasure palaces much is
1 Zedler’s “Universallexikon” is the major German encyclopedia
of the 18th century, somewhat comparable to the Encyclopédie
française.
2 Johann Heinrich Zedler, Grosses vollständiges Universal-Lexicon
aller Wissenschaften und Künste, Halle/Leipzig 1732 ff.,
vol. XIII, 1735, p. 405.
dispensed with or excused.” 3 In his book about
courtly ceremonial Rohr writes: “Great lords
sometimes take a liking to a certain place in
the country, and to please themselves not
only do they build splendid palaces and fi ne
country seats in those same places, they also
instruct their chief ministers and court or
military offi cials to build mansions there as
well, in part so they can have them available
at any time when they require their counsel
or service, in part also because in this way the
places where they wish to live are peopled and
the people there can make a living. ... When
they stay at those country houses a large part
of the usual ceremonial is set aside, and a
more liberal style of living is chosen.” 4
More recent research assumes that the terms
“court” and “residence” are interchangeable.
The “court” may be characterized by three
vital elements:
1. The presence of an aristocratic courtly
society, with women playing a part.
2. The exhibition of splendour by means of
material display.
3. The refi nement and excellence of courtly
manners and behaviour as opposed to
those of the parts of society not represented
at court. 5
A residence is the place where the court stays
for a certain duration of time on a regular
basis and where the business of ruling is
conducted. The residences thus possess the
necessary qualities, or are suitably equipped
to meet the demands of effi cient ruling and
appropriate self-representation. An important
aspect of effi cient ruling is the ability to
communicate. At his residence the ruler
must be in a position to receive information
quickly and reliably, and make his decisions
known as quickly and reliably to the largest
possible number of subjects throughout his
domain. For that reason it is imperative for
3 Friedrich Carl von Moser, Teutsches Hof-Recht, Franckfurt/
Leipzig 1754, vol. II, p. 252.
4 Julius Bernhard von Rohr, Einleitung zur Ceremoniel-Wissenschaft
der Grossen Herren, Berlin 1733, ed. M. Schlechte,
Leipzig 1990, pp. 83 f.
5 Aloys Winterling, Der Hof der Kurfürsten von Köln
1688-1794. Eine Fallstudie zur Bedeutung “absolutistischer”
Hofhaltung, Bonn 1986, p. 2.

the residence to be situated on major roads or
rivers. 6
The Summer Residence of Schwetzingen
The aforementioned criteria all apply to the
summer residence of Schwetzingen. During
the reign of Elector Carl Theodor the road to
Mannheim was improved, and a relay station
for the changing of horses was established
where the road touched what today is the
Mannheim suburb of Rheinau. It was extended
well into the palace grounds, where
it took the shape of the circular parterre’s
transverse axis. The road to Heidelberg, built
in the 17th century by Elector Carl Ludwig (r.
1649–1680), was improved as well and lined
with mulberry trees in the 18th century, a
measure intended to support the silk industry.
This axis connecting Heidelberg’s Königsstuhl
hill with the summit of Kalmit in the Pfälzer
Wald hills was used by the court astronomer,
Johann Christian Mayer, as the baseline for
his survey of the Palatinate. It received due
consideration in the two maps he made and
that are among the most precise of the 18th
century. Sections of the axis are still visible
in the course of today’s streets, Carl-Theodor-
Straße and Kurfürstenstraße, as well as those
of the former Heidelberg-Schwetzingen
railway, a footpath, and the runway of an
American air base.
The rulers of the Palatinate only decided on
their permanent residence when Elector Carl
Theodor returned from a lengthy visit to his
domains on the Lower Rhine, Jülich and Berg
with the capital of Düsseldorf. On the court’s
return in September 1747, Carl Theodor chose
Mannheim to be his future residence. The
immediate consequences were the enlargement
of the residential palace at Mannheim
and alterations made to the palace gardens of
Schwetzingen – as well as the publication of a
Palatine court calendar. 7
6 Egon Johannes Greipl, Macht und Pracht. Die Geschichte der
Residenzen in Franken, Schwaben und Altbayern, Regensburg
1991, p. 9.
7 Stefan Mörz, Haupt- und Residenzstadt. Carl Theodor, sein
Hof und Mannheim, Mannheim 1998, pp. 44 ff.
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
Restructuring the Town
The village of Schwetzingen too was methodically
converted into a summer seat worthy
of the Palatinate. With Oberbaudirektor
(director-in-chief of building) Galli da Bibiena
in charge, a manifesto was passed on 16th
July 1748 proclaiming that the Elector had
commissioned “the aforementioned Bibiena”
to draw up a plan for the settlement’s further
development. Anybody wishful to build a
house on the stretch of land specifi ed would
have the site allotted to him by Bibiena,
and would have to conform to certain rules
regarding the style and appearance of the
building. 8 By the building of two-storey stone
houses the village of Schwetzingen was to be
converted into a Baroque residence. Bibiena
derived the dimensions of the new palace
square from those of the court of honor: the
palace square is precisely as wide, and twice
as deep, as the court of honor. Its west side
opens towards the palace; the east side has
a closed front of buildings interrupted by
one gap the width of the former mulberry
avenue. The visitor arriving from the direction
of Heidelberg emerges from this (narrow)
avenue (today’s Carl-Theodor-Straße) into the
wide open square terminated in the distance
by the palace. The latter serves as a “point de
vue” and also provides access to the grounds
behind. In contrast to residences like Versailles
or even the not-too-distant Karlsruhe,
both structured by streets that originate from
the palace, thereby emphasizing its dominant
position, the palace of Schwetzingen serves
as the termination of the road leading up to it
from Heidelberg. 9
The fi rst buildings to go up were the two Lshaped
houses marking the eastern end of the
square (today the offi ces of the local newspaper,
Schwetzinger Zeitung, and an inn, the
“Grüner Baum”). The plots were assigned to
their new owners by Carl Theodor at no cost,
as a recompensation for the loss of their land
8 Badisches Generallandesarchiv Karlsruhe 221/47 ’ 17th July
1748.
9 Wiltrud Heber/Anneliese Seeliger-Zeiss, Der Schwetzinger
Schlossplatz und seine Bauten, Veröffentlichungen zur
Heidelberger Altstadt, Heidelberg 1974, p. 2.
II.
15

II.
16
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
that had been expropriated to make room for
the northern quarter-circle pavilion. The same
year a private residence for the Jesuit Father
Franz Seedorf was built on the square (today’s
Palais Hirsch). 10 In 1778 a plot was carved out
of the large garden originally extending on
both sides of a summer house to build what
is today’s brewery “Zum Ritter”. 11 The south
side was almost complete when the barracks
for the Elector’s mounted bodyguard was built
there in 1752-1756. 12 It was not until 1760 that
the corner house at the “palace” end was built,
an inn at the time and a hotel and coffeeshop
today (“Zum Erbprinzen” and Café Journal).
The north side featured three stately buildings
instead of a closed front. The northeastern
corner was claimed by the private residence
of the Elector’s master builder, Franz Wilhelm
Rabaliatti (1716-1782), in 1755. The restrained
use of architectural forms in the two fi ne
townhouses, Palais Seedorf and Palais Rabaliatti,
provides a marked contrast to the plain
middle-class homes and functional buildings.
However, the simplicity of the square’s architecture
is not due to a lack of imagination. It
is a conscious decision aimed at emphasizing
the summer residence’s “country town”
character. The palace square is an outstanding
example of a methodically planned mid-18th
century ensemble of its kind. It is part of the
new town, completely and symmetrically
aligned with the palace and garden, that was
to be the Elector’s summer residence. As
the “anteroom”, so to speak, of the palace’s
court of honour, it was a major and necessary
part of the layout, and it is essential to the
appearance of the electoral summer residence
to preserve it as such. 13 Despite the alterations
of later years (a number of conversions and
10 Father Seedorf was the electoral couple’s confessor and an
important personage at the Palatine court. His status is appropriately
refl ected by his house – he was the only member of
the court to be given a house of his own at Schwetzingen, at
the expense of the public.
11 What was left of the garden made way for a 19th-century
building today housing a café, the ‚Kaffeehaus’.
12 Today the building is no longer recognizable as a unit; it
has been divided into separate houses, without the original
unifying colour scheme and without the central gable. The
former barracks included the houses Schlossplatz No. 5, 6, 7, 8
and 9.
13 Wiltrud Heber, Der Schwetzinger Schlossplatz und seine
Bauten, p. 5.
rebuildings, the replacement of the mulberry
trees with limes and chestnuts) the character
of the square is still very much that of Carl
Theodor’s day.
Other buildings characteristic of a residence
are the electoral stables 14 , the Ambassadors’
House 15 and the pages’ house. 16
The Use of Schwetzingen as a Summer
Residence
During the reign of Elector Carl Philipp (r.
1718–1742) Schwetzingen was already used
as a summer residence on a regular basis.
The Elector arrived in his Palatine territories
in 1718, having stayed in Neuburg on the
Danube before. He lived in Schwetzingen at
fi rst before moving into his capital of Heidelberg.
When Mannheim became the new
capital in 1720, Schwetzingen was used for
a while as a permanent residence as the new
palace at Mannheim did not become habitable
until 1731. Until then the Palatine court had
to make do with the cramped provisionary
quarters provided by the Palais Oppenheim
on the Mannheim market square. For that
reason the stays at Schwetzingen were happily
prolonged whenever possible. 17
Once Mannheim had been decided on as the
new capital of the Palatinate in 1748, Elector
Carl Theodor’s court left the city every spring
on a regular basis to spend the summer at
Schwetzingen. Evidence of this is provided
both by the Saxonian ambassador and the
Mannheim newspaper. The ambassador,
Count Andreas Riaucour, wrote regular
reports on the Palatine court’s migration, for
example on 30th April 1771: “Mgr. L’Electeur
part demain pour Schwezingen avec les
14 The stable was built in 1750 as a barracks for the commanderin-chief
of the Palatinate’s army, Prince Friedrich Michael von
Pfalz-Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld, brother-in-law of the Electress.
In 1759 Elector Carl Theodor bought it for use as a stable and
coach house. Today it is a residential and commercial building.
15 The Ambassadors’ House in Zeyherstraße is used as a
courthouse today. Originally the private residence of a
privy councillor and the Elector’s personal physician, von
Jungwürth, it was bought by Elector Carl Philipp in 1732
and used as lodgings for foreign ambassadors. The building
director, Nicolas de Pigage, had an apartment here too.
16 Pages were boys of noble birth sent to the court to be trained.
Today the house in Zeyherstraße is used by the Schwetzingen
tax offi ce.
17 Hans Schmidt, Kurfürst Karl Philipp von der Pfalz als
Reichsfürst, Mannheim 1963.

personnes qui ont été nommées pour
l’accompagner à celle Campagne, ou il restera
pendant l’été jusqu’a l’arriere saison.” 18 And on
23rd April 1772: “Leur A S E sont arrivées a
cette campagne hier matin avec les personnes
qui ont l’honneur de les accompagner du
nombre des quels je me trouve Msg. L’Electeur
y passera tout les tems de la belle saison
…” 19 . Schwetzingen even had its own rules
for the courtiers. Riaucour writes: “La cour
d’ici a fait imprimer et publier un Reglement
pour la Nobleße d’ici par rapport aux jour
de cour et des tables pendant la Campagne
d’Eté à Schwezingen duquel j’ai l’honneur de
joindre ici un Exemplairem mais la Nobleße
n’en est pas trop content.” 20 The removal date
was dependent on the weather, but as a rule,
the moves took place in late April and late
October. On the Elector’s name day, that of St.
Charles Borromeo on 4th November, the court
had to be back at Mannheim at the very latest
– this was the beginning of the social season,
or “Galatage”. According to Riaucour, the
Elector once returned to Mannheim in May
because of a “vent du Nord” (northern wind)
– apparently the heating at Mannheim was
more effi cient than at the summer residence. 21
In the 18th century the local newspaper
Mannheimer Zeitung also published regular
reports on the court’s moves: “Yesterday His
Serene Highness left his capital and residence
for his summer residence of Schwezingen”. 22
The logistics involved in this transfer of
the residence from May to October were
staggering. Food and wood were delivered
by cart – not even the everyday necessities
were available at Schwetzingen, they had
to be brought from Mannheim or from the
towns and villages that had been instructed to
ensure the court’s provisioning. The baggage
18 Sächsisches Hauptstaatsarchiv Dresden. Loc 2626 Vol. XXIV
of 23rd April 1771.
19 Sächsisches Hauptstaatsarchiv Dresden. Loc 2627 Vol. XXV of
23rd April 1772.
20 Sächsisches Hauptstaatsarchiv Dresden. Loc 2626 Vol. XXIII
of 1st May 1770.
21 Sächsisches Hauptstaatsarchiv Dresden. Loc 2627 Vol. XXV of
12th May 1772.
22 Bärbel Pelker, “Sommer in der Campagne – Impressionen
aus Schwetzingen”, in: B. Pelker/S. Leopold (ed.), Hofoper in
Schwetzingen. Musik - Bühnenkunst - Architektur, Heidelberg
2004, pp. 9-37.
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
train from Mannheim took linen, furniture,
tableware and staff to Schwetzingen. The
English music critic Charles Burney wrote:
“The number of persons following the Elector
to Schwetzingen during the summer months
is anything up to fi fteen hundred, and all of
them stay at that small place at the Elector’s
expense”. 23 This number – fi fteen hundred
people descending on the tiny market town
– may well be accurate although there are no
written records to prove it. Mörz has found
evidence of 639 persons receiving salaries
from the electoral court in 1776. 24 Most
court servants were married. Their families,
however, were not entitled to accommodation
at the palaces; they had to fi nd lodgings
for themselves. It is safe to assume that
domestics’ families had no intention of being
separated from their breadwinners for six
months of every year, so presumably they
moved to Schwetzingen as well. The seventy
to eighty aristocratic courtiers each brought
their own entourage, people who again had
to be lodged somewhere in Schwetzingen. In
fact the seemingly large number of fi fteen
hundred is easy to explain. The modest palace
23 Charles Burney, Tagebuch einer musikalischen Reise durch
Frankreich und Italien, durch Flandern, die Niederlande und
am Rhein bis Wien, durch Böhmen, Sachsen, Brandenburg,
Hamburg und Holland 1770 – 1772, reprinted Wilhelmshaven
1980, p. 228.
24 Stefan Mörz, Haupt- und Residenzstadt, p. 82.
II.
Fig. 2: The summer residence
of Schwetzingen, aerial
photograph. East (top) to west
(bottom): The town, the palace,
the gardens (photo: LAD
Esslingen, 2005).
17

II.
18
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
could not accommodate the courtiers, their
servants and the administration. The Elector
paid for domestics’ board and lodging as long
as they stayed at the houses of Schwetzingen
citizens. Those not needed there all the time,
such as the members of the court orchestra,
were paid the travelling fares when they
had to be present for performances. The
administrative authorities, too, remained at
Mannheim. However, as all documents had to
be presented to the Elector, the offi cials had
no choice but to commute to Schwetzingen
on a regular basis – government business
could not be suspended for six months a
year. Evidently traffi c on the highroad to
Mannheim was lively. Inventories of lodgings
at Schwetzingen have survived from 1758
and 1762. 25 In 1758 234 members of the court
could not be accommodated at the palace, and
the treasury paid out a total of 4442 Gulden
(fl orins) for their lodging. The inventory
also reports where exactly those people were
staying. The inhabitants of Schwetzingen
evidently profi ted from the court’s presence
in a number of ways. There was the letting of
rooms and selling of wares, but there was also
the possibility of participating in the cultural
life of the court itself. Burney writes: “The
Elector ... has a concert played every night at
his palace whenever there is no play at the
theatre. When there is, however, not only his
subjects but every foreign visitor may attend
free of charge... Whoever walks the alleys
of Schwetzingen during the summer must
be under the impression that the town is
inhabited entirely by musicians unceasingly
plying their craft; in one house he may hear
a fi ne violinist, in another, a fl autist; here, an
excellent oboist; there, a bassoon, a clarinet,
a cello or a concert of several instruments
playing together.” 26
The French philosopher Voltaire (1694-1778)
writes about his stay at Schwetzingen in
25 Generallandesarchiv Karlsruhe, Pfalz Generalia 77/8506, see
also Pelker 2004, pp. 19 ff.
26 Burney [1980], pp. 228 f.
1753: “Je suis actuellement dans la maison de
plaisance de Mgr l’Electeur palatin.” 27
The Typology of the Summer Residence
A “maison de plaisance” is usually translated
into German as a Lustschloss, that is a
“pleasure palace” or, as it happens, a summer
residence. But these terms, like “hunting
lodge” or “hermitage”, often provide little
useful information about the property so
described. Krause has succeeded in providing
a defi nition based not so much on terminology
as on the uses the property was put to,
and the precise nature of the pleasure sought
and found in the country. According to this a
summer residence is situated not too far from
the ruler’s main seat of power. 28 The decisive
element of its use is a moving of the residence
there, for a limited time each year but on a
regular basis.
At Schwetzingen the ceremonial observed was
based on that of the imperial Habsburg court
at Vienna where the old Spanish-Burgundian
ceremonial was practised. 29 During the reign
of Emperor Charles VI (r. 1711–1740) a
continous switching of residences is evident.
In late April or early May the imperial court
moved from the Hofburg at Vienna to the Laxenburg,
an old moated castle outside the city.
After a brief return to Vienna towards the end
of June, the court moved again to spend the
hot summer months at the so-called ‘Favorita
auf der Wieden’. In mid-October it returned to
Vienna to spend the winter there.
However, neither the Favorita nor Laxenburg
Castle were prestigious pleasure palaces of
the ‘Maison de plaisance’ type. The decisive
element is the fact that at those temporary
seats of the emperor and parts of his court, all
events subject to the court ceremonial could
take place. For example, princes could be
enfeoffed and large-scale audiences con-
27 Henry Anthony Stavan, Kurfürst Karl Theodor und Voltaire,
Mannheim 1978, p. 8.
28 Katharina Krause, Die Maison de plaisance Landhäuser in der
Ile-de-France (1660-1730), München/Berlin 1996, pp. 8 ff.
29 See also Henriette Graf, Die Residenz in München.
Hofzeremoniell, Innenräume und Möblierung von Kurfürst
Maximilian I. bis Karl VII., München 2002; Brigitte Langer,
Pracht und Zeremoniell – die Möbel der Residenz München,
München 2002.

ducted. This is what distuinguishes a summer
residence from a hunting lodge or the occasional
stay of a ruling prince at a castle. 30
What held for the emperor at Vienna held for
Schwetzingen too. Carl Theodor frequently
held ministerial conferences there and
received high-ranking guests, among them
the bishops of Speyer (August Philipp Count
of Limburg-Styrum), Hildesheim (Friedrich
Wilhelm von Westphalen) and Augsburg
(Joseph Landgrave of Hessen-Darmstadt),
Princess Christine of Saxony, the Electress
of Saxony, Maria Antonia, Duke Carl von
Curland, the Electors of Mainz (Emmerich
Josef von Breidbach-Bürresheim and Friedrich
Karl Joseph von Erthal), the Elector of Trier
(Clemens Wenzeslaus Duke of Saxony), the
Princes Radziwill and relatives from Bavaria
and Zweibrücken. During the summer months
at Schwetzingen the council of the Palatine
ministers chaired by the Elector had near-daily
sittings. Outside their holidays, (mid-July to
mid-August) the ministers had a choice of
staying at Schwetzingen or commuting there
from Mannheim on a regular basis 31 .
Even during the holidays the cabinet secretary
had to be present at Schwetzingen in order
to conduct government business with Carl
Theodor. The palace inventories of the late
18th century explicitly name a fi rst-fl oor
“conference room” – but in view of the general
lack of space in the electoral couple’s bel
étage, it is likely that the conference room also
served as an anteroom and cardroom.
In 18th-century France, on the other hand,
30 Andreas Pécar, Die Ökonomie der Ehre. Der höfi sche Adel am
Kaiserhof Karls VI. (1711-1740), Darmstadt 2003, pp. 158 f.
31 I am indebted to Stefan Mörz for this piece of information.
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
there was no offi cial royal summer residence.
During the reign of Louis XIV the one-time
hunting lodge of Versailles became the
permanent residence. In order to provide the
King and selected guests, with opportunities
for withdrawing from the court, smaller “fi lial
palaces” were built. The fi rst of them was
the Trianon de porcelaine in the immediate
vicinity of the main palace; later it was
replaced by the Trianon de marbre; later still
there was the ensemble of twelve pavilions
grouped round a central pleasure palace at
Marly-le-Roy. But at the same time there were
the great royal palaces of Fontainebleau,
St. Germain-en-Laye and Compiègne, all of
them suffi ciently spacious to lodge the entire
French court. Nevertheless they were used
only sporadically by the French kings, for
hunting trips or excursions. 32 This is evident
from the memoirs of the Duke of Saint-Simon
and the letters of Lieselotte von der Pfalz and
Madame de Sévigné. 33
It was an era when courtly culture, fashion, art
and architecture were dominated by France;
nevertheless the summer residence appears
to be a phenomen unique to the Holy Roman
Empire of the German Nation. 34
To conclude it may be stated that from 1718 to
1778, Schwetzingen was the offi cial abode of
the Palatine court during the summer. There is
suffi cient justifi cation to call it the Palatinate’s
summer capital. It is thus an authentic and
characteristic example of the type described
above, the offi cial summer residence. 35
(Ralf Richard Wagner)
32 The great royal palaces of France had conference rooms well
suited for the business of ruling. Usually the court was present
in full force, and so were the ministers. However, there is no
noticeable continuity or regularity, or of the court’s staying
there for several months at a time as was the case in the
Geman summer residences.
33 Die Memoiren des Herzogs von Saint-Simon 1691-1723, trans.
and ed. by S. von Massenbach, Frankfurt a. M./Berlin 1990.
Helmut Kiesel, Briefe der Liselotte von der Pfalz, Frankfurt a.
M. 1981. Theodora von der Mühl, Madame de Sévigné - Briefe,
Baden-Baden 1979.
34 Other European states have not been considered in this
examination.
35 Bernd Roeck, “Staat ohne Hauptstadt. Städtische Zentren im
Alten Reich der frühen Neuzeit”, in: H.-M. Körner/K. Weigand
(eds.), Hauptstadt. Historische Perspektiven eines deutschen
Themas, München 1995, pp. 59-72.
II.
19

II.
20
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
c)
The Palace Gardens – a Unique
Ensemble of Masonic Images
Overview
The appearance of the grounds of Schwetzingen
Palace as we see them today was determined
when the garden was enlarged and its
layout altered on the orders of Elector Palatine
Carl Theodor. The restored grounds, resplendent
with their fl owers, bosquets and water
features, the garden buildings that have all
survived intact, and the near-complete set of
original garden sculptures enable us to guess
at the sheer splendour of the garden in Carl
Theodor’s time.
The unusually rich and varied garden “furniture”
comprises about 280 pieces of sculpture
(today replaced with copies for conservation
purposes). There are statues and groups, busts
and urns of different sizes and varied appearance,
made of gilt lead, cast and chased lead,
bronze, marble, sandstone, cast iron, beaten
sheet iron – not to mention the benches and
tables of sandstone and wood inviting the passer-by
to linger. 1
Among the highlights, however, are the seven
small buildings or follies, the so-called “fabriques”,
erected in massive stone over twenty
years. They are very different in type, and
each is dedicated to a particular theme. The
area of the garden surrounding each of them
refl ects this theme, both in its layout and in
the plants used.
Water represents an important element of
the layout. A complex and sophisticated supply
system involving two waterworks on the
Leimbach stream, a reservoir and a deep well
fed the high fountain of the Arion basin, the
network of canals and the great basin as well
as a multitude of lesser water features – wells,
basins, springs and small streams. There are
the cherub fountains in the circular parterre,
the “water-spouting birds”, the bird bath, the
Galatea basin, the Neptune basin and the nai-
1 Kurt Martin, Die Kunstdenkmäler des Amtsbezirks Mannheim,
Stadt Schwetzingen, Karlsruhe 1933.
ads in the Apollo grove, the triton fountain
near the Temple of Minerva, the seahorse
fountain, the Roman water tower with its canal
and the island in the orangery garden.
The Signifi cance of the Garden Decoration
The decorative sculpture in the Schwetzingen
garden is signifi cant on several interconnecting
levels in the context of 18th-century
ideas. First of all the viewer experiences a harmonious
park made up of two very different
parts – the formality of late Rococo and the
“jardin anglo-chinois” – and thus representing
a blend of the old and the new. The richly varied
appearance of the different sections,
the colourful fl owers, the structure and accents
provided by the sculptures and the picturesque,
atmospheric views invite the stroller
to tarry and enjoy.
Mythological Signifi cance
The set of four urns depicting the Ages of the
World 2 on the palace’s terrace provide a heading,
in a manner of speaking: they inform
the educated visitor with a sound knowledge
of antique mythology of the themes represented
by the garden. The urns, works by Verschaffelt
3 , line the slightly raised terrace. The
sequence starts in the north with the Golden
Age, characterized by paradisiac abundance
and eternal youth as represented by garlanded
youthful faces, and a basket of fl owers and
fruit. The Silver Age demands work and activity
of mankind – man must now earn his living,
as shown by the farming tools and ears
of corn. But there are envy and greed already
– one face is shown with a string of pearls
in her hair. The Bronze Age is characterized
by war; here, Mars rules. The Iron Age, i.e. the
current one, represents the lowest level and
ends in utter moral decay. It is characterized
by vileness, lawlessness and malice, and its
symbol is the wolf.
2 See also: Hermann Bauer, Barock, Kunst einer Epoche, Berlin
1992, pp. 25 ff.
and: G. Batz, Weltalter – goldene Zeit und sinnverwandte Vorstellungen,
Hildesheim 1967.
3 See also: Eva Hofmann, Peter Anton von Verschaffelt, Hofbildhauer
des Kurfürsten Carl Theodor in Mannheim, Mannheim
1982.

The subject of Ovid’s Metamorphoses is transformation.
The fi rst book describes the origin
and development of the world in four consecutive
chapters. The group of four urns represents
the way of the world on its inevitable,
unstoppable course. Man is part of this process.
The visitor will proceed from the terrace
into the park, the domain of the ancient
gods, to learn their tales and take pleasure in
their all-too-human entanglements. But he will
also fi nd cause for refl ection – they will confront
him with the ethics underlying human
existence.
In his fourth Eclogue Virgil prophesies a fi fth
Age of the World, another Golden Age. Man
will have to work for his living, but he will do
so under favourable conditions and a just and
peaceful rule. The birth of a boy will initiate
this golden age. Then the sun god, Apollo, will
assume power. In the time of Emperor Constantine
this idea found its way into the Chri-
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
stian world view; it was interpreted to refer
to the Second Coming. Several European rulers
would use the analogy of the sun god as
a means of self-representation, most notably
Louis XIV.
The Schwetzingen urns depict four ages of the
world because the fi fth is represented by the
garden itself.
The Circular Parterre
The circular parterre 4 is dedicated to the celebration
of the arts. The central basin depicts
the rescue of Arion. The poet is said to have
4 On the iconography of the statues: Jörg Gamer, “Bemerkungen
zum Garten der kurfürstlich pfälzischen Sommerresidenz
Schwetzingen”, in: Carl Theodor und Elisabeth Auguste
– Höfi sche Kunst und Kultur in der Kurpfalz, exhibition
catalogue, Heidelberg 1979. Jörg Gamer, “Schloss und Park
der kurpfälzischen Sommerresidenz zu Schwetzingen im 18.
Jahrhundert”, in: Kunstgeschichtliche Gesellschaft zu Berlin,
Sitzungsberichte, N.F. 19, 1970/71, pp. 11-17.
On the chronology: Kurt Martin, Die Kunstdenkmäler des
Amtsbezirk Mannheim, Stadt Schwetzingen, Karlsruhe 1933,
pp. 321 ff.
Wiltrud Heber, Die Arbeiten des Nicolas de Pigage in
den ehemals kurpfälzischen Residenzen Mannheim und
Schwetzingen, Worms 1986, pp. 440-466.
II.
Fig. 1: Sculptures in the palace
garden, Schwetzingen (From:
Münzenmayer/Elfgang/Scholl
1999).
Captions (number of objects in
brackets)
1 Arcadian Atalante; 2
Boethian Atalante; 3 Ages of
the World urns (4); 4 Groups of
cherubs (4); 5 Arion fountain;
6 Obelisks (4); 7 Lion urns
(4); 8 Ceres; 9 Bacchus; 10
Mercury; 11 Callirhoe; 12 Stag
groups (2); 13 Lead urns with
masks (4); 14 Lead urns (4); 15
Water/Neptune; 16 Earth/Cybele;
17 Fire/Vulcan; 18 Air/Juno;
19 Justice; 20 Minerva; 21
Cherubs in the bird bath (2); 22
Lead urns in the vicinity of the
birdbath (8); 23 Bacchus; 24
Pan; 25 Group of bacchantes;
26 Bust of Minerva; 27 Galatea
basin; 28 Dove urns (2); 29
Bust of Alexander; 30 Bust of
Antinous; 31 Triton fountain;
32 Temple and statue of
Minerva; 33 Mercury; 34 Minerva
Pictura; 35 Agrippina; 36
Lycian Apollo; 37 Lead urns in
the vicinity of the Lycian Apollo
(8); 38 Lions (4); 39 Monument
commemorating archaeological
fi nds; 40 Monument in honour
of the art of gardening; 41
Avenue of balls; 42 Danube; 43
Rhine; 44 Winter; 44b Autumn;
45 Spring; 46 Summer; 47
Cherubs holding shield (2); 48
Flower urns (2); 49 Sphinxes
(6); 50 Naiad fountain; 51
Dolphin fountain; 52 Bust of
a gladiator; 53 Bust of Solon;
54 Wild boar; 55 Temple and
statue of Apollo; 56 Water bell;
57 Bust of Faustina; 58 Bust of
Marcellus; 59 Bust of Domitian;
60 Bust of Marciana Augusta;
61 Water-spouting birds; 62
Temple and statue of Botany;
63 Gnomika; 64 Geometria; 65
Fortuna; 66 Mars; 67 Poetry;
68 Rhetorica; 69 Sea horse
fountain; 70 Urns celebrating
the arts (4);
21

II.
Fig. 2: Four allegorical urns
– The Ages of the World,
palace terrace, Peter Anton von
Verschaffelt, 1762-1765 (photo:
Förderer).
Fig. 3: Fountain group,
“Arion and the dolphin”, central
basin of the circular parterre.
Ascribed to Barthélemy Guibal,
acquired for Schwetzingen
c.1766-1768 in Lunéville
(Lorraine) from the estate of
Stanisław Leszczyński (photo:
Scholl).
22
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
been warned in a dream sent by Apollo that
his companions on a sea voyage would turn
on him and throw him overboard. But because
of his singing Apollo took mercy on him and
promised to save him. The group at the centre
of the basin depicts a dolphin carrying Arion,
and his lyre, to the shore. Four small groups of
cherubs playing with swans or sea monsters
complement the central group. The theme is
taken up by the parterre’s smaller basins; they,
too, contain groups of cherubs with swans and
sea monsters. The whole set of lead sculptures
was bought at Lunéville; they are believed to
be the work of Lorraine sculptor Barthélemy
Guibal. 5 At Schwetzingen they had to be rearranged
into a new ensemble, and reworked or
repaired where necessary. Unfortunately no
relevant documents have survived. Despite the
dramatic subject matter the groups present a
calm and harmonious ensemble. Together the
great basin and the smaller fountains could be
interpreted as a homage to music and the art
of singing, both very much in evidence during
Carl Theodor’s stays at Schwetzingen.
Surrounding the great basin on the diagonals
are four white marble urns believed to be
the work of Francesco Carabelli. 6 One depicts
a libation and a bull sacrifi ce. On another
Music faces Poetry. Sculpture and Painting
adorn the third; the fourth has Architecture
and Astronomy. The elaborate urns on their
grey limestone bases are dedicated to the
arts. When they were put up after 1775 small
basins were fi lled in for the purpose. The
reliefs complement the subject of the great
central basin by celebrating architecture and
the fi ne arts. At the same time, thanks go to
the gods for their gift of art and beauty.
The fi rst plan drawn up by Court Gardener
Johann Ludwig Petri already depicted four
obelisks on the central parterre’s strips of
lawn. Verschaffelt was to create four garlanded
and festooned heads in relief for each of
the four “pyramids” that were already under
construction by 1766. The obelisks come
in three parts. On a profi led square base is
a block with a portrait medallion adorning
each of its four sides. The obelisk proper rises
above this, smooth edges enclosing “dripstone”
panels. Unfortunately those depicted in the
medallions can no longer be identifi ed; the
heads may have been copies of works from
Carl Theodor’s collection of classical art at
Mannheim. 7
In their shape and structure the obelisks are
reminiscent of memorial stones; in this way
5 Kurt Martin, Die Kunstdenkmäler des Amtsbezirk Mannheim,
Stadt Schwetzingen, Karlsruhe 1933, pp. 332-337.
6 Ibid., S. 352.
7 Eva Hofmann, Peter Anton von Verschaffelt, Hofbildhauer des
Kurfürsten Carl Theodor in Mannheim, Mannheim 1982, p.
225. Wolfgang Schiering, “Der Mannheimer Antikensaal”, in:
Antikensammlungen im 18. Jahrhundert, ed. H. Beck et al.,
Berlin 1981.

they call attention to the fact that all things
are transitory. The garlanded and festooned
portraits honour the memory of great
men and women; their depiction, which is
reminiscent of the portraits on antique coins,
makes their achievements appear timeless
and eternal. But obelisks were also considered
a metaphor for light, an embodiment of the
aspect of “gloria” – they allude to the “radiant”
qualities and achievements of those portrayed.
As relics of the civilization of ancient Egypt,
obelisks had also served as symbols of
wisdom, durability and eternity since the
renaissance. 8
The Main Axis
The two groups of stags originally fl anking a
cascade of water fl owing down into the mirror
basin marked the transition from the parterre
to the garden’s main axis. According to an old
tale, a stag once fl ed into the garden during a
hunt; the dogs caught up with it at this precise
point. The stags provide a thematic counterpoint
to the circular parterre with its homage
to the arts, but in fact the connection is closer
than it may appear at fi rst. The stag is sacred
to the goddess Diana, Apollo’s twin sister,
protectress of nature and all wild animals. If
she hunted in company at all it was always
with her brother. An unwelcome intruder,
Actaeon, was turned into a stag himself and
hunted down by his own dogs. Stag groups
remained a popular subject well into the 19th
century. Beneath their mythological trappings
the hunting scenes also recall the aristocratic
privilege of the deer hunt. Unusual aspects
of the Schwetzingen groups are the powerful
arrangement, the combination with water, the
sheer size and dominant position.
To the west are personifi cations of the four
elements 9 . Earth and Fire are south of the
main avenue, Water and Air north; they all
turn their backs on one another. Verschaffelt’s
8 See also Hermann Bauer, Barock, Kunst einer Epoche, Berlin
1992, pp. 31 ff.
Cesare Ripa, Iconologia, Rom 1603, p. 189.
9 Eva Hofmann, Peter Anton von Verschaffelt, Hofbildhauer des
Kurfürsten Carl Theodor in Mannheim, Mannheim 1982, p.
229.
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
contract of 1766 is very specifi c about them.
What was ordered were four sculptures
representing Juno, Cybele, Pluto and Neptune,
each surrounded by cherubs and fi tting
attributes. The four elements of Greek natural
philosophy are among the cosmological cycles
popular in Baroque art. They are based on the
conviction that the universe and everything
within it is subject to unchanging laws and
structures; they determine everything including
Man in his limited, fi nite existence.
Next are two marble statues of Justice and
Minerva by Gabriel Grupello. 10 They have
been moved out of the main axis and turned
back towards the palace; in this position they
face the two gilt-lead statues, the Boethian
and the Arcadian Atalantes 11 , on the palace’s
terrace.
The main thoroughfare then takes the visitor
to the avenue of balls. Eight herms bearing
a cube and gilt ball each mark the corners of
10 Udo Kultermann, Gabriel Grupello, Berlin 1968.
11 Re. the attribution see: Udo Kultermann, Gabriel Grupello,
Berlin 1968.
II.
Fig. 4: Obelisk, north half of the
circular parterre’s transverse
axis, Peter Anton von Verschaffelt,
1762-69 (photo: Scholl).
23

II.
Fig. 5: Two stag groups
terminating the circular
parterre to the west, Peter
Anton von Verschaffelt, 1766-69
(photo: Scholl).
24
Fig. 6: Temple of Minerva,
southern angloise, Nicolas de
Pigage, 1767 – 1773 (photo:
Förderer).
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
two lawns. Despite their prominent position
fl anking the main axis, their signifi cance
could not be determined so far. 12
The axis is terminated by the great basin with
its two monumental groups representing the
Rhine and the Danube. 13 Originally another
pair of river deities, the Moselle and Maas,
was to have graced the opposite bank, but
they were scrapped for money-saving reasons.
According to a note dated 1769 the original
intention was a portrayal of the four rivers
irrigating Carl Theodor’s domains. This group
of four reappears both on the base of Carl
Theodor’s monument at Heidelberg and on
the monument in the Mannheim market
square. Verschaffelt’s monumental sculptures
12 Maria Christine Werhahn, Der kurpfälzische Hofbildhauer
Franz Conrad Linck (1730-1793). Modelleur der Porzellanmanufaktur
Frankenthal, Bildhauer in Mannheim, Neuss 1999.
13 Eva Hofmann, Peter Anton von Verschaffelt, Hofbildhauer des
Kurfürsten Carl Theodor in Mannheim, Mannheim 1982, p.
260.
take up the tradition of antique river deities. It
is reasonable to assume that he had seen the
Nile group at the Vatican. 14 The visitor is faced
with the extent and glory of Carl Theodor’s
rule.
The Southern Angloise
Wisdom and Art, the intellectual and spiritual
life, are the themes of the southern angloise.
The parterre’s diagonal leads up to the Temple
of Minerva 15 according to myth the inventor
of the fl ute and trumpet, of clay-burning, the
plough and rake, the yoke and bridle, the cart
and the ship. Minerva is the creative force
behind both the domestic arts and the science
of numbers. She was the protectress of writers
and poets. Although a goddess of the art of
warfare, she preferred resolving confl icts
by peaceful means. Conrad Linck’s gable
relief 16 depicts Minerva’s benefi cal presence
at Schwetzingen – she is sitting on a rocky
outcrop watching over the laying-out of the
garden that is presented to her on a scroll.
The water supply, the cultivation of the soil,
buildings, sculptures and plants in beds and
tubs combine to form a work of art. Inside the
temple is a marble statue by Grupello, reworked
by Verschaffelt – a victorious Minerva
carrying an olive branch.
Outside is another representation of the goddess
as the patroness of painters, a “Minerva
pictura”. Opposite is a statue of Mercury,
the god of trade and thus of progress, partly
responsible for material well-being. Another
sculpture, a work by Andrea Vaccha originally
known as a “pleureuse antique” and today as
a “Dying Agrippina”, alludes to the sublime in
literature in its depiction of a tragic heroine. 17
Terminating the avenue that forms the
western boundary of the south angloise is
a statue of Apollo by Paul Egell. Apollo, god
14 Ibid., pp. 4 ff.
15 Wiltrud Heber, Die Arbeiten des Nicolas de Pigage in
den ehemals kurpfälzischen Residenzen Mannheim und
Schwetzingen, Worms 1986, pp. 557 ff.
16 Maria Christine Werhahn, Der kurpfälzische Hofbildhauer
Franz Conrad Linck (1730 -1793). Modelleur der Porzellanmanufaktur
Frankenthal, Bildhauer in Mannheim, Neuss 1999.
17 Re. the naming of the sculpture see: Kurt Martin, Die Kunstdenkmäler
des Amtsbezirk Mannheim, Stadt Schwetzingen,
Karlsruhe 1933, pp. 340-341.

of healing and redemption, protector of the
home and averter of evils from the fi elds, is
represented as Apoll Lyceios, the protector of
herds. His lyre-playing also made him a god of
music and leader of the muses. 18
The Northern Angloise
Here the theme is the uncivilized, natural life.
The basin of Galatea 19 on the parterre’s northwestern
diagonal corresponds to the Temple
of Minerva. In the centre of the circular basin
a white marble group by Grupello rises over
some tuff rocks in the water. The nymph
Galatea appears to have only just risen from
her bath, wringing out her long hair with
both hands. The fi sh-tailed triton at her feet
looks up at her longingly. According to Ovid,
the Nereid Galatea was loved by two men,
the cyclop Polyphemus and Acis, the son of a
Sicilian nymph. She could not return Polyphemus’
love, and on surprising her with Acis, he
crushed his rival with a rock. Galatea escaped
and later recalled her lover to life by turning
the blood that emerged from under the rock
into a spring of water. Grupello’s sculpture
depicts Galatea and Acis; tragedy seems far
away now. Two nearby vases feature two pairs
of amorous doves, further emphasizing the
theme of corporeal love.
Formally the sculpture of Bacchus by Andrea
Vaccha corresponds to the southern angloise’s
dying Agrippina. Bacchus was revered as the
god of wine and orchards, horticulture and
vegetation. However, when he roamed the
hills and woods in an ecstatic frenzy with
his entourage of maenads and bacchantes,
nothing was safe from them. Further north on
the other side of the transverse path, the god
Pan, a sculpture by Simon Lamine, is perched
high on a dripping rock. Pan was the god
of herds, herdsmen and cattle. A being half
human, half animal in shape, he frequently
joined the entourage of Bacchus, pursuing
18 Klaus Lankheit, “Der kurpfälzische Hofbildhauer Johann
Paul Egell (1691-1752) in: Barock in Baden- Württemberg,
exhibition catalogue, Bruchsal 1981, pp. 36-57, and other
publications by this author.
19 Benjamin Hederich, Gründliches mythologisches Lexikon,
Leipzig 1770, 1st ed.: Leipzig 1724, pp. 1134-35.
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
nymphs and boys. The small group of bacchantes
by Conrad Linck alludes to the subject
as well, as do the small sea monsters of the socalled
birdbath. They all represent aspects of
the uncouth and physical, the animal instincts,
in contrast to all that is civilized and refi ned.
The Northern Bosquet
The garden theatre 20 in the northern bosquet
with its architecture and sculptures, amounts
to a homage to the theatre. Six sphinxes 21
in pairs fl ank the stairs leading down to the
sunken auditorium. Verschaffelt characterized
them as allegories of music, dance, comedy
and tragedy, plus two guards – without,
20 Wiltrud Heber, Die Arbeiten des Nicolas de Pigage in den
ehemals kurpfälzischen Residenzen Mannheim und Schwetzingen,
Worms 1986, pp. 485 ff. Eva Hofmann, Peter Anton
von Verschaffelt, Hofbildhauer des Kurfürsten Carl Theodor in
Mannheim, Mannheim 1982, pp. 234 ff.
21 See also: Heinz Demisch, Die Sphinx. Geschichte ihrer
Darstellung von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart, Stuttgart
1977.
II.
Fig. 7: Temple of Minerva,
southern angloise, detail: gable
relief by Konrad Linck, c.1769
(photo: Scholl).
Fig. 8: Temple of Minerva,
southern angloise, longitudinal
section by Wilhelm Schweitzer,
pre-1933 (From: Martin 1933,
Fig. 167).
25

II.
Fig. 9: “Solomon receiving the
plans of the Temple”, illustration
from J.J. Scheuchzer, Physica
Sacra Iconibus Illustrata,
Augsburg-Ulm, 1731 (From: W.
Kirk MacNulty, Freemasonry.
A Journey through Ritual and
Symbol, London 1991, p. 40).
Fig. 10: “Temple de la Sagesse
et de la vertu”, German Masonic
print, c.1770 (From: A. van de
Sande, Vrijmetselarij in de Lage
Landen, Zutphen 1995, p. 168).
26
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
however, saying who is who. The trellises
serving as scenery originally had their place
on the trapezoid “stage”. A picturesque
backdrop is provided by a rocky cliff, with
two naiads resting on it. Between them they
hold an urn from which Hippocrene, the well
of inspiration, pours forth, gushing down a
cascade and into a basin. Above them Apollo
stands crowned with laurel and playing his
lyre in a towering monopteros. The cliff is
actually a two-storey building of sandstone
and tuff; from inside the visitor can enjoy fi ne
views, and on the west side there is a balcony.
Garden theatres became a popular feature in
Baroque gardens. The one at Schwetzingen
is remarkable not only for the uncommon
quality of its layout and decoration; it is also
one of only a few surviving garden theatres in
Europe.
Adjoining the natural theatre to the north
is the bathhouse with the “water-spouting
birds” and the diorama. It is possible that
the whole thing, an illustration of a fable
by Aesop, is from Lorraine, as there used to
be a similar installation in the park of La
Malgrange. An eagle-owl that has caught a
small bird is sitting in an oval basin. Above
them is a circle of different birds all spitting
water at the predator. Originally the birds
were made of beaten sheet iron and painted,
and alternated with fl owers and greenery.
East and west of the basin are the two agate
cabinets, small rooms for resting and enjoying
the view, fl anked by aviaries. Agates and
other semiprecious stones, coloured glass and
pebble mosaics add to the cabinets’ fanciful
character. Conrad Linck created the sandstone
reliefs for the gables, and lead reliefs with
gallant scenes representing the seasons for
the interior. To the north was the diorama,
another small building providing a point de
vue – a cavelike trompe-l’oeil painted by Court
Painter Ferdinand Kobell that appears to offer
a view of an ideal landscape. No less than
eleven arrangements of this type are known
to have existed in the gardens of Louis XIV
at Versailles, but the one at Schwetzingen is
among the very few still in existence today.
The Landscape Garden
The changing attitude towards nature found
expression in the most recent part of the garden,
laid out in accordance with the principles
of the jardin anglo-chinois. 22 Picturesque views
of an ideal landscape seemingly having be-
22 See also: Monique Mosser, “Paradoxe Architekturen oder
kleiner Traktat über die fabriques”, in: Monique Mosser/
Georges Teyssot, Die Gartenkunst des Abendlandes. Von der
Renaissance bis zur Gegenwart, Stuttgart 1993 (Milano 1990),
pp. 259 -276.

come real, evoke Arcadia in the visitor’s mind.
Varied and imaginative follies, the “fabriques”,
complement this artful arrangement of poetic
images. 23 The “fabriques” are halfway between
architectural models and reality; they can be
entered and invite lingering but do not lend
themselves to habitation. In the second half
of the 18th century they became part of a new
architectural vocabulary 24 , and a successful
type of building in their own right. Printed
sample collections helped to spread awareness
of the possible types. 25 However, beyond
providing a pleasing sight, the “fabriques” also
endeavour to be symbols closely connected
with literature. Quotes and allusions make
them into an intellectual game for the wellread.
They are reminders of times long past
and an enraptured world. The visitor enters
an encyclopedia, so to speak, with entries
presented for his perusal.
This is the context in which the Schwetzingen
follies should be read. The budding interest
in the natural sciences was expressed by the
Temple of Botany, with its surface resembling
oak bark. A book on plants by Carl Linné serves
as the attribute of the goddess of botany.
Growth and decay in the course of the seasons
as represented by the zodiac, provide the
theme of the interior decoration. They refer to
the unchanging circle of life all earthly things
are subject to.
The Temple of Mercury and the Roman water
tower bear witness to the growing interest
in the young science of archaeology. 26 The
picturesque ruins, elaborately built of tuff and
sandstone, appear by their cracked and broken
surfaces to be in an advanced state of decay.
23 John Dixon Hunt, “’Ut pictura Poesis’: der Garten und das
Pittoreske in England 1710-1750”, in: Mosser Teyssot 1993, pp.
227-238.
24 Jean-Marie Morel, Théorie des Jardins, Analyse des fabriques,
Paris 1776.
25 Le Rouge, Jardins anglo-chinois ou détails des nouveaux
jardins à la mode, 21 vols.
Johann Christian Grohmann, Ideenmagazin für Liebhaber von
Gärten, englischen anlagen und für Besitzer von landgütern, 5
vols., 1796-1806. Quoted after Monique, “Paradoxe Architekturen
oder kleiner Traktat über die fabriques”, in Mosser/Teyssot
1993, pp. 259-276. The “lord of fabriques” is considered to
be Charles Joseph de Ligne, who describes and evaluates his
own garden in Beloeil (Belgium) and other European gardens
in his book Coup d’oeil sur Beloeil et sur und grande partie
des jardins de l’Europe, Paris 1781.
26 Günter Hartmann, Die Ruine im Landschaftsgarten, Worms
1981.
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
The water tower, modeled on the Porta
Nova at Rome, creates the impression that
the water has found its way through the ruin.
Nature, it seems, is about to reclaim what
civilization and technological progress have
taken away.
The Temple of Mercury with its ruined
dome and weathered surfaces is reminiscent
of its ancient model, a tower-tomb. It is a
picturesque reminder of the visitor’s own
mortality, especially towards evening in the
light of the setting sun. The message becomes
even more poignant by comparison with the
nearby mosque, built at the same time.
II.
Fig. 11: Statue of “Gnomonika”,
northern shore of the great
pond, ascribed to Peter van den
Branden, court sculptor from
1714, d. 1719/20 (photo: Scholl).
27

II.
28
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
The mosque embodies many things: the
interest in foreign civilizations and faiths,
refl ections on Christianity, the issue of
tolerance and not least the sheer delight in the
magnifi cent exotic architecture. It was the last
of the follies to be completed, and has never
been furnished.
The Masonic Symbolism Embodied
by the Garden
The knowledgeable 18th-century visitor might
well have recognized yet another level of
allusions, that referring to the philosophy of
Freemasonry. 27 It is safe to assume that most
visitors in Carl Theodor’s time could, in fact,
“read” the garden in this manner – a large
percentage of aristocrats, artists and intellectuals
were themselves members. However,
18th-century masonic symbolism is complex
and very individual as the movement has
no fi xed canon. Numerous infl uences found
expression. Renaissance Humanism with its
theosophic cosmology, in its turn inspired by
antiquity, was one of them. Neo-Platonic ideas
and an esoteric mysticism played a part. So
did the usages of medieval lodges. Further
infl uences were the Illuminati and, from the
middle of the century, the “Strict Observance”
as propagated by the German noble Freiherr
von Hund, with its system of knightly degrees.
The meanings are hidden within the formal
layout of the garden, the statuary of the
French part and the imaginative “fabriques”
of the landscape garden. The visitor perceives
them according to his individual insight, that
is to say the degree of his initiation.
The investigation of this complex subject
matter, in connection with the Schwetzingen
grounds, is still in its infancy. The insights
listed here in a preview are the result of
interdisciplinary research presented here
also on behalf of – Dr. Andréa Kroon, The
Hague, and Dr. Jan Snoek, Heidelberg. A more
complete account has been published in 2006.
27 Western Esotericism and Freemasonry have developed
into academic fi elds in their own right. There are chairs of
Freemasonry at the universities of Sheffi eld, Brussels and
Leiden, and of Western Esotericism including Freemasony at
those of Paris and Amsterdam.
The results mentioned here have been made
available strictly for the purposes of this
document; their publication must be left to
the discretion of the scholars concerned.
The deeper meaning of the garden’s layout
is suggested to visitors already on the terrace
– every Freemason of that time would have
known as a matter of course, that with the
movement had already commenced a new
Golden Age. 28 The concept of the opposing
principles of Nature and Civilization, an
18th-century favourite – the savage against
the cultivated, the raw against the polished,
the spiritual against the unrefi ned or animal
– reappears continually throughout the
garden. One of the main themes of the garden
is the “taming of the wild”, that is the cultivation
of nature. The hounds bring down the
stag; the two Atalantes oppose Minerva and
Justice. The southern angloise with Minerva
and Apollo has its counterpart in the northern
one with Bacchus and Pan. The cubic block of
the sophisticated Temple of Minerva rises on
a base of rough rock. The artful French garden
adjoins the “natural” landscape garden.
“Geometria”, “Gnomonika” and “Rhetorica”
Unique works connected with 18th-century
Freemasonry are the sculptures representing
Geometry, Gnomony and Rhetoric. The statue
west of the Temple of Apollo, ascribed to Peter
van den Branden and identifi ed as “Geometria”
on the plinth, depicts a man holding a
rule, a plummet and a square. Freemasonry is
derived from the medieval masons’ guilds or
lodges. Work on the rough stone is symbolic
of the work of moral self-improvement. The
different stages of refi nement and completion
of the workpiece require different tools.
These tools thus acquire a symbolic value;
by themselves or in groups they represent
different degrees of initiation, and the
functions of Lodge offi cials. The compasses
and square are symbolic of Freemasonry
as a whole. A knowledge of geometry, the
28 See also: Frances A. Yates, Astraea. The Imperial Theme in
the Sixteenth Century, London/Boston 1975. And id.: The
Rosicrucian Enlightenment, London/Boston 1972.

fi fth of the “septem artes liberales”, was of
special signifi cance to master builders. It was
considered to be the concept underlying the
divinely ordained structure of the universe.
God was revealed to mankind in its ordered
and harmonious structure. To Freemasons, it
was the most important of the arts and the
one Freemasonry associated with.
Nearby is the sculpture identifi ed as “Gnomonika”.
It depicts a sculptor who appears to be
working on the stone cube of a sundial. However,
the workpiece would have been of little
practical value as it has three dials. The cube,
hewn from the natural rock and smoothed,
was one of the stonemasons’ masterpieces and
is representative of the thoroughly mastered
craft. The three surfaces with dials remind the
Freemason that his time should be divided up
sensibly, leaving time for his profession, for
charitable works and for prayer. The same is
represented by the 24-inch rule, used primarily
for work on the rough stone.
The sculpture of “Rhetorica” – a male fi gure
with a beehive – again defi es interpretation
except in a Masonic context. The beehive
serves both as a symbol for the community of
masons and to represent work for the community
as a whole. It is also symbolic of work
and diligence.
There are no pieces in the garden sculpture of
the time comparable to these three allegories.
They make no sense except as Masonic symbols.
No other life-size statues representing
this context are known from the fi rst half of
the 18th century. The Schwetzingen statues
of “Geometria”, “Gnomonika” and “Rhetorica”
must be considered to be among the earliest
Masonic sculptures in existence.
Arion
The Arion group represents the leitmotiv of
the Schwetzingen garden. According to the
version of the tale preferred by the 18th century,
Apollo warned Arion that the sailors on his
ship would be turning on him, and promised
to save him. 29 Arion recognized the dolphin to
29 Benjamin Hederich, Gründliches mythologisches Lexikon,
Leipzig 1770, 1st ed. Leipzig 1724.
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
be the rescuer sent by Apollo, and was carried
ashore by the dolphin. He then saw to it that
the evildoers were punished but forgot to
return the creature to the water. The supposed
“fi sh” suffocated on dry land. The moral core
of the story runs like this – the dolphin, then
considered to be a fi sh, i.e. “Ichtus”, that is
Christ, dies on the orders of Apollo, that is
God, to save Arion, i.e. mankind. Thus the
Arion group depicts in fact, the sacrifi cal
death of Christ for the salvation of sinful Man.
At the same time the attempted murder of
Arion also echoes the Hiramic legend, a core
element of Freemasonry. Hiram Abif, Master
Builder of Solomon’s Temple, fell victim to
II.
Fig. 12: Statue of “Geometria”,
northern shore of the great
pond, ascribed to Peter van den
Branden, court sculptor from
1714, d. 1719/20 (photo: Scholl).
29

II.
Fig. 13: Masonic carpet
depicting stonemasons’ tools,
an unhewn stone and a temple,
France c.1745 (From: James
Stevens Curl, The Art and
Architecture of Freemasonry,
London 2002, Fig. 32).
30
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
a conspiracy of fi fteen of his fellowcrafts.
Three of the malcontents tried to obtain the
secret Master’s Word by force. They waylaid
Hiram when he returned from the temple
but could not force him to reveal the Word.
One of them hit Hiram with a 24-inch rule,
another with a square; the third fi nally killed
him with a setting maul. The murderers
hastily buried the body and marked the
place with a sprig of cassia. When the master
builder was missed at work, the conspirators’
repentance was deep. King Solomon ordered
these twelve repentants to look for the body
and also retrieve the lost Master’s Word. They
were to fi nd Hiram Abif’s body and give it
a decent burial. The men decided that the
fi rst word spoken among them should be the
future Master’s Word. With the help of the
“fi ve points of fellowship” they succeeded in
raising the decaying body. The exclamation of
“Mach-benak”, the fl esh falls from the bone, is
reported to have been used as a substitute for
the lost Master’s Word.
The Masonic ritual of raising a master is derived
from this legend. But beyond that the
death and raising of the Master Builder Hiram
Abif is viewed as a symbolic representation of
Jesus Christ, his resurrection and the eternal
life promised by God. The central relevance of
the legend in Masonic thought is echoed by
the central position of the Arion fountain in
the garden at Schwetzingen.
Obelisks
In the 18th century the obelisk was the generally
accepted symbol of everything Egyptian.
A novel published in 1731 by Abbé Jean
Terrasson, Séthos, histoire ou vie tirée des
monuments anecdotes de l’ancienne Égypte.
Traduite d’un manuscrit grec, was of key importance
to 18th-century Freemasonry. The
tale is set in Egypt; a young prince must pass
numerous tests and temptations in order to
earn his right of initiation in the Isis cult. The
very long novel cites many Masonic principles,
including a condemnation of random acts
of power on the part of a ruler. Séthos has to
“earn” his claim to the throne even though he
is entitled to it by birth.
The garden visitor is reminded that he must
strive to pass the tests he is faced with and
that, conscious of his own mortality, he should
consider the examples set by those depicted.
In this sense, even Carl Theodor himself is
reminded by the obelisks to earn his inherited
title by proving himself worthy of it, to wield
power with moderation and to serve the best
interests of his subjects.
Temple of Minerva
As an outstanding example of the garden’s “fabriques”,
the Temple of Minerva will be considered.
It was built between 1766 and 1773.
The structure rises on a slight elevation of artifi
cial rock and is reminiscent of a Roman prostylos.
In front of the rectangular building is a
krepis with fi ve steps supporting the four Corinthian
columns of the portico. They support
the entablature with a three-banded architrave
and frieze. The triangular gable features a
depiction of Minerva. The space between the
two middle columns is larger than that separating
them from those on the sides. The grid
created by the columns is continued inside

in the pattern of the portico fl oor and ceiling.
Inside, benches line the walls on both sides,
and there are two cylindrical sacrifi cal altars
decorated with bulls’ skulls. A statue of Minerva
graces the back wall. The frieze of sacrifi cial
knives, axes and bowls to receive the blood is
continued on the interior walls. The coffered
ceiling is refl ected by the marble fl oor.
The back of the temple gives access to its basement.
This is a rectangular room with two
niches at the sides that receive light through
circular openings. Benches on all the walls
offer seating. The room has a groin vault. A
shaft leads under the stairs; there is another in
the fl oor in the middle of the room.
The temple’s central sculpture is Minerva, depicted
as a so-called Masonic triad – that of
Wisdom, Beauty and Strength. The owl at her
feet represents wisdom. The goddess demonstrates
strength by her armour and the allusion
to Hercules, whose lion skin is just visible on
her right shoulder. Beauty is represented by the
goddess herself; she also carries a branch, identifying
her as Athena Nikephorus. The order is
Corinthian, the Masonic symbol of wisdom.
In the gable relief, the goddess is sitting on a
craggy rock, characterized by her helmet and
the Gorgon’s head on her shield and accompanied
by the Christian virtues of Faith, Hope
and Love. Faith is recognizable by her scroll,
Love by the fl ames and shattered idols, Hope
by her spade and gaze directed heavenward.
On the left, in a posture similar to that of Minerva,
sits Discretion looking at the assembly
and pointing to a chiselling cherub with
her right hand; her left forefi nger is raised in
front of her closed mouth. She is the guardian
of the Masonic secret, one of the Masonic core
values. Minerva inspecting the scroll is reminiscent
of a 1731 book illustration of some
signifi cance for Masons, that was repeatedly
paraphrased in the course of the 18th century:
that of King Solomon inspecting the plans for
the Temple.
According to ancient mythology, Minerva
gave mankind the science of numbers; it is
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
thus hardly surprising that symbolic numbers
abound in the layout of the temple. The
pleasantly harmonious appearance is due not
least to the fact that most of its proportions
adhere to the golden section recommended
by Vitruvius. Familiarity with proper propor-
tions is part of the basic knowledge of a master
builder. The cosmic principle of duality is
expressed both by the two-colour fl oor and by
the fl oor’s refl ecting the ceiling (the Hermetic
“as above, so below”).
II.
Fig. 14: Statue of “Rhetorica”,
southern shore of the great
pond, ascribed to Peter van den
Branden, court sculptor from
1714, d. 1719/20 (photo: Scholl).
31

II.
Fig. 15: Temple of Mercury,
southwestern part of the palace
gardens, Nicolas de Pigage,
begun 1784 (photo: Förderer).
32
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
In Mariology, Mary is described as the “domus
sapientiae” 30 which Christ, divine wisdom
incarnate, chose to dwell in. Wisdom has a
special place among the “seven gifts of the
Spirit”. In the 17th and 18th centuries divine
wisdom was usually not depicted as Christ,
but as a richly dressed and crowned woman
with a halo. 31 The temple of wisdom is therefore
a temple of Mary. This also explains why
the altars are not placed in front of the temple
as they were in antiquity, but inside it. Like
the bulls’ heads, sacrifi cial daggers and bowls,
they allude to the death of Christ.
Pigage’s Temple of Minerva is a Masonic
“Temple de la sagesse et de la vertu”. It is a
sophisticated piece of garden architecture,
surrounded not by a landscape garden, like
its English models, but by a French formal
garden. The Schwetzingen temple marks the
beginning of a new development, and may
be considered the earliest surviving example
in a European Continental garden. Among its
unusual features is the basement, laid out to
resemble a room hewn in rock. It may have
30 Lexikon der christlichen Ikonographie, Freiburg 1968, vol. 4, p.
40.
31 See also: Paul von Naredi-Rainer, Salomos Tempel und das
Abendland. Monumentale Folgen historischer Irrtümer, Köln
1994, pp. 103 ff.
served for Lodge meetings, but its uses are not
known.
The ‘Fabriques’ in the Landscape Garden
Beyond the signifi cance of individual
picturesque buildings, the function of the
“fabriques” as a whole should be pointed out.
The bathhouse, the Temple of Botany, the
Roman water tower, the Temple of Apollo, the
Temple of Mercury and the mosque are connected,
despite their individual uniqueness.
Formally, the connection is the watercourse.
In the sequence given they also represent the
course of the day and the cycle of life, death
and rebirth, in analogy to the 18th-century
Masonic rites of initiation symbolizing the
candidate’s death and rebirth.
The Temple of Botany represents morning
and birth, embodied by the female element
of sowing, planting, cultivating. The so-called
Roman water tower recalls the Porta Nova and
thus symbolizes rebirth into a new life. The
bathhouse, too, celebrates morning and sunrise
in the fresco of its ceiling. The bathhouse
and the “water-spouting birds” are places of
leisure; the bodily pleasures are very much a
part of it, although the raw animal urges have
been refi ned into sophisticated desire. It is
safe to assume that the 18th-century visitor
was quite aware of the meaning hinted at by
the birds, the shells, the amethysts and the
shape of the whole structure, all alluding to
erotic adventures and the shape of the female
sexual organs. At the same time the bath is
reminiscent both of birth and of ritual cleansings.
Here, too, the mastering of the physical
urges is an issue.
The Temple of Apollo symbolizes masculinity,
life, midday. The plaques depicting the sun
refer both to the sun god and to the sun king.
The rayed sun is one of the most common
symbols of 18th-century Freemasonry. The
Schwetzingen Temple of Apollo recalls the
Temple of Solomon of contemporary Masonic
imagery, and the sun is depicted on the apron
of the Masonic Grand Master as well.

Death and evening are symbolized by the
Temple of Mercury, the shape of which recalls
a Roman high tomb. It also represents the
“destroyed temple”, which can be taken to
refer to the Old Covenant between God and
mankind, or to the death of Jesus Christ. The
destroyed temple was an image of special
signifi cance to 18th-century Freemasonry. In
the image, sunlight streaming through the
broken roof, lights upon the golden plaque
bearing the name of God, which covers the
grave of Hiram, and which is symbolically
rediscovered in the vault beneath the temple
in masonic ritual.
The symbolism of the mosque is the most
evident. The opposite of the Temple of
Mercury, it represents the New Temple, the
New Jerusalem, the Resurrection, and its
ritual is symbolic of the candidate’s rebirth.
The “blazing star” above the entrance, which
reappears elsewhere in the building and
the cloisters, is among the most prominent
symbols of Freemasonry.
The Artists
The overall concept of the garden’s architecture
and sculpture is entirely the work of
Nicolas Pigage. 32 In offi cial documents his
career makes quick reading. Born at Nancy
in 1723, he became a student of the École
militaire in Paris around 1743, and of the
Académie Royale d’architecture in 1744. In
1746 he was awarded two medals. In 1759
Pigage applied for a corresponding membership,
which he received in 1763. In the
Procès Verbaux his contacts are documented
up to 1788. In January 1781, Pigage had
announced the publication of a book about
the Schwetzingen landscape garden which
regrettably never appeared. 33 In January 1783,
the members asked Pigage for a “plan démonstratif
des jardins qu’il fait à Mannheim” [they
were probably thinking of Schwetzingen]. 34 It
is impossible to tell whether or not Pigage’s
32 Biography taken from: Wiltrud Heber, Die Arbeiten des
Nicolas de Pigage in den ehemals kurpfälzischen Residenzen
Mannheim und Schwetzingen, Worms 1986, pp. 1-5.
33 See also: ibid., n. 1086.
34 Ibid. S. 482.
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
travels in the Netherlands, France, Italy and
England were already undertaken at the
Elector’s instructions.
From the beginning the Elector had great
confi dence in his garden architect’s work,
something that becomes evident from his
promoting Pigage to “Premier Architecte de
Son Altesse Serenissime Palatine”. After the
court’s removal to Munich, Pigage continued
on his own authority; nevertheless, Carl
Theodor appears to have still taken a personal
interest in the work on his garden. The few
surviving documents indicate that the plans
were always submitted to him and their
execution approved. Pigage had been working
II.
Fig. 16: Royal Arch degree,
illustration from: Maconnerie
des Hommes, Collection C.M.C.
“Prins Frederik”, The Hague
(From: J. Bruintjes (ed.), Ken
Uzelf. Vrijmetselarij in Noord
Nederland, Drachten 1998, Fig.
9, p. 23.
Fig. 17: Mosque, Nicolas de
Pigage, begun 1784 (photo:
Scholl).
33

II.
Fig. 18: Mosque, window in the
west front (photo: Scholl).
Fig. 19: A “blazing star”
motif from the mosque interior
(photo: Förderer).
34
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
for Carl Theodor for 47 years when he died on
30th July 1796.
Pigage was assisted by notable artists, trained
at the academies of Europe before being
employed as court sculptors by Carl Theodor.
Among the sculptors working for the gardens
were Paul Egell, Peter Anton von Verschaffelt,
Franz Conrad Linck, Matthäus van den
Branden and Simon Peter Lamine.
In addition, works by Franceso Carabelli,
Andrea Vacca, Gabriel Grupello, Heinrich Charasky,
and Barthélemy Guibal were brought to
Schwetzingen. 35
In view of the garden’s complex iconography,
it is evident that Pigage as the architect, and
Carl Theodor as the patron, were thoroughly
35 See also: Maria Christine Werhahn, Der kurpfälzische
Hofbildhauer Franz Conrad Linck (1730 -1793). Modelleur der
Porzellanmanufaktur Frankenthal, Bildhauer in Mannheim,
Neuss 1999.
familiar with the ideas and “secret” imagery
of Freemasonry, and consequently must have
been masons themselves. 36 From the depth
of their knowledge, both of them must have
reached the degree of Master Mason at least.
Carl Theodor probably presided over a court
lodge that met at the palace. The clock on the
palace front made it very evident to visitors
that this was a freemason’s abode – the dial
has the blazing star at its centre.
Summary
Formally the Schwetzingen gardens are
primarily expressive of the late Baroque age.
The layout is characterized by a harmonious
balance and clear structure. For the southern
angloise, Pigage designed the Temple of
Minerva, a piece of garden architecture
inspired by early English landscape gardens,
such as Kew Gardens. However, the temple
itself is modeled on contemporary depictions
of the “Temple de la sagesse et de la vertue”,
and as such is not out of place in a formal
French garden.
It seems as if Pigage, despite some “modernizing”
of details, never questioned the structure
of the French garden as such. The contrast
between a sophisticated, refi ned layout on the
one hand, and a naturalistic one on the other,
must therefore have been deliberate. Earlier
gardens in the French style tend to display
recurrent elements expressive of a generalized
symbolic language, and realized with
near-canonical rigidity. At Schwetzingen the
choice of elements is very individual. There
is no grand celebration of the ruling prince.
The iconography at fi rst glance appears very
unusual, considering that Carl Theodor was
an Absolutist ruler. However, considered in
the context of 18th-century Freemasonry and
theosophy, the layout takes on a new and
complex signifi cance. We may well ask if that
might not have been the real “point” of the
garden’s sculptural and architectural features.
36 According to Le Forestier Carl Theodor was a member of a
Lodge himself from c.1760: René Le Forestier, Les Illuminés
de Bavière et La Franc-Maconnerie Allemande, Genève 1974,
pp. 452 and 462. The sources used by Le Forestier have
unfortunately perished in WWII.

The Schwetzingen grounds provide new food
for thought regarding the development of
garden art too. Hitherto the landscape garden
was considered a formal representation of
masonic iconography. At Schwetzingen it
becomes evident that both the French garden,
with its traditional array of sculptures, and the
landscape garden, with its carefully arranged
“fabriques” are capable of expressing very
complex masonic ideas.
Schwetzingen was chosen by Carl Theodor to
be his summer residence; here he stayed in
the company of selected guests, who delighted
in discovering the garden’s hidden secrets.
It is not electoral power and glory that is
displayed here; instead there emerges, in
carefully chosen images, a different, “secret”
and “forbidden” belief. Of course there was
also the Mannheim residence that spoke of
Carl Theodor’s political power and status in
the grand, sweeping gestures appropriate to
the Elector.
The blazing star on the dial of the palace
front’s clock, no longer complete today, and
the incorrectly executed star symbols in the
newly renovated mosque are proof, that a
cultural monument can be preserved only if it
is understood. For that reason further research
is indispensable.
The grounds of Schwetzingen Palace are
among the very few lavishly decorated and artistically
valuable European gardens of the late
18th century, that have retained their original
appearance to the present day. Moreover, the
garden is a unique monument of Freemasonry
that has no equal in all of Europe.
(Monika Scholl, Jan Snoek & Andréa Kroon)
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
II.
Fig. 20: Masonic carpet,
copperplate engraving from:
Leonard Gabanon, La Desolation
des Entrepreneurs modernes
du Temple de Jerusalem ou
Nouveau Catechisme des
Francs-Macons, 1747 (private
property).
Fig. 21: Schwetzingen Palace,
clock on the west (garden) front.
The hands and the painted
dial form a “blazing star” motif
(photo: Förderer).
35

II.
Fig. 1: Aerial view of the bathhouse
and garden (left to right):
Diorama, water-spouting birds,
bathhouse, Temple of Apollo
and natural theatre (photo: LAD
Esslingen, 2005).
36
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
d)
The Bathhouse – Synthesis
of the Arts and Refuge of Elector
Carl Theodor
Building History
Palatine Oberbaudirektor (director-in-chief of
building) Nicolas de Pigage laid out a number
of separate gardens at Schwetzingen, in
accordance with the fashion of the time; but
unlike the gardens created, for example, by
Emmanuel Héré (1705-1763) in Lorraine, they
were integrated into the layout of the garden
as a whole. Pigage accomplished this not only
through his geometrical network of paths
crisscrossing the entire garden, but also by
creating axes of view continually leading from
one part of the garden to another.
The so-called bathhouse, by type a classic
French-style “Maison de plaisance” like Maisons,
Vaux-le-Vicomte, Champs, was intended
as a private refuge with its own garden for
the Elector Palatine. In this the bathhouse
continues the tradition of the “fi lial palaces” of
Versailles, Trianon and Marly. In fact it follows
its French models to the extent of being built,
like the Trianon, off to one side – without, however,
copying the axis and exact distance. The
bathhouse is fi rst mentioned in the Etrennes Palatines
of 1769, a type of calendar: “Le bosquet
& le bâtiment des bains aux quels on travaille.
Ces bains dans le gôut des Anciens porteront le
nom de Thermes Théodoriques.” 1 The Etrennes
refer to the previous year; so work on the
bathhouse probably started in 1768. It does
not appear in the garden plan of 1767, in the
plans by copperplate engraver Egidius Verhelst
or in those by the garden architect Le Rouge
of 1769. Verhelst’s plan was even included in
the Etrennes Palatines of 1769, even though the
text, as quoted above, mentions the building of
the bathhouse. Le Rouge’s plan merely has a
basin where the “water-spouting birds” would
be, with a caption saying “bains”.
The Sckell plan of 1783 is the fi rst to show the
fi nished structure and its surroundings. An
important, so far unused source is provided by
the reports of the ambassador of Saxony, Count
Andreas Riaucour. 2 On 4th July 1772, his secretary,
Zapf, sent a report to Dresden which can
only refer to the completed bathhouse: “Schwezingen,
ce 4 Juillett 1772. Mrsg. L’Electeur y
arriva à 11 h de Schwezingen, et s’entretint
avec S. A. Roiales dans l’appartement de Mad.
La Princesse, jusqu’a ce qu’on se rendit à table,
après la quelle ils allerent dans le nouveau
batiment prendre le caffé, et s’amuserent avec
une partie de jeu, la quelle fi nie, Mrsg. Le
Prince, après avoir pris congé de S.A.S. E. et
de Madame la Princesse sa sœur partit pour
Coblence.” 3 As the bathhouse was the only
building within the Schwetzingen grounds to
have furniture, it is the only possible venue for
the entertainments described. It must therefore
have been built between 1768 and 1772. The
interior decoration probably took until 1775
before it was completed. 4
1 Etrennes Palatines pour l’année 1769. A Mannheim de
l’imprimerie de l’Académie, Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg,
Sammlung Batt VII, 83.
2 Count Andreas Riaucour had been agent of the Electorate
of Saxony at Mannheim since 1748; in 1752 he became
Privy Councillor and special envoy of Saxony. In 1754, he
married the daughter of a Palatine minister, Heinrich Ernst
Wilhelm Freiherr von Wrede, und was raised to the nobility
by the Emperor. In 1768, Elector Carl Theodor made him a
member of the Löwenorden, a Palatine order of merit. In 1778,
Riaucour accompanied the court to Munich.
3 Sächsisches Hauptstaatsarchiv Dresden, Geheimes Cabinet
Loc. 2627 Vol. XXV 1772, 4th Juli 1772.
4 [Artikel Schärf zum Badhaus???]

Infl uences and Models
The architect Nicolas de Pigage modeled the
building’s outer appearance on the famous
villas of the Veneto (e.g. Villa Rotonda, Villa
Malcontenta, Villa Rocco della Pisana, Villa
Forni-Cerato) and their Palladian imitations
in England (e.g. Chiswick House, Keddelston
Hall, Syon Park, Kenwood). The bathhouse
is the result of a thorough study of tracts on
architecture and architectural history. Suggestions
by Vitruvius, Palladio, Serlio, Scamozzi,
Alberti, Blondel, Perrault and Adam were used,
ranging from antiquity to the 18th century.
The bathhouse front was modeled on the Villa
Rocca della Pisana. The villa of the Pisani family
at Lonigo near Vicenza was built in 1576 by
Vincenzo Scamozzi, a pupil of Palladio. It has
a two-storey front elevation and an octagonal
tambour with a hipped roof. Obelisks sit on
the corners of the main roof, a feature Pigage
copied for the Schwetzingen bathhouse along
with the tambour and the front elevation. Chiswick
House in England was another model.
The villa, in its turn inspired by antiquity by
way of Palladio and Scamozzi 5 , had been built
in 1725-29 for Lord Burlington just outside
London. At Chiswick House the impression
left by Palladio’s villas on the Brenta, was such
that Lord Burlington had a river diverted to run
past his house, and christened it Brenta.
Nicolas de Pigage, for his part, planned the
Schwetzingen bathhouse with an eye to the
existing Apollo canal. The educated 18thcentury
visitor of course, understood the canal
to represent the Brenta, and recognized the
inspiration. The allusion also characterized
the bathhouse as a private residence. At the
same time the similarities to Chiswick House
point to another function. Chiswick House
was not built to serve as a dwelling. It was
an expression of its builder’s cast of mind, a
place to meet and discuss art and politics. It
provided the host and his guests with a setting
for witty conversation. Chiswick House was to
5 Richard Hewlings, Chiswick House and Gardens, London
1998, p. 1: “[...] to create the kind of house and garden that
might have been found in the suburbs of ancient Rome.”
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
be a temple of the arts, its architecture based on
nature and reason.
Nicolas de Pigage was familiar with French
architectural theory, for example that of
François Blondel, and the French element in
the ancestry of the Schwetzingen bathhouse
should not be forgotten. Another of the models
of this private little palace was the Trianon de
Porcelaine, built in 1670 by Le Vau next to the
Versailles canal. The magazine Mercure Galant
spread an awareness of buildings of this type,
such as the Trianon de Marbre and Marly-le-
Roi, inspiring in European rulers, the wish to
own such a private refuge too. The bathhouse
is a typical pavilion in the French sense of the
word, its uses – to serve as the ruler’s private
refuge and bathhouse – modeled on those of
the famous pavilions of Marly. In 1687, Louis
XIV had commissioned Marly-le-Roi, a pleasure
palace surrounded by twelve pavilions for the
use of selected friends, as a refuge from the
rigours of courtly life. The King’s sojourns at
Marly-le-Roi grew longer, and eventually one of
II.
Fig. 2: Nicolas de Pigage,
design for the bathhouse
garden, no date, pen and ink
(Bayer. Verwaltung der Staatl.
Schlösser, Gärten u. Seen).
Fig. 3: The bathhouse from the
east (photo: Förderer, 2006).
37

II.
38
Fig. 4: The bathhouse from the
south (photo: LAD Esslingen,
2006).
Fig. 5: Anton Graff, longitudinal
section of the bathhouse,
1799 (From: Badische Heimat,
2002/1, p. 171).
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
the pavilions was converted into a bathhouse. 6
Marly-le-Roi is considered the prototype
of pavilions, and in southern Germany in
particular many imitations were built. 7 In the
18th century Palladian infl uence was strong in
France as well, especially in the work of Ange-
Jacques Gabriel. It is particularly evident in the
Petit Trianon at Versailles, which he built in
1762-68 for Madame de Pompadour. The small
fi lial palace became famous under the aegis of
Queen Marie Antoinette. With its cubic shape
and the sophisticated layout of its fronts, by
means of colossal pilasters or columns, it recalls
6 Jeanne Marie/Alfred Marie, Marly, n.p., 1947, p. 13: “En 1687,
les voyages devenant plus fréquents et plus longs, le Roi
décide, pour les commodités de la cour, de consacrer un des
pavillons, le cinquième à gauche, aux bains; les baignoires sont
installées au rez-de-chaussée et les cuves, une pour l’eau froide
et l’autre pour l’eau chaude sont au premier étage. Tous les
accessoires des bains étaient garnis de dentelles d’Angleterre.”
7 Among them the group of pavilions of the demolished
Favorite at Mainz and the pavilions built by the bishops of
Fulda in Bad Brückenau, still in existence today.
Palladian ideal buildings. At the same time its
fi ne detail and raised terrace clearly mark it
as belonging to the French tradition. The Petit
Trianon is a precursor of the “goût grec” and
early French Classicism. It unites the grace of
the Rococo period and the “belle simplicité”
of Classical antiquity. The layout of its fronts,
and the character of the pavilion as a private
dwelling for a king – or a king’s mistress,
Madame de Pompadour – certainly infl uenced
the look of the bathhouse.
The Schwetzingen bathhouse is thus modeled
on the work of Andrea Palladio and Vincenzo
Scamozzi, English Palladianism and Gabriel’s
pavilion, the Petit Trianon at Versailles. The
theory of the “maison de plaisance” was laid
down by François Blondel in a 1737 tract, that
was widely read. According to Blondel the
“maison de plaisance” is a type of building with
a particular ground plan, elevation and set of
rooms, and clearly defi ned by them. 8 It developed
as a result of certain attitudes of 17th- and
18th-century society, which valued time spent
in the country. 9 However, when it came to the
individual building, the uses it was destined
for, and the personal requirements and ideas of
its builder, played a large part too.
The Use of the Schwetzingen Bathhouse
by Elector Carl Theodor
The Schwetzingen bathhouse, too, represents
the personality and likings of its builder Carl
Theodor. The well-known Strasbourg scholar
Johann Daniel Schöpfl in (1694-1771) described
Carl Theodor as the most scholarly prince in
Germany and in 1768, wrote about him: : “Il
faut convenir qu’il n’y a point [de] prince en
Europe qui favorise tant les lettres comme ce
prince et ce n’est pas par insinuation, affectation,
vanité; cela vient de lui même et de son
bon naturel...”. 10 By temperament the Elector
Palatine was quiet and often melancholy. The
8 Dietrich von Franck, Die “maison de plaisance”. Ihre Entwicklung
in Frankreich und ihre Rezeption in Deutschland.
Dargestellt an ausgewählten Beispielen, diss., München 1982,
p. 5.
9 Katharina Krause, Die Maison de plaisance. Landhäuser in der
Ile-de-France (1660-1730), München/Berlin 1996, p. 8.
10 Stefan Mörz, Aufgeklärter Absolutismus in der Kurpfalz
während der Mannheimer Regierungszeit des Kurfürsten Karl
Theodor (1742-1777), Stuttgart 1991, p. 56.

French ambassador François Bonaventure
Tilly Marquis de Blaru (1701-1775) wrote:
“J’ai souvent besoin de l’amitié que ce Prince
a la bonté de me témoigner pour le tiers de
l’affreuse mélancholie où je l’ay quelque fois vû
plongé. … Le duc est dissimulé, parle peu, et on
ne peut guère savoir au juste ce qu’il pense.” 11
Carl Theodor loved solitude and liked to go for
solitary rambles in his Schwetzingen garden,
by then open to the public. This inclination was
his very own trait, while the tendency to retire
into a more private sphere was characteristic
of his times. And so Carl Theodor created a
private refuge protected by the walls and gates
surrounding his bathhouse. Here he could do
as he pleased. The manner of Carl Theodor’s
using his bathhouse becomes evident from
the notes of the Swabian poet and musician,
Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart (1739-
1791), who wrote in 1791: “In the midst of
these entertainments I received orders to go to
Schwetzingen immediately, and play for the
Elector – an order the more pleasing to me as
it was usually very diffi cult to obtain a hearing
with this prince. I drove there with young
Count Nesselrode and was called in immediately.
The Elector was in his bathhouse, as he often
is, a small but exceedingly tasteful building in
the garden; the Princes Gallian and Isenburg
were with him, Frau von Sturmfelder and another
couple of cavaliers. He had dispensed with
most of his splendour, the mien of the sceptical
ruler, and appeared to be merely a good man
and gracious host. His appearance bespoke
health and manly vigour. The friendly glance he
casts over strangers and locals, soothes the fear
inspired by his power and fame. Looking at his
serene face, one soon forgets the star sparkling
on his breast and announcing his greatness. He
received me so graciously that my awkwardness
soon gave way to ease. After inquiring very
kindly after my circumstances, he himself
played, almost diffi dently, a fl ute concert
accompanied by two Toeschi and the violoncellist
Danzy. Afterwards I played a number of
pieces on the piano, sang a Russian war song I
11 Mörz 1991, p. 19.
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
had made, rose, talked about literature and art
and gained the Elector’s full approval. “I will
listen and talk to you more often”, he said with
the most pleasant expression when I took my
leave. This initial success poured joy and hope
into my heart.» 12
This is the only source telling us about the
uses the bathhouse was put to by its builder.
However, it is likely that Carl Theodor, who was
deeply interested in literature, music and the
natural sciences, gathered like-minded friends
in the bathhouse, thus making his refuge into a
place of inspiration and intellectual interchange.
Description and Function
Access and exterior
The bathhouse is a rectangular, one-storey building
with a central octagonal tambour. The
simple transverse rectangle is the most common
solution for ground plans of the early
Classicist era, particularly for country palaces
and townhouses. Two paths lead up to the bathhouse.
Next to the natural theatre to the north,
there is a small lawn with a central water feature,
a so-called champignon d’eau in a circular,
monolithic sandstone basin. The lawn is lined
12 Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart, C. F. D. Schubart’s, des
Patrioten, gesammelte Schriften und Schicksal, Stuttgart 1839,
pp. 150 f.
II.
Fig. 6: Bathhouse vestibule/Oval
Hall (photo: LAD Esslingen,
2006).
39

II.
40
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
with hornbeam hedges and decorated with four
sandstone busts. 13 In order to provide a point
de vue from the theatre, Pigage built a small pavilion
which served as a transition to the former
menagerie (today, the arboretum). The pavilion
is lined entirely with delftware tiles and
could be used as a summer dining room – the
bathhouse kitchen is right next to it. The bathhouse
is raised slightly above the lawn in the
manner of a belvedere, and reached by a short
fl ight of steps. Originally there was an iron gate
here separating the public grounds from the
Elector’s private garden. Pigage designed a plaque
with the Elector’s monogram “CT” and the
symbols of his rank, the electoral hat and ermine
cloak, to surmount this front of the building.
One would expect to fi nd a door beneath,
but there is just one window in the central projection.
The same layout is repeated on the side
facing the Apollo canal. In this way Pigage indicates
that the building is a ruler’s house but nevertheless,
a private area.
The main approach is from the west and the
Temple of Apollo. This is the only approach
that could be used by coaches. However, the
monumental gate framed by rusticated blocks,
at fi rst only leads into the dark basement of the
temple. From there the visitor can pick his way
to the rocky stairs leading to the bathhouse.
The stairs divide just above the wild boar grotto;
the ends were originally closed off with iron
gates. The visitor had to be a personal guest of
Carl Theodor to proceed further.
Access to the bathhouse is via a semicircular
portico. Pigage designed this as an “intrada”
with two Tuscan columns. It is based on
antique thermae architecture, which in 18thcentury
building was fi rst refl ected in English
interiors. The wall apses with statues in niches,
were brilliantly used by the English architect
Robert Adam in the fi rst half of the 18th century,
both with and without a set of columns in
front. 14 His models were drawings by Andrea
Palladio of the Baths of Diocletian in Rome. In
13 The busts are sandstone copies by the sculptor Franz Conrad
Linck after casts from the Chamber of Antiques at Mannheim.
14 For example at Kedleston Hall, Syon Park, Osterley Park and
Kenwood.
France elements of thermae architecture were
used on the exteriors of buildings.
Thus, in 1770, the architect Claude-Nicolas Ledoux
created an entrance with an open semicircular
portico for the house of the dancer, Marie-
Madeleine Guimard on the Chaussée d’Antin in
Paris. Expert literature has consequently identifi
ed Ledoux as the spiritus rector, who fi rst
transferred an element of interior decoration
to the outside of a building. However, Palatine
building director Nicolas de Pigage did the
same in 1768/69, when building the Schwetzingen
bathhouse, creating an ideal entrance in
the spirit of Classicism before his more famous
colleague did.
The intrada motif appears on the northern and
southern fronts. In the middle of the concave
wall is a door, which can be shuttered by slatted
doors. Flanking each door are two niches
surmounted by shell motifs in stucco. In keeping
with recent fi ndings, the walls are painted
a pale yellow with a pattern of drops. On either
side of the intrada are fake doors surmounted
by sopraportas depicting water nymphs.
The niches of the southern intrada contain a reworked
plaster statue of a faun accompanied
by a goat kid 15 and a Cupid by the court sculptor,
Peter Anton von Verschaffelt. 16 The northern
portico has reworked plaster casts modeled
on the Apollino Tribuna 17 and Idolino. 18
Both porticoes are deliberately simple in appearance;
early Classicist doctrine held that the in-
15 The statue of the satyr accompanied by a small goat, is fi rst
mentioned in 1676; it was discovered near the church of S.
Maria Vallicella in Rome. It is an imperial-era marble copy of a
Greek bronze dating from the 2nd half of the 3rd century BC. In
1724 it came into the possession of the Spanish King, Philipp V.
He had it put up in his summer palace of San Ildefonso; hence
the name, “Ildefonso Faun”. In 1839, the statue was taken to the
Prado in Madrid, where it is still on view.
16 The casts were modeled on pieces from the Mannheim
Chamber of Antiques. Another cast of the “Ildefonso Faun” at
Mannheim was bought by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe for
his house in Weimar, and still adorns the staircase there.
17 The marble statue of Apollino was excavated c.1500 in Rome,
and in 1684 came into the possession of the Medici family. It
is a Roman marble copy, below life-size (hence the diminutive,
‚Apollino’), after a larger-than-life original by the sculptor
Praxiteles or his school. It is on display in the tribuna of the
Uffi zi in Florence, hence the name, “Apollino Tribuna”.
18 The bronze original of the Idolino is a Roman copy, dating
from the 1st century BC, of a Greek sculpture of the High
Classical era associated with the sculptor Polyklet. The
statue, discovered in 1530 near Pesaro, belonged to the Duke
of Urbino. It has been part of the Medici collection since
1630. At fi rst it was displayed in the Uffi zi; today it is in the
Archaeological Museum in Florence.

herent nobility of the shapes was best presented
in this way.
Interior
The bathhouse’s central room is the Oval Hall,
not, as might have been expected, the bathroom.
It was designed by Pigage as a “salon
à l’italienne”. Wall niches contain four statues
that might be interpreted as personifi cations
of the times of day. Surmounting them are medallions
depicting the seasons. Beneath them,
griffi ns support marble consoles. The mezzanine
within the tambour is decorated with stucco
reliefs by Giuseppe Pozzi (1732-1811) depicting
cherubs and garlands of fl owers. The oval 19
painting on the ceiling is entirely fl at, without
any suggestion of a dome, and enclosed within
a wreath of oak leaves in gilt wood. It is a painting
in oils on canvas, and was fastened to the
ceiling as a “quadro riportato”. The artist was
Nicolas Guibal, a court painter from Württemberg,
and the subject is “Aurora chasing away
the night”. 20
The hours, the seasons and Aurora as the rising
dawn, are symbolic of the passing time which
carries Man along with it, a fate he cannot escape.
Two anterooms adjoin the Oval Hall; they are
part of the suite of “function” rooms but also by
their very nature belong to the living quarters
on the narrow sides of the building. Painted
a bright pink, they give access to the Elector’s
private rooms. Their Classicist décor includes
reeds, shells, cherubs and swans, and refers to
the pleasures of the bath, and quite possibly
those of physical love as well.
The anterooms give access to four corner
rooms. They surround the Oval Hall with its
“dayrise” theme, and might be interpreted as representing
the times of day.
On the east side are a study and the so-called
Chinese Room; in the west are the bathroom
and bedroom.
19 More oval ceiling paintings by Nicolas Guibal have been
preserved at Monrepos (“Adonis leaving Venus”) and Schloss
Solitude (“Allegory of the wealth of the country”).
20 The biography of Nicolas Guibal in the appendices contains a
detailed description.
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
The Chinese Room has oak wainscoting with
four inset panels covered with imported Chinese
wallpaper. The paper depicts small fi gures of
craftsmen and peasants going about their business
against a landscape background.
Flanking the chimneypiece were consoles made
by the Frankenthal porcelain manufactory supporting
fi gures in the fashionable Chinese style.
The consoles and fi gures have been lost but
will be replaced. The furniture includes a replica
of the original porcelain chandelier by Franz
Conrad Linck, four corner cupboards and four
chairs.
The study is the most elaborate of the rooms,
with wainscoting of polished walnut, jacaranda,
mahogany and rosewood. The room has an alcove
fl anked by two Corinthian columns. Here
Pigage uses a motif familiar from throne and
audience rooms – the Corinthian order is reserved
for rulers. The furniture one would expect
is a grand chair draped with an ermine cloak,
and a coat of arms. The bathhouse, however,
was intended for Carl Theodor the private gentleman,
and so the alcove contains a daybed,
and the wall behind is decorated with a landscape
painting.
What draws the eye in the study are seven
landscapes by Court Painter Ferdinand Kobell.
21 They fi ll the height and breadth of the
small room, in a way reproducing the view into
the garden and making the room appear larger
than it is. Mirrors installed above the fi replace
and on the narrow sides of the alcove add
to this effect. The landscapes serve to blur the
room’s boundaries; through the window the
spectator sees a garden landscape no different
in type than the ones painted on the walls.
It is only logical that the bedroom should face
west towards the setting sun. The bed is placed
in an alcove that can be shut off with curtains.
A bed of this type was useless for offi cial receptions;
is thus another proof of the bathhouse’s
intensely private atmosphere. Two side cabinets
bear witness to the functionality of the layout
– they contain a wardrobe and a “retirade”
with the Elector’s commode. The “basalt ware”
21 See also the biography of Ferdinand Kobell in the appendices.
II.
41

II.
Fig. 7: Nicolas Guibal, painting
on the ceiling of the Oval
Hall: “Aurora chasing away
the night”, 1772, oil on canvas
(photo: LAD Esslingen, 2006).
Fig. 8: The Elector’s study in the
bathhouse; landscape paintings
by Ferdinand Kobell (photo:
LAD Esslingen, 2006).
42
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
wedgwood vases on the mantel are an early example
of the Elector’s appreciation of English
art. The room is currently in the process of
being restored; it will receive a yellow wallpaper
of Peking silk decorated with birds of paradise
and exotic fl owers, like the one that decorated
it at the time.
For the bathroom, Pigage used stucco and semiprecious
stones to create a grotto. An oval marble
bathtub is sunk into the fl oor. The convex
wall behind it is decorated with a stucco curtain.
A roof lantern directly above provides light
and ventilation. Four rectangular stucco reliefs
depict naiads bearing water urns. They are the
work of Joseph Anton Pozzi and closely modeled
on the reliefs of the Fontaine des Innocents
by Jean Goujon in Paris. Mirrors line the ceiling
and doors, adding to the room’s sophistication.
The water was piped into the basin via lead serpents
and an urn; an overfl ow pipe also served
as plug. The water was heated in the bathhouse
kitchen and conducted to the bathhouse via
subterranean pipes. 22
The surprising elements of the bathroom are
the reversion to antique motifs, and its intimate
character.
Grounds
The unadorned bathhouse exterior refl ects the
stylistic preferences of Classicism, which valued
the simplicity and modesty of antique art,
but also the modern attitudes of the patron.
The bathhouse in the Schwetzingen grounds
might well be described as an example of the
age of Enlightenment in visual form – modern
architecture united with an enlightened
mindset.
To the west, the bathhouse was adjoined by
a private garden separated from the rest of
the grounds by walls and slatted wooden
fences. In the centre of this “giardino segreto”
are the so-called water-spouting birds. Pigage
mentions this installation in the “information”
written for the treasury on 8th May 1776.
It was probably completed by that time,
because it was turned over to Court Builder
Huschberger for maintenance: “Le Pavillon
des Bains avec celui à côté pour sa cuisine,
avec les vollieres, les cabinets. Les Berceaux,
et le Pavillon d’optique, qui se trouve dans
l’Enceinte de son petit jardin particulier.” 23 The
oval basin is surrounded by a white wooden
railing. In the centre on a stylized stump is an
eagle-owl holding a pheasant in its talons. Its
wings are spread wide; two jets of water spout
from its beak. The open space is surrounded
by walls of trellis, the top of which bends
inwards; twenty more birds are perched on
22 The lead pipes and copper kettles remained in place until
claimed by a war-related metal-collecting drive in 1916.
23 Generallandesarchiv Karlsruhe 221/39, 8th May 1776.

the edge, spitting water down into the basin.
The whole thing illustrates a fable by the
ancient poet, Aesop – the evil eagle-owl has
killed a bird, and is consequently screamed
and spat at by the good birds. Originally the
birds were made of sheet iron and painted in
their natural colours. In 1995, copies made
of sheet copper were installed. An inventory
dated 1926 gives exact numbers: 1 eagle-owl
and pheasant, 12 large birds, 8 mediumsized
birds, 12 small birds. Today 20 of the
original 32 birds are left; the twelve small
birds – that were not connected to the water
system – have been stolen. The birds are very
natural-looking, some with wings spread.
Some can even be identifi ed: there is a turkey,
a cockatoo, a capercaillie, a goose, a hoopoe, a
Great Bustard, a hen and a rooster. The natural
impression was heightened by the four
aviaries originally installed on the diagonals
of the open space; the birds enlivened the
scene with their twittering. On the transverse
axis are two small buildings known from their
décor as the agate cabinets. One charming
aspect of the fountain is that the visitor can
walk all round the central basin beneath the
jets of water. Instead of the usual fountain
hurling water into the air, which then returns
to earth in an arch, the water jets converge
on the basin. The inspiration for the waterspouting
birds was, once again, Versailles. The
labyrinth there featured 39 fables of this type,
made widely known by copperplate illustrations,
among them a scene resembling the one
at Schwetzingen. However, the installations
at Versailles were dismantled very soon while
the Schwetzingen fountain survives.
Most guide books state that the birds, like
many of the garden’s more remarkable sculptures,
were brought from Lunéville. There is
another possibility. Kurt Martin believed them
to be from the gardens of the Lorraine palace
of La Malgrange, quoting a French garden
guide book of 1818: “C’est à la Malgrange
que Stanislas avoit placé cette scène”. 24 In a
plan of La Malgrange Emmanuel Héré writes,
24 Kurt Martin, Die Kunstdenkmäler des Amtsbezirks Mannheim.
Stadt Schwetzingen, Karlsruhe 1933, p. 266.
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
under Caption No. 35: “Bassin de Rocaille avec
un grand nombre d’Oiseaux remplissant un
demi dôme de treillage, jettant de l’Eau en
abondance sur un Hibou.” 25 A semicircular
“berceau en treillage” with a central half-dome
surrounds and surmounts a circular tuff
basin. The birds were probably perched on
the latticework of the half-dome, with the
25 Julia Rau-Gräfi n von der Schulenburg, Emmanuel Héré.
Premier Architect von Stanislas Leszczynski in Lothringen
(1705-1763), Berlin 1973.
II.
Fig. 9: Bathroom in the bathhouse
(photo: LAD Esslingen,
2006).
Fig. 10: Chiswick House
(England, near London), c.1725
(photo: postcard).
43

II.
44
Fig. 11: Petit Trianon (France,
Versailles), Ange-Jacques
Gabriel, 1763-1768 (From: Le
guide du Patrimoine: Ile de
France, Paris 1992, p. 711).
Fig. 12: Schwetzingen, bathhouse
garden: water-spouting
birds (photo: Förderer).
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
eagle-owl in the basin below. An old depiction
of the installation in a painting by G. Mangin
at the Musée Historique Lorrain, provides an
incomplete view as the artist apparently chose
the half-dome as his viewpoint.
The termination of the bathhouse garden
is the diorama; Pigage called it a “pavillon
d’optique”, its popular name is “The End of the
World”. Terminating a tunnel-shaped “berceau
en treillage” Pigage built a pavilion with two
side rooms that remain invisible from the
berceau. They are decorated with painted wall
coverings somewhat like the stucco used in
the bathhouse, and their ceilings are painted
with netting with birds fl ying overhead,
perhaps alluding to the nearby aviaries. The
main room, open at the front, has an apse-like
extension at the back, with an opening surrounded
by tuff rocks. The apse is elaborately
decorated with semiprecious stones and stucco
mosses, shells and rocks to imitate a grotto.
A small basin with a rim of iron reeds is set
in the outer wall. Water fl ows down from
the grotto’s ceiling into the basin. Behind the
opening, Pigage built a semicircular wall decorated
with a painting depicting an unspoiled
Rhine meadow. The model painting was
created by Court Painter Ferdinand Kobell;
the fresco itself is by a set painter, Willwerth.
Pigage left a little space between the wall and
the pavilion, and dispensed with a roof; the
fresco thus has natural lighting with shadows
moving with the time of day, and the occasional
bird appearing. The impression is that
of looking through a dark tunnel at a distant
river meadow. The whole idea would appear
to herald the enthusiasm for the recreated
nature of the English landscape garden. The
layout is unique today, but its models can
be found, once again, in the gardens of the
Polish King in exile, Stanisław Leszczyński,
at Lunéville. There, at one corner of a canal
leading to the so-called rocher – an artifi cial
landscape with scenarios manipulated by
automatons – were three similar grottoes;
looking in, the visitor could see a painting of
the island of Capri. Nothing remains of the
installation itself, but it is depicted on the
wainscot brought to Lunéville from Einville
Castle. 26 Pigage no doubt knew of it, and
recreated it for Schwetzingen. It was liked so
much that after his stay at Schwetzingen in
1782, Emperor Joseph II asked Pigage to send
him the plans so he could have one built for
himself at Schönbrunn near Vienna – a plan,
however, that was not realized.
Summary
Looking at the layout of the bathhouse and its
garden along its longitudinal axis, it is evident
that Nicolas de Pigage worked with the
26 The author does not know whether or not the painting
survived a recent fi re in Lunéville.

interplay of light and shade as one would with
spotlights on a stage. An imaginary visitor
would start out in full sunlight (weather
permitting) from the little open space near the
wild boar grotto. Before him the overgrown
and shady “berceau en treillage” opens,
widening towards the bathhouse. The ground
rises almost imperceptibly, and the shade
blurs the distance, which is really too small
to allow for a proper respectful approach.
The building itself is in full sunlight again.
On entering the bathhouse and looking back,
the visitor is faced with an effect like that of
a fourth-wall stage with a naturally lighted
background – here, the wild boar grotto,
designed as a point de vue by Pigage. When
the visitor enters the Oval Hall and looks out
the north door, his gaze is directed slightly
downwards by another shady, trumpet-shaped
“berceau en treillage” – which again blurs the
actual distance – towards the bright open area
of the water-spouting birds. Behind that there
is another berceau, another open space and
yet another, longer berceau terminating in
the sunlit diorama which thus appears to be
much further away than it actually is. Pigage
has used the contrast of light and shade in a
manner worthy of the theatre stage, creating a
setting the depth of which cannot be guessed.
His contemporaries appear to have been
deeply impressed by this subtle manipulation
of the senses. In fact, the axes created in
this way – from the wild boar grotto to the
bathhouse, and from the bathhouse to the
Diorama – are reminiscent of the main axes
of the palace and garden that really do lead
off into the distance, terminated by the far-off
hills of Königstuhl and Kalmit. Both are
important landmarks within the Palatinate.
The Baroque system of axes/avenues leading
up to a precisely calculated point, has its
origin in the Absolutist self-image of the ruler.
The Schwetzingen bathhouse, however, adds a
playful and charming variant.
(Ralf Richard Wagner)
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
II.
Fig. 13: Versailles, the so-called
maze (destroyed): water-spouting
birds (From: S. Pincas,
Versailles, Paris 1995, p. 182).
Fig. 14: View towards the
diorama (photo: Förderer).
45

II.
46
Fig. 1: Mosque and courtyard,
aerial view (photo: LAD
Esslingen, 2005).
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
e)
The Mosque –
an Embodiment of
Eighteenth-Century Taste
and Thought
The mosque at Schwetzingen is the only
surviving 18th-century garden mosque in
Europe. Similar buildings at Kew, Kassel-
Wilhelmshöhe, Burgsteinfurt and Hohenheim
have been pulled down, some as early as the
late 18th century; the passion for garden
mosques was a short-lived one. 1 The building
at Schwetzingen, with its cloister and the
so-called Turkish garden, is of particular
signifi cance, as here alone the architectural
and historical origins of the Oriental fashion
in late 18th-century garden art can be studied
and understood.
From the west the visitor is presented with a
view of the main front, a church-like central
plan with a portico, attic, tambour, dome and
cubic extensions on the sides. Quarter-circular
walls connect the central building with two
“minarets”. From this side the layout of the
building as a whole is not visible.
1 Martin Gaier, “Die Moschee im Schwetzinger Schlossgarten”,
in: S. Ögel (ed.), Okzident und Orient, Istanbul 2002, pp. 47-71,
esp. p. 56.
Approaching from the east, however, the
visitor is shown a different and impressive
view – the latticed walks, separate from the
main building, elaborately roofed and arranged
like a cloister. On this side the structure
is surrounded by an Oriental-looking garden
with meandering paths. The entrance to the
cloister in the east is marked by a pavilion;
its corners are emphasized by oval pavilions
set diagonally. The short east and west sides
each have a pavilion attached to them on the
outside, the longer north and south sides have
two small pavilions each. The openings and
latticed windows allow numerous views of the
pavilions and the main building.
Building History
A Turkish garden is fi rst mentioned in the documents
on 18th August 1774, when architect
Nicolas de Pigage reported on its completion.
It may be assumed that work on it was begun
around the spring of 1774 or in the winter
preceding it. A plan by Court Gardener
Friedrich Ludwig Sckell – which differs from
the garden actually created – was probably
drawn up in the summer of 1773. 2 From 1779
onwards, the cloister and pavilions were built
in this jardin turc; they were probably largely
completed by 1784.
Work on the mosque proper was carried out
in 1782-95, that is to say after Elector Carl
Theodor had moved to Munich. 3 As a building
it is fi rst mentioned in the documents in
1782. 4 According to a report by Pigage, all
fronts of the main building were completed
in 1786, as were the dome and the quartercircular
walls connecting the central block and
the minarets. 5
It is evident that the work proceeded steadily
but very slowly. The chief reason was the fi -
nancial situation. Older research has assumed
2 Wiltrud Heber, Die Arbeiten des Nicolas de Pigage in
den ehemals kurpfälzischen Residenzen Mannheim und
Schwetzingen, part II, Darmstadt 1986, p. 595.
3 Heber 1986, S. 596-600. Cp. also Claus Reisinger, Der
Schloßgarten zu Schwetzingen, Gerlingen 1987, pp. 63 f.
4 The term Mosqué was fi rst mentioned in the building
documents in 1782. Heber 1986, p. 596.
5 Reisinger 1987, p. 63.

the huge cost of fl . 120 000; this, however, has
not been proved so far. 6
Architectural Models
The use of Islamic motifs in European architecture
was largely dependent on the view
the given era had of the Orient and its people.
Very much in the spirit of the Enlightenment,
William Hodges argues in favour of an
unbiased view of exotic buildings, and against
a myopic insistence on the inherent superiority
of Classical antiquity: “Or am I supposed
to close my eyes to the majesty, boldness
and splendour of Egyptian, Indian, Moorish
or Gothic monuments, those magnifi cent
wonders of architecture? Find fault with them,
denounce and despise them without pity,
because they are richer in their shapes and
cannot be brought to conform to the rules, the
pattern and the columns of the Greek hut?” 7
In the 1770s Oriental architecture increasingly
claimed a place next to the Classical ideal. In
England commercial and colonial interests
focused the attention on an “Orient” much
farther east, in India and China; in Germany
the Ottoman east came to be of cultural and
architectural interest, not least due to several
centuries of intermittent Ottoman wars. This
is the cultural context of the garden mosque
built by Nicolas de Pigage from 1779 to 1795.
From the late 1780s an image of antiquity
and an image of the Orient faced – and
complemented – each other at Schwetzingen
in the shapes of the mosque and the Temple
of Mercury, built from 1784. 8
6 Reisinger 1987, S. 63; see also the individual bills examined
by Heber, Heber 1986, pp. 595 ff. They amount to approx. fl .
36,000, but for several years there are no details at all, so the
documents must be considered incomplete. For example, no
bricklaying costs are mentioned.
7 William Hodges, Monumente indischer Geschichte und Kunst,
vol.1 (=Abhandlung über die ersten Muster der indischen,
maurischen und gothischen Baukunst), Berlin 1789, p. 9. Re.
Hodges cp. Stefan Koppelkamm, Exotische Architekturen
im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert, (= catalogue of an exhibition
organized by the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen at the
Design Center Stuttgart, 2nd Sept.-4th Oct. 1987), Berlin 1987,
p 24.
8 Another combination of a mosque and a ruined temple occurs
in a design by R.F.H. Fischer for the “Floride” at Hohenheim,
Württemberg, of 1795/96. Cp. the elevation of a mosque with
Roman ruins, 1795/96, in: Ludwig Marczoch, Orientalismus
in Europa vom 17.-19. Jahrhundert in der Architektur und
Innenraumgestaltung, diss., Frankenberg/Eder, 1989, vol. 2,
fi g. 174.
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
No documents survive that could shed light
on the models that inspired Pigage when he
designed the mosque itself, and laid out that
part of the garden, or the plans that were
used. We will, however, attempt to demonstrate
some parallels to other designs and
layouts of the time.
The Courtyard and Cloister
Pigage was certainly familiar with the folios
on architectural history published in 1721 by
the imperial court architect, “Hoff- und Lustgebäu
Ober-Inspector” Johann Bernhard Fischer
von Erlach (1656-1723). The third volume
deals with a number of Arab and Turkish buildings
as well as examples of Persian, Siamese,
Chinese and Japanese architecture. Not only
did Fischer von Erlach present ground plans
and detailed depictions of the great mosques
of the Ottoman empire; he even included a
view of the most sacred areas of Mecca. 9 The
house of God rebuilt by Abraham, the Black
Stone, the tomb of the Prophet and the well of
Ishmael, are all situated within a rectangular
layout with numerous covered walks with
domed pavilions and rectangular gatehouses.
The similarities between the cloister of the
Schwetzingen mosque and the depiction and
description by Fischer von Erlach is striking.
9 Picture (“Prospect von einen theil der großen Stadt Mecha)
in Harald Keller (ed.), Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach.
Entwurf einer historischen Architektur, Dortmund 1978, p. 90.
II.
Fig. 2: Johann Bernhard Fischer
von Erlach, view of the holy
places of Mecca (Entwurf einer
historischen Architektur, Vol.
3, 1721).
47

II.
48
Fig. 3: View through the entrance
pavilion and courtyard
towards the main building
(photo: Förderer).
Fig. 4: William Chambers,
view of the mosque at Kew,
1763 (Plans, elevations, and perspective
views of the gardens
and buildings at Kew in Surrey,
London 1763).
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
Pigage’s layout has two gatehouses modeled
on the corner pavilions at Mecca, and four domed
pavilions to accentuate the corners of his
own cloister. The assumption that Pigage used
Fischer von Erlach’s book as a model is thus
not too far-fetched. The entry under “Q” in
Fischer von Erlach’s captions for the covered
walk depicted reads: “Many of the domes are
lit with thousands of lamps like a cloister.” 10
10 Keller 1978, p. 91.
And in fact the covered walk at Schwetzingen
is described in the building documents as
a cloître or cloister. Even today, numerous
hooks and devices for the fi tting of lanterns
can be seen. Without referring to Fischer
von Erlach’s depiction of Mecca specifi cally,
Heber, too, assumes that at Schwetzingen
Pigage had used his architect’s imagination
to create a “historical architecture” in keeping
with Fischer von Erlach’s ideas. 11 It is thus not
surprising that this part of the garden should
have been described as a “Mecca” in Cay
Lorenz Hirschfeld’s Theorie der Gartenkunst
published in 1785: “Consider, for example, the
scene known as Mecca, consisting of a number
of Turkish buildings connected by walks
or arcades. These are so narrow that just two
people can walk side by side.” 12 Apparently
he used what had become the popular name
for that area. There is another indication that
the courtyard was intended as an imitation
of the holy sites of Mecca. The Palatine
court calendar of 1799, explicitly connects
the courtyard of the mosque and the tombs
of prophets: “entourés d’une arcade, aux
environs de laquelle on observe les oratoires
et les logements des prêtres turcs”. 13 Without
being an exact imitation of the Prophet’s tomb
,the courtyard was apparently meant to be
associated with Mecca.
Planning for this area had started in 1773,
long before any mosque building had been
designed; it is unclear whether a mosque was
even planned at that time. Quite possibly the
area was designed independently and with a
signifi cance of its own.
There are more indications that this was the
case. Pigage did not integrate the mosque with
the cloister but instead kept the two separate.
The mosque’s front and main gate face west,
away from the cloister. 14 The building is clearly
not meant to be the focal point and chief
11 Heber 1986, p. 653.
12 Hans Foramitti (ed.), Christian Cay Lorenz Hirschfeld: Theorie
der Gartenkunst, vol. 5, Leipzig 1785, reprint, Hildesheim
1973, p. 344.
13 Quoted after Kurt Martin, Die Kunstdenkmäler des Amtsbezirkes
Mannheim. Stadt Schwetzingen, Karlsruhe 1933, p. 298.
14 The reasons were not aesthetic as Martin Gaier believes. Gaier
2002, p. 52.

attraction of the cloister, which is entered
from the east by way of an elaborate pavilion,
and exited through an identical pavilion in the
west. Access to the mosque is through a back
door only, and via a connecting covered walk.
Another chief source of inspiration that must
be considered besides Fischer von Erlach, is
William Chambers’ mosque in Kew Gardens.
It is unclear whether or not the Palatine
architect ever visited England and saw it with
his own eyes. 15 He may have been familiar
with it from the numerous depictions. 16 That
he was familiar with it is evident from the
close resemblance of his own mosque’s four
corner pavilions to the mosque at Kew. 17 The
resemblance is not just in details like the
ogee arches of the doorways, the palm shaft
columns and the tambour design; the domed
buildings as a whole resemble miniature
versions of William Chambers’ mosque. This
in turn was closely modelled on a depiction
of the imperial baths at Buda in Fischer von
Erlach 18 , which makes the corner pavilions
another element inspired, albeit indirectly, by
a Fischer von Erlach image.
So far there has been no close comparison
of the corner pavilions with the mosque that
was built in 1778 in nearby Hohenheim,
Württemberg, and drawn in 1780 by David
Dillenius. It, too, was closely modelled on Kew
and thus bore a marked resemblance to the
Schwetzingen corner pavilions. Moreover, it
was approached via a trellised walk connecting
it with two smaller pavilions and the
two minarets. 19 The Hohenheim mosque thus
suggests another possible model for Pigage’s
corner pavilions, that was much closer
geographically. It may also have inspired
the idea of another, larger mosque building,
not part of the system of covered walks but
clearly connected to them. Chronologically,
15 Gaier assumes that Pigage visited England but does not
provide proof. Gaier 2002, p. 55.
16 For example the one published by Georges Le Rouges in 1787.
Cp. Marczoch 1989, part 2, fi g. 155.
17 Heber 1986, pp. 617 f., Gaier 2002, pp. 56 f.
18 Fischer von Erlach described his depiction of the imperial
baths at Buda as “remarkable Arab architecture that has been
much praised” (denckwürdige Arabische Architektur, die sehr
gerühmt und estimiret wird.) Marczoch 1989, part 2, fi g. 154.
19 Hohenheim, mosque, 1778, drawing by David Dillenius, 1780.
Marczoch 1989, fi g. 156.
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
too, it is entirely possible that Pigage’s layout
was inspired by Hohenheim; the Hohenheim
mosque was completed a year before building
started on the cloister in the Palatine summer
residence. In the later 18th century, there
was a lively exchange of artists between the
Palatinate and Württemberg; Pigage himself
travelled to Württemberg. 20 The similarities
20 Stefan Moebus, “Ein Künstleraustausch zwischen Württemberg
und Kurpfalz”, in: Schwäbische Heimat, No. 1999/3, pp.
329-340.
II.
Fig. 5: Northwestern corner pavilion
in the mosque courtyard
(photo: Förderer).
Fig. 6: William Chambers,
section of the central room of
the mosque at Kew, 1763 (Plans,
elevations, and perspective
views of the gardens and
buildings at Kew in Surry,
London 1763).
49

II.
Fig. 7: Interior detail of a
corner pavilion at Schwetzingen
(photo: Förderer).
50
Fig. 8: Hohenheim mosque.
Drawing by David Dillenius,
1780.
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
between the Schwetzingen mosque and
Hohenheim were noted by contemporaries
too, as shown by a letter written by Friedrich
Hölderlin in 1788: “They have a Turkish
mosque (a temple) here; some people might
not even notice it among all these beauties,
but I liked it best of them all. The whole thing
is like Hohenheim and the solitude taken
together, as far as I am concerned.” 21
It should be mentioned that another mosque
had been built in 1783/84 at Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe,
once again modeled closely on Kew. 22
However, the Schwetzingen cloister, with its
21 Hölderlin was probably referring to the mosque in the
Hohenheim garden, built 1778. Cp. Andrea Berger-Fix/Klaus
Merten, Die Gärten der Herzöge von Württemberg im 18.
Jahrhundert, exhibition catalogue, Worms 1981, catalogue no.
51: Hohenheim mosque.
Friedrich Hölderlin in a letter to his mother, in: Adolf Beck
(ed.), Hölderlin: Sämtliche Werke, vol. 6. (Briefe), Stuttgart
1954, p. 32.
22 On German reactions to the Kew mosque: Adrian von Buttlar,
“Chinoiserien in deutschen Gärten des 18. Jahrhunderts”, in:
Sir William Chambers und der Englisch-Chinesische Garten in
Europa, Stuttgart 1995, pp. 72 ff.
corner pavilions, is unique among the German
imitations in its individual and imaginative
reworking of the inspiration, provided by Kew
and the depiction of Mecca by Fischer von
Erlach.
The Mosque Building
The Schwetzingen mosque is not a purely
Oriental building. The use of the dome is
characteristic of the style of an Ottoman
mosque; but then this, on the other hand,
developed as a reaction to the Byzantine
dome of the Hagia Sophia, which left such an
enormous impression on Turkish architects
after the capture of Constantinople, that they
consequently copied it and tried to improve
on it . 23 Christian and Islamic forms were thus
blended and reinterpreted. In this context, the
octagonal central plan of the Schwetzingen
mosque with its tambour and dome could be
considered an embodiment of the blending
of numerous architectural infl uences. Domed
tambours, for example, are not a frequent
feature of Ottoman mosques, but they are not
unheard of either. 24
Pigage was evidently trying to use authentic
Islamic elements in the design of his mosque.
At the same time, he relied on his own knowledge
of European and contemporary forms,
to provide architectural points of reference
and a connection with familiar categories. In
his mosque, Pigage used traditional shapes
of Islamic buildings – the square, octagon
and circle. At the same time and contrary to
Islamic tradition, which tends to keep these
elements distinct and separate, he combined
them into an indivisible whole. 25
On the east side of the Schwetzingen mosque
there are two round towers; in the west, two
quarter-circular walls connect the building
with the minarets. The two slender minarets
are based on Turkish models, but do not
taper to a point; instead they are crowned
with onion domes. The western front has a
23 Ulya Vogt-Göknil, Die Moschee. Grundformen sakraler
Baukunst, Zürich 1978, pp. 127 ff.
24 One example of a free-standing tambour is the Selimiye
mosque in Istanbul. Cp. Vogt-Göknil 1978, p. 111.
25 Heber 1986, p. 626.

Classicist portico. The mosque is thus a blend
of European Baroque and Classicist as well as
Islamic architectural shapes.
So far no direct models have been identifi ed
for the mosque building. The elements
derived from Ottoman architecture were
probably found in the available ground plans
and depictions of mosques on the one hand,
in European buildings inspired by Oriental
models, on the other.
The ground plan of the Schwetzingen mosque
is strikingly reminiscent of European
churches, especially of Fischer von Erlach’s
grand Karlskirche in Vienna. 26 There are the
church’s two equal-sized vestries, turned into
“cabinets” in the mosque; there are the four
niches in the main hall, and the front portico
with its four closely spaced columns and
the architrave that rounds the corners. 27 An
interesting feature is the placing of the two
monumental columns within the church front.
Sedlmayr has pointed out that in placing the
columns in front of the church, Fischer von
Erlach refl ected the positioning of minarets
in front of mosques, a feature he knew very
well, having published numerous examples
in his great folio work. 28 In positioning his
minarets in front of the mosque, Pigage draws
on Fischer von Erlach once more – although
the massive columns have become slender
minarets again, more reminiscent of Fischer’s
depictions of the Sultan Suleiman or Sultan
Ahmed mosques, than the Karlskirche.
The gable points, on the other hand, are
probably derived from those decorating the
entrance of the Sultan Ahmed mosque, again
in a depiction by Fischer von Erlach. 29
It is safe to state therefore, that the design of
the mosque itself and the cloister was infl uenced
as much by Fischer von Erlach as it was
26 For the Karlskirche ground plan cp. Keller 1978, p. 116. A
connection with the Karlskirche is established in Reisinger.
Reisinger 1987, p. 65.
27 Gaier sees more of a connection with Chambers’ Alhambra,
which is not unlikely given the pointed leaf ornaments. Gaier
2002, p. 55.
28 Hans Sedlmayr, “Die Schauseite der Karlskirche in Wien”, in:
Epochen und Werke, vol. II, Wien 1960, p. 117. The opinion is
shared by Heber. Heber 1986, p. 617.
29 Keller 1987, p. 86.
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
by Chambers, whose contribution has been
stressed much more frequently by researchers.
The Historico-Cultural Context
The Schwetzingen mosque was never used
as a pheasant house 30 or as an exotic garden
house for the pursuit of amorous adventures 31
– even though other garden mosques were.
Those buildings, however, while imitating the
outer appearance of a mosque, retained the
characteristics of a Rococo turquerie – exoticlooking
structures serving as stage sets or
curiosities in gardens, frivolities dressed up as
sacral buildings. Garden architecture usually
having a purpose, decorative or otherwise,
the Schwetzingen buildings appear to have
baffl ed contemporary visitors. On 14th July
1780, the author Wilhelm Heinse wrote
to Friedrich Jacobi concerning the cloister,
work on which had just begun: “The Turkish
building they are working on seems silly to
me; I can see neither a point nor a use.” 32 The
Schwetzingen mosque and cloister were well
beyond the usual idea of garden houses and
follies. As Gaier wrote, the mosque appears to
30 For example Hohenheim. Berger-Fix/Merten 1981, p. 78.
31 The Steinfurt mosque of Prince Ludwig von Bentheim, built
1783.
32 Wilhelm Körte (ed.), Briefe zwischen Gleim, Wilhelm Heinse
und Johann von Müller. Aus Gleims literarischem Nachlasse, 2
vols., Zürich 1806, vol. 1, p. 418.
II.
Fig. 9: Ground plan of the
mosque, Wilhelm Schweitzer,
c.1930 (From: Martin 1933,
p. 292).
51

II.
Fig. 10: Johann Bernhard
Fischer von Erlach, ground
plan of the Karlskirche, Vienna
(Entwurf einer historischen
Architektur, Vol. 3, 1721).
52
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
represent nothing but itself. 33 Pigage built two
structures, refl ecting a wholly new view of the
Orient and a serious contemplation of Islamic
issues, rather than decorative shells for some
unrelated purpose.
Johann Gottfried Herder’s statement that the
East had been the cradle of all religions refl
ects the late 18th century’s growing scholarly
interest in the Orient. Earlier on, due to the
centuries-long Ottoman wars, Christianity and
Islam had merely perceived the “imperialist”
aspects of each other, and thus, the opposite
and different. The age of Enlightenment
looked for convergences both on the praxeological
and the epistemological levels. The
result was a “sympathetic identifi cation”, as
the scholar Edward W. Said called the growing
willingness towards the end of the 18th
century, to discover aspects of relationship or
shared attitudes within the “other” and alien. 34
Fischer von Erlach’s view of Mecca is much
more than a document of the Oriental fashion
popular in the 18th century. In fact, the architect
stresses the importance of a knowledge
33 Gaier 2002, p. 59. Another explanation that does not apply
here is the possibility of the mosque’s representing a triumph
over the Ottomans, and thus a symbol of political and religious
victory. This is how Ulrika Kiby interprets the Ottoman
elements in the architecture of the Belvedere in Vienna.
Ulrika Kiby, Die Exotismen des Kurfürsten Max Emanuel in
Nymphenburg, Hildesheim 1990, pp. 167 ff.
34 Edward W. Said, Orientalismus (transl. L. Weissberg),
Frankfurt a. M. 1981, p. 110.
of Oriental languages, history and religion for
the understanding of one’s own origins and
those of others, when he writes in his caption
that “according to the Mohammedans this is
where the house built by Abraham and the
well of Ishmael are, and where Mohammed
wrote his Alcoran”.
Further surprising discoveries were that of a
common philosophical heritage derived from
antiquity, and numerous parallels, such as
the Islamic and Christian interpretations of
Aristotle’s De anima. 35
Most of all it was probably the aspect of
reason, that the era of Enlightenment found
in the Koran, which had become available in
translations into many European languages. 36
The discovery of a near-rational faith in
God, based on the reasoning and all-proving
“Alcoran” left many thinkers, and some deists
in particular, with an impression of Islam as
an “ideal”, “reasonable” religion. 37 Many books
were written about the issue. One of them was
a tract by Henri de Boulainvillier (1658-1722),
La vie de Mahomet, published posthumously
in 1730 and translated into German in 1747. 38
It argues that the Koran addresses believers
as sensible, thinking individuals and appeals
to their reason. However, Islam is in accord
35 Nizar Samir Gara, Die Rezeption der Philosophie des
Aristoteles im Islam, Diss. Heidelberg 2003, pp. 15 ff. Cp. also
Carl H. Becker, Das Erbe der Antike im Orient und Okzident,
Leipzig 1931.
36 As early as 1746, a German translation of the 1734 version
by George Sale, an English lawyer, was available to interested
readers. In 1772, the fi rst direct translation from Arabic was
published in Frankfurt am Main, entitled “The Turkish Bible”
(Die türkische Bibel, oder des Korans allererste teutsche
Übersetzung) and translated by David Friedrich Megerlin.
There is no proof that this edition was in the Mannheim court
library; however, it was spectacularly successful, and it may
be safely assumed that the Palatine court was aware of its
existence.
37 Diethelm Balke, “Orient und Orientalische Literaturen.
Einfl uß auf Europa und Deutschland”, in: Reallexikon der
deutschen Literaturgeschichte, Berlin 1965, vol. 2, pp. 816-868,
particularly p. 828. At the same time, there were very different
interpretations of Islam too. In Voltaire’s writings, it became a
paradigm of the fanaticism inherent in every religion, and was
described in terms considered anathema to Enlightenment:
“superstition”, “enthusiasm” and “fanaticism”. “Enthusiasm”
may describe a state of religious frenzy but also and more
generally an unhealthy, feverish imagination. “Fanaticism”, in
Voltaire’s eyes a synonym of “superstition”, was aimed mainly
at the unenlightened obscurantism of the Catholic church. To
Leibniz, “fanaticism” was evidenced by a tendency to rely on
immediate strong feeling, unchecked by reason – fanaticism
was thus a lack of clear thinking. In applying these terms to
Islam, Islam becomes a religion devoid of reason.
38 Henri de Boulainvilliers, Das Leben des Mahomeds mit historischen
Anmerkungen über die Mahomedanische Religion
und die Gewohnheiten der Muselmänner, Lemgo 1747.

not merely with reason, but even with natural
right. It is hardly surprising that Goethe,
fascinated by this interpretation, came to the
only possible and logical conclusion in his
collection of poems, West-östlicher Divan. In
the “Book of Proverbs” it says: “If Islam is
submission to God, in Islam we all live and
die.” 39
Somewhat more cautiously but respectfully
nevertheless, Herder wrote in his philosophical
work on history, Ideen zur Philosophie der
Geschichte der Menschheit: “The religion of
Mahomet impresses a calmness of the soul,
a unity of character on Man, which in fact
may be as dangerous as it is useful, but is still
in itself both worthy and praiseworthy.” 40 At
the same time Herder extols Muhammad as a
campaigner against idolatry and champion of
the doctrine of monotheism. 41
The Historical Context of the Inscriptions
and Adages
The building of the Schwetzingen mosque
must be considered in the general context
of a wide availability of Islamic literature
and a new, optimistic view of Islam, as a
“reasonable” religion in the late 18th century.
This is refl ected by the choice and distribution
of the inscriptions on the walls. Nicolas
de Pigage decided on decorating the eight
cartouches surmounting the archivolts in the
Schwetzingen mosque, with the name of Allah
in Arabic letters. Here the inscriptions are a
means of organizing the space. There are also
fi ve quotations from the Koran. Inscriptions
on or in buildings, from the 16th through
the 18th century, always serve to explain the
function, use or dedication of the building. 42
The fi rst verse of the fi rst sura on the black
marble slab in the central gable of the portico,
may be considered programmatic for the
building as a whole: There is no deity other
39 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, West-östlicher Divan. Buch der
Sprüche (= Goethes Werke in zwölf Bänden, vol. 2, Gedichte
und Versepen), Berlin/Weimar 1966, p. 63.
40 Johann Gottfried Herder, Ideen zur Philosophie der Geschichte
der Menschheit, Darmstadt 1966, p. 521.
41 Ibid. p. 515.
42 Peter Diemer, Inschriften an Bauten des 16.-18. Jahrhunderts
in Deutschland, Tübingen, n.d., p. 9 f.
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
than God. This statement is supported by the
quotes in the neighbouring cartouches. The
mosque was thus dedicated to the deliberate
intellectual approaching of another religion,
once the centuries-old threat posed by it
had been eliminated by the realization of a
shared geographic and philosophical ancestry
and, more than anything else, by the shared
intellectual trait of reason. Reason dictated the
realization that all religions could be traced
back to one principle, belief in a superior
being. As Voltaire stated in Zadig in 1747,
“You are all of the same opinion, and there is
nothing to quarrel about.” 43
Lessing’s idea of an equal acceptance of the
three monotheistic religions has no place in
the Schwetzingen mosque. Tolerance in Carl
Theodor’s Palatinate was what contemporary
thinking meant by it, a tolerating of religious
and denominational minorities. The mosque
thus remains an expression of a changed
intellectual, spiritual and political view of the
Orient, 44 and of the abandoning of a mere
fashion – the decorative turquerie – in favour
of a place for the contemplation and appreciation
of Mahomedism.
43 Voltaire: Zadig (In: Sämtliche Romane und Erzählungen,
Frankfurt a. M./Leipzig 1992, p. 169).
44 The 18th century also saw the beginnings of independent
Oriental politics on the part of the German states. Cp. Erika
Günther, Die Faszination des Fremden. Der malerische
Orientalismus in Deutschland, Münster 1990, p. 19.
II.
Fig. 11: Johann Bernhard
Fischer von Erlach, Sultan
Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul
(Entwurf einer historischen
Architektur, Vol. 3, 1721).
53

II.
54
Fig. 12: Detail of the cloister
ceiling (photo: Förderer).
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
On 7th June 1815, the young author August
Count of Platen-Hallermund went on an
outing from Neckarau to Schwetzingen.
Afterwards he noted in his journal: “We then
proceeded to the Temple of Minerva. There
was a mosque not too far from it. It was
unlocked and explained to us, how it was
built entirely after the fashion of real Turkish
churches. The buildings adjoining it are
rather large. Inside there is a number of fi ne
inscriptions, e.g. “The fool carries his heart
on his tongue, the wise man keeps his tongue
in his heart”, or “Gather gold as much as you
need, and wisdom as much as you can”. It
would have served its purpose already if every
curious visitor would only take these sayings
to heart.” 45
45 Oskar Hufschmied, “Der Dichter Graf von Platen in Mannheim”,
in: Mannheimer Geschichtsblätter, 1909, no. 1/ January,
pp. 55-58.
The Décor of the Cloister
The ceilings of the trellised walks are
decorated with tapestry-like depictions of a
starry sky, refl ecting the signifi cance of the
open skies and the celectial bodies in Islamic
culture. According to the Koran, the sky is
roof and ceiling to the earth, created by Allah
as another fi nite space to complement it. 46
Into this space he set the sun, moon, and the
planets, the cyclic movements of which prove
Allah’s greatness to Man. Sura 7, 54 of the
Koran reads: “The night overtakes the day,
as it pursues it persistently, and the sun, the
moon, and the stars are committed to serve
by His command.” 47 Consequently, the phases
of the moon are depicted in the cloister’s four
corner pavilions to represent the courses of
the celestial bodies, and so the unalterable
laws of God.
There is no contradiction in depicting the
starry sky in the cloister, which is part of the
earthly sphere, or in the “earthly” wisdom of
the inscriptions. Rather they underline the
purpose of the mosque and the cloister – to
be a metaphor of the world in the shape of a
“temple of Mahomet”. 48
(Susan Richter)
46 Vogt-Göknil, ibid., pp. 81ff.
47 Der Koran, Sure 7, 54 (Leipzig 1980, p. 157).
48 Johann Zeyher/J. G. Rieger (Hg.), Schwetzingen und seine
Gartenanlagen. Mit acht von Jury und Schnell gestochenen
ansichten und dem Plane des Gartens, Mannheim 1824, p.
113.

f)
The Arabic Insriptions of the
Mosque – a Manifestation
of Inter-Cultural Dialogue
The mosque and the two pavilions giving
access to the cloister, are decorated with 23 inscriptions,
not counting those consisting just
of the word allâh. 18 of them have a German
translation added; 20 are based on identifi able
Arabic originals, if not necessarily a single
source, which makes it likely that the remaining
three had authentic sources as well. Most
of the inscriptions are faulty as regards the
vowel-marks and diacritical prints, betraying
an insecure hand, not certain which “point”
belonged to which consonant. Some diacritical
markings are almost indistinguishable from
the points. 1 The lettering is based on the Turkish
nekshi, with Maghrebinian infl uences; on
the whole, the calligraphy is not conspicuously
individual. It is likely that the artist copied
the writings from a printed source. 2 The
letters are often placed separately, even when
they should be written together; probably
there were small gaps in the typeface, and the
artist copied those too. The strokes between
letters that sometimes appear in Arabic print,
have been adopted as well – the copyist may
have taken them for relevant parts of the
printed words. Another indication of a printed
model are the star-shaped marks terminating
some inscriptions. Marks like these appear in
Rostgaard’s Arabum philosophia popularis.
Five of the Schwetzingen inscriptions have
been taken from this collection, compiled
towards the end of the 17th century by Danish
archivist Friedrich Rostgaard, from the information
provided by his Arab teacher, Yaqûb
Sulaimân ad-Dimashqî (1665-1729). It was pu-
1 Only the consonants and long vowels appear in written
Arabic. Short vowels are sometimes indicated by special
marks. Some consonants are only identifi ed by the number of
points above or beneath the basic form.
2 The writing is reminiscent of the letters set by Samuel Luchtmans
and Son of Amsterdam, and used for the 1748 and 1767
editions of the Grammar of Erpenius. There are also strong
similarities to the appearance of the typeface in Rostgaard. Cp.
Fig. 1.
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
blished in 1764 by Johan Christian Kall. 3 Eight
are from a collection of 200 sayings based on
research by Joseph Scaliger (1540-1609) and
published in 1614 at Leyden by a Dutchman,
Thomas van Erpe (1584-1624), entitled Kitâb
al-Amthâl seu proverbiorum arabicorum
centuriae duae... cum interpretatione latina &
scholiis Josephi Scaligeri et Thomae Erpenii.
The material was taken from the famous
collection of Arab philologist Abû ‘Ubaid and
other, later sources. Most of the Schwetzingen
inscriptions are from those later, post-Classical
sayings, the so-called amthâl muwallada.
Only the untranslated Arabic texts on the mo-
sque front and the eight plaques bearing the
word allâh are specifi cally religious in content,
and refer to God. The translated sayings of the
interior are vaguely ethical and rather general
in nature, and would be unlikely to meet with
opposition even from agnostics.
The plaques on the front speak of monotheism,
of the transitoriness and sinfulness of
Man, of God’s mercy and omnipotence, of
responsibilities in this life and of the duty to
praise God.
The arches of the interior hall remind readers
of the lasting value of wisdom and right
action. Eagerness to learn, moderation in
outward appearances and intellectual ambitiousness
are praised.
3 Arabum philosophia popularis, sive sylloge nova proverbiorum.
A Jacobo Salomone Damasceno dictata excepit et interpretatus
est perillustris vir Fridericus Rostgaard, edidit cum
adnotationibus nonnullis Joannes Christianus Kallius, Hafniae
1764. This Syrian Christian, also known as Salomo Negri, had
been educated at a Jesuit mission school in Damascus before
being sent to Paris. Around 1697 he had taught Arabic to
Rostgaard. Later he went to London, and he also spent a year
at Halle. Among his pupils were some of the most eminent
linguists of the day. Cp. Johann Fück, Die arabischen Studien
in Europa bis in den Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts, Leipzig
1955, p. 96.
II.
Fig. 1: Arabic text of the saying
“Without hope nothing will succeed”
from Rostgaard’s Arabum
philosophia popularis, ed. 1764
by Johan Christian Kall.
55

II.
56
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
The plaques in the cupola extol the virtues
of moderation and diligence as well as hope,
discretion and the pursuit of knowledge, and
warn against envy, immoderateness, laziness
and bad company.
The inscriptions of the entrance pavilions recommend
moderation and reserve, steadiness,
persistence, diligence and care in choosing
one’s friends.
The topics mentioned most frequently are
wisdom and folly (six times), discretion or
contemplation and talkativeness (four times) 4 ,
diligence and laziness (four times), the pursuit
of worldly goods, and transitoriness or
mortality (three times).
On the whole, the ideal that emerges is one
of modesty and moderation with a touch of
the elitist – an outwardly unassuming but
intellectually ambitious man quite fastidious
regarding the company he keeps.
The Inscriptions of the Main Front
The plaques set in the front bear untranslated
Arabic texts in gilt lettering. It is hardly a
coincidence that those distinctly Islamic texts
are the ones without translation; probably
the intention was to create a semblance of
authenticity. Not one of the inscriptions is free
of mistakes. There is less vowelization than in
the other inscriptions. The numerous mistakes
beg the question whether or not the provider
of the texts and/or the sculptor even had a
printed source.
The intended meaning of the inscription on
the marble slab set into the central gable of
the portico may be taken to be “There is no
deity other than God”, which is the fi rst part
of the Muslim confession of faith. However,
the word for deity (ilâh) has been confused
with that for God (allâh), so the translation
is, in fact, “There is no God other than God”.
Characteristically enough, the second part,
“and Muhammad is the messenger of God”,
has been omitted. It is the second part,
however, that constitutes the specifi cally
Islamic element.
4 It is striking that despite the lack of space and the necessity to
select only a few sayings, discretion is mentioned repeatedly.
The Arabic inscription on the top plaque to
the right of the portico reads: “You shall give
[alms] before death comes.” This is a shortened
version of Sura 63, Verse 10 of the Koran, the
full text of which reads: “You shall give from
our provisions to you before death comes to
one of you, then you say, ‘My Lord, if only
You could delay this for a short while! I would
then be charitable and join the righteous.’” 5
The lower plaque has a shortened variation of
Sura 112, Verses 1-4. The full text should read:
“Proclaim: ‘He is God, One in Himself; God,
the Inscrutable. Never did He beget. Nor was
He begotten. None equals Him.’” The prophet
himself is said to have described this short
sura, the title of which might be translated as
“Pure Devotion”, as the equivalent of one third
of the Koran. The last two verses have been
amalgamated into “Neither was He begotten
nor does any equal Him.” 6
The plaques on the left side are hardly
vocalized at all. The translation of the top one
reads: “Praise be to you and praise belongs
to you alone. Hallowed is your name and
there is no God other than you.” This is not a
text from the Koran but a shortened version
of a sequence said during the ritual prayer
between the opening words and the recitation
from the Koran. Traditionally it is considered
to be a prayer fi rst said by Caliph ‘Umar (d.
644). One translation available in German
literature at the time, gives a rather vague idea
of both the traditional text and the inscription
on the mosque. 7 Here, too, the term for God
has been confused with the term for a deity.
The lower plaque reads: “Glorify GOD and
implore Him for forgiveness. He is the
Redeemer.” This is evidently a variation of
Sura 110, Verse 3 – “You shall glorify your
Lord, and implore Him for forgiveness. He is
the Redeemer.” 8
5 Some letters and additional marks are faulty; some letters that
should be linked stand alone.
6 The original word signifying “the Never-Changing” is
unrecognizable in the inscription. In the word yakun letters
that should be linked are separate, and the k is faulty.
7 Cp. Kurt Martin, Die Kunstdenkmäler des Amtsbezirks
Mannheim. Stadt Schwetzingen, Karlsruhe 1933, p. 303.
8 The last letter of the fi rst word is hard to identify, the last
word is near-indecipherable. The diacritical points are missing
in two places; in one place the vocalization is insuffi cient.

The Inscriptions of the Interior
All the inscriptions in the arches are faulty as
regards vocalisation and the points identifying
consonants. The much-voiced belief that they
are Koran quotes is incorrect. The sayings
are bipartite and, with the exception of one,
antithetical in structure.
„ERWIRB DIR GOLD SO VIEL DU
BRAUCHST : UND WEISHEIT SO VIEL DU
KANST” (“Gather gold as much as you need
and wisdom as much as you can.”)
The sayings may have been taken from the
anthologies of proverbs compiled by Scaliger
and Erpenius, that have been mentioned
above. Erpenius provides a translation,
“Acquire tibi aurum mensura, at scientiam
sine mensura”, and a summary, “Eruditioni,
non opibus in infi nitum studendam esse.” 9
„DER THOR HAT DAS HERZ IM MUNDE :
DER WEISE DIE ZUNG IM HERZEN” (“The
fool carries his heart on his tongue, the wise
man keeps his tongue in his heart.”)
This is in Erpenius, 1614, p. 53, no. LXXXIII,
with a translation by Scaliger, “Cor stulti in
ore eius : lingua autem prudentis in corde
eius” and a note, “Simile in Proverbiis Siracidis,
Cap. 21.” The saying, or variations of it,
appears in several other sources as well. 10
“WISSENSCHAFT IST EINE KRONE :
VERSTAND EINE GOLDENE HALS ZIERDE”
(“Scholarship is a crown, understanding a
golden necklace.”)
9 In the 1614 edition, p. 74 No. XXIX. In the extended 1775
edition entitled Selecta quaedam ex sententiis proverbiisque
Arabicis a Thom. Erpenio olim editis. Cum versione latina
et accessione centum proverbiorum, mere Arabicorum
emendavit E. Scheidius, Mooien Hardervicum, p. 38 no. 68.
Both times the writing is correct: ....bi-lâ qiyâsin instead of the
faulty...bi-ka qiyâsin of the inscription.
10 The same version appears in a 12th-century compilation:
Ebu Medini Mauri Fessani Sententiae quaedam Arabicae.
Nunc primum edidit ac latine vertit Franciscus de Dombay,
Vindobonae 1805, p. 60 no. 282, with translation, «Cor fatui
est in lingua eius, et lingua prudentis in corde eius.» In
reverse order in Georg Wilhelm Freytag, Arabum proverbia
sententiaque proverbiales, vocalibus instruxit, latine vertit,
commentario illustravit et sumtibus suis editit, Bonnae ad
Rhenum 1838-1843, 3,1 p. 475 no. 2860, translation «Lingua
prudentis in corde est, et cor stulti in ore.» This version, also
in Johan L. Burckhardt, Arabic Proverbs or the manners and
customs of the modern Egyptians, illustrated from their
proverbial sayings current at Cairo translated and explained,
London 1830, p. 58, with a more literal translation, “The
tongue of the wise is in his heart, the heart of the fool in his
mouth.”
The faulty vocalization al-ahmaqa instead of al-ahmaqi
testifi es to a sketchy knowledge of Arabic grammar.
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
The literal translation of the fi rst half of
the original would in fact be “Scholarship
is a crown for the youth”, or even “for the
noble-minded”. The original is once again
in Erpenius, 1614, p. 71 no. XXII; Scaliger’s
translation reads “Scientia diadema est puero,
& intellectus torques aureus”, and his note,
“similia in proverbiis Salomonis.” 11
“REICHTUM UND DIE WELT VERGEHEN
: GUTE HANDLUNGEN BLEIBEN EWIG”
(“Wealth and the world will pass, right action
endures.”)
Erpenius 1614, p. 82 no. XLVI, translation
by Scaliger, “opes et mundus praeteribunt; et
durabunt opera bona”; appears in Freytag as
well. 12
The inscriptions in the cupola are riddled with
fewer mistakes and typographically closer to
the Arabic. The plaques are smaller, and the
sayings are no longer antithetical; most are
simple and rather general maxims, warnings
and pieces of advice.
„DER THOR HAELT WARNUNG FUER
FEINDSCHAFT” (“A fool takes a warning for
hostility.”)
In Rostgaard 1764, p. 157 no. CCCCVIII,
with a translation, “Ne moneas stultum; pro
inimico habebit (te)”, and a note, “Ex sacro
scriptura desumtura est.”
„HOERE DEN RATH DES KLUGEN” (“Listen
to the advice of the wise.”)
A more literal translation would be “Take the
advice of the wise.” In Erpenius, 1614, p. 78
no. XXXVI, translation by Scaliger, “Admitte
consilium prudentis.” The word al-‘âqil is
divided up between lines 2 and 3 although
word division is not practiced in Arabic. Iqbil
is used instead of iqbal.
“WER ALLES BEGEHRT GEHT LEER AUS”
(“He who wants everything gets nothing.”)
11 In the extended edition of 1775 on p. 36. Also in Freytag 3,1
p. 352 no. 2114 with translation, “Doctrina est corona juveni
et ingenium est torques aurea.” Here the saying continues “et
veritas lux clara et mendacium ignis ordens.”
The points of two letters in the Arabic inscription are faulty
(li-l-fatî instead of li-l-fatâ and tawfun instead of tawqun).
12 (12 ) There 3,1 p. 503 no. 3020 with translation, “Opes
mundusque pereunt; sed proba opera manent.”
Faulty vocalization and points (tabqî instead of tabqâ, narûlu
instead of tazûlu).
II.
57

II.
58
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
In Rostgaard, 1764, p. 159 no. CCCCXVI,
translation “Qui petit totum, praeterit
totum” and note, “In ambitiosos; cum non
adipiscuntur illud honoris fastigium, pro quo
tamen obtinendo omnia bona consumserunt.”
Another possible translation would be “What
you want wholly you will lose wholly.”
“VERSCHWIEGENHEIT ERWIRBT LIEBE”
(“Discretion wins love.”)
Literally: “Discretion earns her followers’
love.” Variations of the saying reappear in the
collections of al-‘Askarî, al-Bakrî, Abû ‘Ubaid
und Maidânî. 13 It is ascribed to al-Aktham, an
ancient Arab sage associated with numerous
legends. In Erpenius, 1614, p. 60 no. XVIII; in
the 1775 edition on p. 30 with a translation,
“Taciturnitas conciliat suis amorem” and an
explanation ascribed to Maidânî but untraceable
there, “Meidan: Nempe amorem aliorum
erga se, siquidem (taciturni) eo ipso tuti sint.
Adhibetur in commendatione paucitatis
sermonis.”
“DER NEID RUHT NIEMALS” (“Envy never
rests.”)
With a variation of the last word (râha instead
of marâha) in Erpenius, 1614, p. 54 no.
LXXXV, with a translation, “Inudiae nulla est
quies.”
“LIEBE DEN FLEIS, ER IST EIN GROSER
SCHAZ” (“Love diligence, it is a great treasure.”)
Literally: “Acquire industriousness, for it is a
great treasure.” In Erpenius, 1614, p. 74 no.
XXVII, translation by Scaliger: “Aquire diligentiam,
ea enim est thesaurus magnus.”
“OHNE HOFFNUNG GELINGT KEIN WERK”
(“Without hope nothing will succeed.”)
Literally: “Without hope the work will come to
harm.” In Rostgaard 1764, p. 170 no. CCCCL-
VII, with a translation, “Si (non esset) spes,
irritum esset opus.” 14
13 (13) For example Abu l-Fadl Ahmad Ibn Muhammad
al-Maidânî, Madjma’ al-amthâl, I. II, Beirut 1961, I. p. 557. A
variation in Abû ‘Ubaid al-Qâsim Ibn Sallâm, Kitâb al-amthâl,
ed. ‘Abdalmadjîd Qatâmish, Beirut 1980, p. 43 no. 34. Cp.
Riad Aziz Kassis, The book of proverbs and Arabic proverbial
works, Leiden 1999, p. 150.
14 The word al-amal “hope” is divided; the last word is badly
written and barely identifi able as al-’amal “work”. Cp. Fig. 1 p.
55 and Fig. 2 p. 59.
“FLIEHE DIE FAULHEIT, SIE BRINGT
SCHADEN” (“Avoid laziness, it is harmful.”)
In Erpenius, 1614, p. 74 no. XXVIII, translation
by Scaliger, “Recede a pigritia; quia ipsa
est plena damno”. More mistakes – ab‘ud for
ub‘ud and mumtali‘a for mumtali‘u.
The Inscriptions of the Cloister
Entrance Pavilions
The execution of the two barely-vocalized
inscriptions on decorative plaques on the
exterior of the eastern entrance pavilion was
neither expert nor careful; letters that should
have been written together have been separated,
and there are unnecessary strokes. The
two sayings could not be traced so far.
“WEGEN DER ROSE BEGIEST MAN DIE
DORNEN” (“For the sake of the rose one
waters the thorns.”)
Rose und tulip motifs are common in Islamic
art and were associated with “Ottoman” taste.
In literature the rose is often associated with
the prophet Muhammad. As a symbol of wisdom,
beauty and purity it is a motif common
to many religions and civilizations. 15
“lN DEN SOMMERTAGEN SEY DER AMEISE
GLEICH” (“On summer days be like an ant.”)
Fuchs and Reisinger interpret the sayings in
the context of a monastery and garden, and
the monkish rule of “ora et labora”: Gardening
and diligence are called for on the side facing
the kitchen garden, contemplation is required
on the one facing the cloister16 – the inwardfacing
plaque of the eastern entrance pavilion
reads:
“REDEN IST SILBER SCHWEIGEN GOLD”
(“Talk is silver, silence is golden.”)
This very common piece of wisdom is in
Rostgaard, 1764, p. 63 no. CXXV, translated
“Loqui est argentum, tacere est aurum” and
characterized as an enconium silentii. The
15 In the Christian tradition it is among the insignia of the
Virgin Mary; among Freemasons, the mystic rose is a symbol
of enlightenment encountered during the last stage of the
spiritual quest. Cp. Daniel Béresniak, Symbole der Freimaurer,
Wien 1998, p. 80.
16 Carl Ludwig Fuchs/Claus Reisinger, Schloß und Garten zu
Schwetzingen, Worms 2001, p. 176.

association of talk and silver is in the Bible in
Psalms 12:7 and Proverbs 10:20. 17
“EINSAMKEIT IST BESSER ALS BOESE
GESELLSCHAFT” (“Solitude is better than bad
company.”)
Variants are in Abû Hilâl al-‘Askarî, Kitâb
Djamharat al-amthâl, I. II. Beirut 1988, II. p
330 no. 1780, and in Burckhardt 1830, no. 77.
Another word split over two lines.
The plaques facing the cloister on the eastern
entrance hall of the mosque read:
“WECHSEL IN DER FREUNDSCHAFT
BRINGT VERDERBEN” (“Change in friendship
leads to disaster.”)
and
“EIN LASTER DES WEISEN GILT FUER
TAUSEND” (“One vice in a wise man counts
for a thousand.”)
In Rostgaard, 1764, p. 90 no. CXC, with
translation, “Crimen prudentis pro mille criminibus
(habetur)”, and note, “Quanto quisque
maiorem prudentiae famam sibi comparavit,
tanto errores eius in oculos magis incurrunt,
nec paratam facile veniam habent.”
Collections of Proverbs and the Image of the
Orient
Considering that most of the sayings do
appear to be based on Arabic originals, we
may ask ourselves whether a particular genre
was chosen.
The study of proverbs in the widest sense is
an important area of Arab language studies.
The aforementioned Kitâb al-amthâl by Abû
‘Ubaid (d. 838) is considered the earliest
collection (in the sense of an original compilation);
the anthology by al-Maidânî (d. 1124) is
the best-known work within a long tradition.
Most of the sayings in the collections belong
to a limited number of preferred topics. One
of them is marked by the opposite poles of
wealth and poverty. The sayings comment
on wastefulness and a wise use of money,
17 Also in Freytag vol 3,1 p. 92, from two 16th -century
manuscripts in Berlin and Paris, with a translation, “Narratio
argentea, silentium vero aureum est.” Cp. Büchmann, Gefl ügelte
Worte, Berlin 1864, p. 32.
The Arabic word for “silver” has one faulty letter; however, in
some dialects this is pronounced the same way as the proper
one. Sukût “silence” is missing its article.
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
diligence and sloth, duties and luxuries,
munifi cence, the renunciation of wealth,
contentment &c. Discourse and silence is
another topic; the proverbs refer to eloquence,
fi tting and convincing speech, the merits and
meaning of silence and so on. 18
There are several types of sayings: a) those
presenting one specifi c case of a regular and
familiar occurrence as representative of all
other cases; b) proverbial sayings, usually
generally known, characterizing a recurring
situation by means of an image or metaphor
that can be used as a part of any sentence; c)
formulaic expressions of a type used in exclamations,
forms of address, prayers and so on;
d) sententious maxims in verse. 19 This form,
also known as gnomic poetry, includes words
of wisdom and advice, mottoes, maxims and
18 Cp. Kassis 1999, pp. 116 ff.
19 Rudolf Sellheim, Die klassisch-arabischen Sprichwörtersammlungen
insbesondere die des Abû ‘Ubaid, ‘s-Gravenhage 1954,
p. 18 quotes examples that could easily join the sayings of the
Schwetzingen mosque: “A secret is a treasure entrusted”, “A
promise is a gift”, “A look may give evidence of hatred” &c.
II.
Fig. 2: Inscription from the
mosque tambour
59

II.
60
Fig. 3: Mosque, detail of the
west front
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
apophthegms (adages). Usually a piece of
experience or advice is put into abstract form.
Amthâl of this category are often ascribed to
sages or philosophers and frequently have
their exact equivalents in the sayings of European
civilizations; they offer little information
about Islam or Arab culture specifi cally. 20
Especially popular are attributions to Solomon
or a pre-Islamic sage mentioned in the Koran,
Luqmân; in this way the sayings acquire a
certain quasi-religious authority.
Most of the inscriptions of the Schwetzingen
mosque belong to the Gnomic category.
The success of a collection of proverbs culled
from Greek and Latin sources and published
by Erasmus of Rotterdam in 1500, 21 inspired
an interest in the proverbs of other nations;
in them, it was believed, both the individual
characteristics and the universally valid
elements of their thinking found a lively and
concise expression. In 1591, Joannes Drusius
had published a collection of Apophthegmata
Ebraeorum ac Arabum. The above-mentioned
Erpenius published several collections that
were in turn re-edited by others. By the end of
the 17th century, Agnellini’s compilation had
been published in Italy and Galland’s Paroles
20 Cp. Sellheim 1954, p. 26.
21 Desiderii Erasmi Roterdami veterum maximeque insignium
paroemiarum i.e. Adagiorum collectanea, Paris 1500.
remarquables in France. 22 Moreover, proverbs
were popular as reading to be included in
grammar books, for example in Erpenius’
Arabic grammar edited by Albert Schultens
(1686-1750). 23 Proverbs from the classic
collection of Maidânî were published in 1758
by Johann Jakob Reiske, and in 1795 by N. G.
Schroeder. 24
Even earlier than the expert world, the
aristocratic and educated circles of 17thcentury
Europe, and of France especially, had
developed a lively interest, almost a passion,
for all things Chinese and generally exotic
and Oriental; it reached its heyday during
the Rococo period. The Jesuits who had been
active in China since around 1600, provided
detailed information about Far Eastern culture
and literature, and enlightened minds soon
discovered parallels between Confucianism
and their own reason-driven approach to morals
and religion. The enthusiasm people like
Leibniz, for example, felt for Chinese moral
philosophy was transferred to the Orient as a
whole, including the Islamic world.
One of the earliest and most infl uential exponents
of an unbiased approach to the Orient
was Bartholomé d’Herbelot (1625-1695), who,
besides studying Greek and Latin at Paris, had
learned to speak several Oriental languages as
well. In his “Oriental Library” he attempted to
compile all worthwhile information about the
East, culled from Arab, Persian and Turkish
sources, and arranged in alphabetical order.
The immense work was published after
d’Herbelot’s death by his collaborator, Antoine
Galland (1646-1715), a man with fi rst-hand
experience of the East. Galland also compiled
noteworthy sayings by Arab, Persian and
Turkish authors in order to demonstrate to
his readers that the Oriental mind was as
22 T. Agnellini, Proverbii utili e virtuosi in lingua Araba, Persiana
e Turca, gran parte in versi, con laloro espiegatione in lingua
Latina et Italiana, Padova 1688. This book was not available to
me. Antoine Galland, Les Paroles remarquables, les Bons Mots
et les Maximes des Orientaux. Traduction de leurs ouvrages en
Arabe, en Persan et en Turc, avec des remarques, Paris 1694.
23 Erpenii grammatica Arabica of 1748, also in the 1767 edition.
24 Johann Jakob Reiske, Sammlung einiger arabischer
Sprüchwörter, die von den Stecken oder Stäben hergenommen
sind. Leipzig 1758. N. G. Schroeder Meidanii Proverbiorum
Arabicorum pars, latine vertit et notis illustravit H. A.
Schultens, opus posthumum, Leiden 1795.

capable of wit, acumen and humour as the
European one, and added maxims taken
from the collections published by Erpenius
and Golius. 25 He is also the translator of the
edition of the Arabian Nights, which appeared
in twelve volumes in 1704-17; translations
into German and English soon followed, and
in this way a wider audience came to regard
the East as a world of colourful adventure and
vivid imagination.
Among scholars and educated amateurs
interested in the Orient, the realization had
spread, that the intellectual achievements of
the Eastern civilizations would have to be
valued just as highly as the European heritage,
if only they were known and understood.
The age of Enlightenment freed language and
cultural studies from their theological trappings,
and postulated an unbiased approach
to foreign civilizations and their cultural
manifestations. 26
The Signifi cance of the Inscriptions as Part
of the Mosque
The unusual combination of architectural
styles in the mosque has drawn much
comment. 27 The portico is reminiscent of a
temple, the dome of a Baroque church, the
25 Cp. Fück 1955, p. 101. The fi rst edition of d‘Herbelots book,
a 1060-page volume, was published in Paris in 1697, under
the title Bibliothèque orientale, ou dictionaire universel
contenant généralement tout ce qui regarde la connoissance
des Peuples de l’Orient, Leurs Histoires et Traditions véritables
ou fabuleuses... It was extended in 1776 and 1780. 1785-1790
a four-volume German translation by J. CH. F. Schulz appeared
in Halle, with useful additions by Reiske and others.
26 For all that, it must be remembered that for a long time
afterwards, the image of the Orient was shaped more by
European tastes and preconceived ideas about culture than
actual contacts. Cp. Karl Ulrich Syndram, “Der erfundene
Orient in der europäischen Literatur vom 18. bis zum Beginn
des 20. Jahrhunderts”, in: G. Sievernich/H. Budde, Europa und
der Orient 800-1900, Berlin 1989, pp. 324-342.
On the other hand, German versions of the Koran were
around as early as the 17th century, even if the earliest of
them were translations of translations: Schweigger 1616,
1623, 1659; Lange 1688; Nerreter 1703; Arnold 1746; Megerlin
1772; Boysen 1773, 1775; Wahl 1823. Similarly in other
European languages, e.g. French: Du Ryer 1647, 1775; Savary
1751; English: Ross 1649, 1688, 1719; Sale 1734 et al.; Dutch:
Glazemaker 1658, 1721, 1734 &c.
27 According to Stefan Koppelkamm, Exotische Architekturen im
18. und 19. Jahrhundert, p. 38, Baroque and Chinese elements
have been combined with ideas that made up the image of
a “mosque”. The tent-shaped roofs of the “priests’ cabinets”
might as well belong to a Chinese garden house.
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
inscriptions and minarets of a mosque. 28
The “pattern” of a mosque, however, is the
Ottoman domed building with at least one,
frequently two or even four minarets. The
minaret is considered the belltower of the
Orient, the most obvious symbol of the
building’s sacral dedication. For the very
reason that the minaret is considered such an
unmistakable symbol of Islam, its building
in non-Islamic parts is often met with fi erce
opposition – much more than the building
of a mosque without minarets. However, the
number of minarets is not fi xed; strictly speaking
they are not even necessary. The minimal
requirements of an Islamic place of worship
are minimal indeed – the only indispensable
elements are cleanliness and proper orientation
for prayer. The Schwetzingen mosque,
however, lacks a clearly identifi ed mihrâb
niche indicating the direction of Mecca.
This is usually situated opposite the main
entrance so that the room is properly oriented,
even when the mihrâb is not specifi cally
28 The minarets were designed to evoke the towers of the
Karlskirche at Vienna, built after the victory over the Turks
and in turn reminiscent of Trajan’s Column in Rome. Cp.
Fuchs/Reisinger 2001, p. 171. They may also evoke the
columns of Jakin und Boas in front of the Temple of Solomon
in Masonic imagery. Cp. Béresniak 1998, pp. 61-62.
Fig. 4: Mosque interior
II.
61

II.
Fig. 5: Mosque courtyard, back
front of the entrance pavilion
62
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
identifi ed by architectural or other means. In
the Schwetzingen mosque, what is opposite
the main entrance is the passage leading
to the courtyard and cloister. There are no
ablution facilities either, although these may
well be located outside the building even in
an authentic mosque. Usually a mosque will
have a minbar or pulpit, frequently a wooden
construction with stairs, which it would
have been possible to build later. 29 Often the
mosque has a courtyard enclosed by walls; the
walls may form the back wall of a colonnade,
but the airy construction of the Schwetzingen
“cloister” bears little resemblance to one.
The main hall of the mosque aims at height
and lofty distance; the hall itself is quite
small. It is decorated with ornamentation that
despite some reminiscences, cannot be called
Oriental. 30 If the mosque, as Heber assumes
from the many crescent shapes, symbols not
only of the Ottomans but also of Diana, was
intended to have a special connection with
the hunter goddess 31 , it certainly does not
lend itself to social gatherings after the hunt.
29 According to a contemporary witness, the box surmounting
the western entrance, with its painted curtain, was intended
to serve as a pulpit. Cp. Martin Gaier, “Die Moschee im
Schwetzinger Schlossgarten”, in: Semra Ögel, Okzident und
Orient, Istanbul 2002, p. 53.
30 Wiltrud Heber, Die Arbeiten des Nicolas de Pigage in
den ehemals kurpfälzischen Residenzen Mannheim und
Schwetzingen, I. II. Worms 1986, I. p. 626.
31 Heber 1986, pp. 651-652.
The room is altogether too cool and lacking
in intimacy. It is better suited as a place of
worship for a small community – not, one
suspects, of Muslims, although this, too, has
been known to occur. 32
As a whole the mosque is given a note of
playfulness and lightness by the blend of
architectural styles on the exterior, a serene
grace by its location and surroundings, and a
degree of severity by the sacral atmosphere
and the inscriptions of the interior. The specifi
cally Islamic aspect is represented merely by
the word allâh and the use of Arabic letters.
The morals conveyed by most of the inscriptions
are not specifi c to any religion, or in
fact to religion as such; they vacillate between
generally applicable ethics and a suggestion of
numinous transcendency. 33 What is unmistakable
is the tendency to appeal to an élite of
the virtuous and the wisdom-seekers. There
is, however, another possibility. In an age of
courtly over-refi nement and stylization, as
well as delight in allusions and mysteries, an
age when the necessity of exerting caution for
moral and political reasons was paramount,
the inscriptions may have conveyed both a
direct and an indirect message, a concrete
and an abstract meaning, that became evident
only to the initiated.
It is this very openness to a variety of interpretations
that adds to the mosque’s appeal,
the slightly unsettling atmosphere this place
communicates, and always did – for the very
reason that it never was just another garden
folly born of a fashionable taste for the exotic.
(Udo Simon)
32 Despite not really being an Islamic sacral building, the
mosque has been used in this capacity – after the Franco-
Prussian War of 1870/71 by wounded prisoners of war staying
at a Schwetzingen hospital, and in the 1970s and 1980s by
Muslims from the Rhine-Neckar region. Cp. Muhammad S.
Abdullah, Geschichte des Islams in Deutschland, Graz 1981, p.
21.
33 Some of the adages are reminiscent of the recommendations
in Pythagoras’ Carmina aurea. E. g. “Moderation is best in
all things”, “Beware of doing what will incur the envy of
others”, &c. Cp. Hans Daiber, Neuplatonische Pythagorica in
arabischem Gewande. Der Kommentar des Iamblichus zu den
Carmina aurea, Amsterdam 1995.

g)
The Palace Theatre – the Ideal of
an Eighteenth-Century Theatre
and Opera House
The Schwetzingen palace theatre 1 is a historical,
architectural and technical marvel of the
late 18th century. Opened fi ve years earlier
than its counterpart at Ludwigsburg, today it
is the oldest theatre in Baden-Württemberg
and may be considered the oldest surviving
galleried theatre in the world.
Built from plans by the architect Nicolas
de Pigage, opened on 15th June 1753, with
an opera by Ignaz Holzbauer, for a quartercentury
it was a major centre of the opera
with a programme of unequalled variety. In
July 1763, Mozart himself, with his father and
sister, was among its visitors.
With Elector Carl Theodor’s move to Munich,
the palace theatre fell into oblivion. During
the 19th century under the rule of the Archdukes
of Baden, a few performances were
staged by the Karlsruhe court; beyond that the
theatre was used for a number of purposes
– for example, as a drying room for hops.
In 1937, it was rescued from oblivion, and
returned to its original function.
Building History
The building documents surviving from the
18th century are incomplete, and so is our
knowledge of the building history 2 : On 20th
May 1752, Pigage drew up the expected costs
on the basis of a plan that no longer exists.
The contracts with the bricklayer, the carpenter,
the metalworker and the wood merchant,
were concluded on 2nd June 1752; contracts
with the sculptor, the painter and the gilder
had to be postponed for lack of specifi c
plans. Four days later, the treasury issued an
urgent appeal to the craftsmen concerned to
1 Silke Leopold/Bärbel Pelker (eds.), Hofoper in Schwetzingen.
Musik – Bühnenkunst – Architektur, Heidelberg 2004.
An interdisciplinary overview of the many aspects of the
Schwetzingen palace theatre.
2 See also Monika Scholl/Peter Knoch: “Bretterbude? Neue
Erkenntnisse zur Baugeschichte des Theaters”, Leopold/Pelker
2004, pp. 251-301.
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
agree on the sequence of building measures,
to coordinate their efforts and to avoid
delays. No more than six weeks later the 61
craftsmen received a gift of wine because the
wooden construction was completed. In late
September they were awarded a special “bread
bonus”. It is unclear whether the theatre was
actually completed by that time, but it appears
to have been functional – on 10th September
1752, the set painter received a commission.
However, it was only on 30th December that
Pigage drew up his fi rst overall statement;
minor jobs were still being done in January
1753.
The massive walls enclosing a timber
construction rise over a T-shaped ground plan
(Fig. 1). The pit was fi tted out with latticed boxes
on the ground fl oor, and open galleries on
the two fl oors above; each gallery featured one
central semicircular box. The wooden railings
were covered with hessian. The woodwork of
the walls and ceiling remained visible and like
the hessian was either painted with distemper
or covered with decorative painting.
II.
Fig. 1: This plan of the
Schwetzingen garden by Joseph
Kieser, with a design for the
palace by Balthasar Neumann,
c.1753 (61,0 x 93,2 cm), shows
the theatre as it looked shortly
after its completion.
Fig. 2: Nicolas de Pigage, longitudinal
section of the theatre;
pen and ink, grey wash (42,5
x 117,6 cm). The three plans,
rediscovered in 1991, show the
theatre after 1762. Analyses
performed during recent renovation
work have confi rmed
that Pigage’s drawing shows
the earliest “look” of the house
and galleries, immediately
after the building’s completion.
The depiction of some details,
notably in the stage area, is
somewhat vague.
63

II.
Fig. 3: Nicolas de Pigage, cross
section of the theatre looking
east; pen and ink, grey wash
(41,8 x 56,4 cm). Condition
after 1762. The remains of
the original fl oor construction
have confi rmed a double layer
of fl oorboards in the pit. The
latticed boxes, the central boxes
on the narrow galleries and
the painted decoration have
all been confi rmed as part of
the earliest layout by recent
studies.
64
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
Access to the upper galleries was via steep
single staircases in the halls on both sides;
they, and the deep central boxes, made the
galleries exceedingly cramped.
There are few original documents to tell us
about the rebuilding that was embarked on
just ten years later. In the summer of 1761,
a wooden passage was built to connect the
theatre with the set storeroom in the adjacent
quarter-circle pavilion.
On 31st March 1762, the Elector informed
his treasury of a planned enlargement of the
theatre, the extent of which is unknown. It included
an extension built on to the stage that
was completed in 1762, as well as alterations
to the stage itself and the building of a new
staircase ( Fig. 2) (Fig. 3).
A memorandum dated 5th March 1771,
mentions further work. Building timber in a
variety of sizes and qualities was ordered; the
theatre required repairs in a number of places.
In his estimate of running costs for 1775,
Pigage anticipated paving work all round the
building, as water had found its way inside
on several occasions, damaging the stage
machinery.
It is likely that the rebuilding was complete in
1776, because in his list of all the work done
by himself for Schwetzingen and Mannheim,
so far Pigage mentions the work on the
theatre too, listing the backstage extension,
the new staircase, facilities for the spectators
and a new interior decoration.
The new staircase at the front of the building
provided the ground fl oor with a lobby, and
access to the upper storeys became easier. On
the galleries Pigage removed the central boxes
and moved the walls further back. This exposed
the timber structure, which was lined with
wood and covered with hessian, resulting in
the arches still visible today. The new interior
decoration was enriched by three-dimensional
papier maché elements including the satyr
masks on the supports and the draperies on
the parapets. The galleries’ back walls and the
ceiling were covered with hessian as well.
Originally the interior colour scheme had
been in shades of red and grey, reminiscent of
sandstone. Now these colours were replaced
with pale grey, yellow and white.
When the court had moved to Munich in 1777,
the theatre fell into oblivion and was used
for a variety of purposes until voices were
raised in the 1920s, demanding a thorough
renovation of this architectural jewel. In 1937,
the theatre, with its historic stage machinery
repaired and a new fi re prevention scheme
installed, was restored to its original function.
When part of the stage was demolished in
1971/72, during a major restoration, part of
the historic building was lost. Nevertheless,
the appearance of the auditorium is still
that of the second building stage in the 18th
century.
An Ideal Theatre Building of the Late
18th Century
Carl Theodor’s small “comedy house” at
Schwetzingen remained a private electoral
theatre, even after the rebuildings of the 18th
century. The west wing of the Mannheim
palace still housed the large, magnifi cent
court theatre, the electoral “opera house”,
and this facilitated the outfi tting of both the
auditorium and the stage, according to the

latest developments in theatre technology,
with the sole aim of ensuring the best possible
performing conditions.
The location of the theatre within the palace
grounds may at fi rst appear odd, but it met
the conditions for a mid-18th century court
theatre, that had been developed in France
to an admirable degree. The building, simple
on the outside, was to be placed at a distance
from the main palace, to prevent potential
fi res from spreading.
At the same time, the courtiers had to be
sheltered from heat and rain while getting
there.
A more comfortable staircase and more space,
due to the enlargement of the galleries, were
among the chief amenities provided by Carl
Theodor’s rebuilding measures. Pigage’s
laying-out of the ground fl oor extension as a
columned hall, created a foyer of the type that
became fashionable towards the end of the
18th century, for visitors to engage in conversation
and partake of refreshments during the
intervals.
This phase, the theatre’s second “look”,
refl ected the intellectual background of the
Age of Enlightenment. Inspired by French
developments, European theatre changed
during the second half of the 18th century.
The attention of spectators was more on the
happenings on stage than it had been. The
galleried theatre was a logical consequence as
it provided an undisturbed view of the stage
and better acoustics. At Schwetzingen, Pigage
got rid of the latticed “incognito” boxes on the
ground fl oor, removed the galleries’ central
boxes, and connected the separate balconies at
the sides with the main galleries.
Besides a stage technology that was unique
in its time, Pigage also created excellent
acoustics in the house, introducing the latest
developments of Italian theatre architecture.
Among the chief measures was an auditorium
built entirely of wood, which acted as a giant
soundbox contained within the massive outer
walls. A hollow space beneath the double
wooden fl oor of the orchestra pit made the
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
fl oor a sounding-board; hollow spaces behind
wooden walls and beneath fl oors, both in the
pit and on the balconies, provided additional
soundboxes.
The seemingly modest wooden surfaces
everywhere in the auditorium, were designed
to aid the optimal spreading and unfolding of
sound too – the material neither absorbs nor
distorts sound.
It is possible that the opera performances that
dominated the stage during the 1770s, with
the high demands they made on the building’s
acoustics, provided the occasion for the
covering of the back walls with hessian.
Once the rebuilding was complete, Pigage
was free to decorate the auditorium in a
modern taste as well. The light colour scheme
dominated by pale yellows and greys, and the
predominance of clear ornamental shapes, are
early indications that the Classicist era was
ahead.
The Sage Machinery – an 18th-Century
Technological Masterpiece
The stage machinery was built by Nicolas
de Pigage in 1752, along with the theatre
itself. It was used for 25 years until the time
when the court moved from Mannheim and
Schwetzingen to Munich. Like the theatre,
II.
Fig. 4: The house, condition
of 2006.
65

II.
Fig. 5: Nicolas de Pigage, cross
section of the theatre looking
west; pen and ink, grey wash
(41,3 x 57 cm), condition
after 1762. The plan shows the
galleries as they were just after
completion. Compared to today
they were considerably deeper
and more spacious. Parts of
the fl yloft and the borders are
visible too.
66
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
the machinery was overhauled and rebuilt,
but during the late 18th and the 19th century
the theatre was hardly used any more. The
alterations in the course of the 20th century
were tantamount to a gradual dismantling.
The Baroque stage machinery of the Schwetzingen
court opera was demolished in the
1950s. Wooden constructions were replaced
by modern ones of steel, and in 1971, the
historical stage was pulled down. The loss is
particularly regrettable in view of the fact that
the machinery was still largely intact at the
beginning of the 20th century.
Today’s stage possesses a modern technology
capable of meeting all the demands made on a
contemporary theatre.
A dDescription of the Baroque
Stage Machinery
The main stage, 16m wide and 19,5m deep,
had fi ve groups of three sets each, plus additional
pairs of sets; the wooden construction
holding the painted sets was made of posts,
not the usual ladders. The sets were moved
by a shaft in the stage below with fl ies and
counterweights. The below stage also featured
trapdoors and adjustable stage lighting.
Six shafts were mounted in the fl yloft for the
moving of ceiling parts and other features;
several more were mounted on the galleries
and beneath the roof. Only the shafts for the
backcloths, the borders and the house curtain
had to be assigned permanently; the others
could be used for fl ying machines, cloud
chariots and the like, and freely assigned to
varying purposes.
The available machinery lent itself to a variety
of productions; changes could be made within
seconds.
A comparison of Pigage’s elevations, probably
from the 1760s, with depictions by Schweitzer
from the 1920s and 1930s shows mainly
agreements, the chief difference being that
Pigage’s drawings depict the machinery with
the ropes in place: a comparison with other
stage machineries can thus help to comprehend
the function of individual elements, such
as the borders. In the longitudinal section
these are shown gathered up and turned up
at the sides. Little can be inferred about the
curtain, the backcloth and their machinery.
They are shown in cross-section; the curtain is
gathered up at the sides; the backcloth depicts
a building; the sets show walls with columns
and arcades. Neither depiction provides any
information about the lighting of the house
or about additional features, like thunder or
rain machines, although according to other
sources, both were available. Unfortunately
the shafts for the counterweights have
been omitted in the drawings; no traces of
them have as yet been discovered in today’s
building.
On the whole, though, Pigage’s drawings,
probably intended to document things after
the completion of the building, give a clear
and detailed idea of the layout of the wooden
theatre and the functioning of its sets and
borders.
The roof truss above the house has been
preserved, and as it is identical in both
dimensions and construction to the one above
the stage, it gives an excellent idea of the
working conditions in the fl yloft, surrounded
by machinery and ropes.
The few pieces of the stage that have been
preserved are in the care of the Mannheim

offi ce of the State Agency for Property Assets
and Construction (Bauleitung Schwetzingen
des Landesbetriebs Vermögen und Bau Baden-
Württemberg); they are kept in the orangery
building.
The Mannheim offi ce has commissioned the
construction of a model built to a scale of 1:20,
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
and presenting the machinery in a state of
functionality. In this way, with the help of the
remaining pieces of the stage and the model,
the workings of the Baroque stage machinery
may at least be displayed and understood.
(Monika Scholl/Peter Thoma)
II.
67

II.
68
Fig. 1: Upper Waterworks,
exterior (photo: Förderer).
Fig. 2: Upper Waterworks and
ice cellar, ground plan (From:
Barock in Baden-Württemberg,
exhibition catalogue, Bruchsal,
27.6.-25.10.1981), Karlsruhe
1981, p. 307).
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
h)
The Waterworks and Carl
Theodor’s Scientifi c Experiments
– Technical monuments
of the Highest Order
In the time of Elector Carl Theodor (1742-
1799) the summer residence of the Electors
Palatine, Schwetzingen Palace, was a centre of
scientifi c endeavours and institutions, among
them a physics cabinet, a meteorological
station and a small amateur observatory on
the palace roof. The great central axis running
the length of the palace gardens was part of
the baseline for a survey of the Palatinate and
the site of the observation of the transit of
Venus in 1761. The two waterworks supplying
the garden are magnifi cent testimonies to
18th-century water and pumping technology.
“Water Art”: The Pumping Stations in the
Schwetzingen Grounds
Supplying the water features of the gardens of
Schwetzingen Palace – the basins, fountains,
cascades and artifi cial streams – required an
elaborate system of pipes, pumping stations
and waterworks. Two pumping stations in the
vicinity of the grounds have been preserved,
both dating from the 1770s. They are remarkable
technological achievements and among
the oldest surviving works of their kind in the
modern age. 1
Once the palace and garden had been enlarged
and improved by Alessandro Galli-Bibiena
(1687-1769?) und Nicolas de Pigage (1723-
1796) in Elector Carl Theodor’s time, the
Schwetzingen well expert Thomas Breuer,
and the sculptor Peter Anton Verschaffelt
(1710-1793), travelled to France to study the
pumping machine at Marly near Versailles,
and the layout of the Versailles park. The
purpose of the trip was to gather information
that could be used for a new waterworks in
the Schwetzingen grounds, that would supply
the garden’s water features. Once the travellers
returned, a detailed model of the planned
Schwetzingen waterworks2 was built.
The old waterworks, a simple water wheel,
no longer met the requirements. The wheel’s
tubs scooped water from the Leimbach
stream and poured it into a large container,
installed 25 feet above ground. The unfi ltered
water tended to clog up the pipes, and the
rotting organic particles contained in it,
caused unpleasant smells in the park. A more
effi cient pump drawing water from a deep
well was required. An installation consisting
1 Rainer Slotta, Technische Denkmäler in der Bundesrepublik
Deutschland, vol. 2, Bochum 1977, p. 308.
2 Slotta 1977, p. 307. A very detailed description of the machinery
of the two Schwetzingen waterworks is on pp. 308-312.

of a pumproom and machinery, and using an
old wooden water tower (built in 1729), was in
operation by 1764.
The well borers, Thomas and Johann Breuer,
were commissioned to build the machinery;
Nicolas de Pigage was to design the new water
tower. In 1771, Pigage declared work on the
Upper Waterworks to be fi nished.
The so-called Upper Waterworks consists
of a pumproom, the water tower and the
engineer’s cottage. The pumps drew water
from four deep wells into leaden containers
placed at a height of 18m and 10m respectively,
from there to supply the park’s larger
and smaller fountains. The pumps drew 13,2
litres per second; the Upper Waterworks thus
produced 570m 3 within twelve hours. 3
In 1774, Pigage complained about the lack of
a pump and reservoir to supply the cascade
at the Temple of Apollo, resulting in the building
of another pump, the Lower Waterworks.
This is inconspicuously situated at the lower
end of the park, behind the Roman water tower,
hidden away in a simple private house. It
uses the same type of machinery as the Upper
Waterworks. Water is pumped into two raised
containers; from there it fl ows via the Roman
aqueduct to the bird-bath and the Galatea basin,
with a drop of about 14m. An interesting
detail is the bone mill once driven by the waterworks;
here the bones from the electoral table
were ground into meal, that was then used
to fertilize the extensive kitchen gardens. 4 A
date cut into a cogwheel shows the mill to
have been built in 1779; it is thus one of the
oldest of its kind in Germany.
The Physics Cabinet
The modernizing of science in the Palatinate
set in when Elector Carl Theodor (1742-1799),
himself an amateur scientist, appointed the Jesuit
Christian Mayer (1719-1783) to the new
chair of Experimental Physics at Heidelberg.
On the ground fl oor of the old university building,
Mayer established a physics cabinet
3 Albert Baur, Zauber des Wassers. Die Wasserspiele im
Schwetzinger Schlossgarten, Schwetzingen 1994, p. 39.
4 Baur 1994, pp. 42-43.
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
where he demonstrated the workings of machines
and models, and gave lectures on chemistry,
mineralogy, and astronomy. The Elec-
tor presented the university’s physics cabinet
with an electrostatic generator, a microscope,
a sundial and a pneumatic pump. 5
There must have been a small private physics
lab at Schwetzingen Palace as well, with the
Elector himself operating the machinery. In
1776, another was established in the left wing
of Mannheim Palace. 6 In the same year the
Elector had entrusted the running of the cabinets
in his palaces to the physicist Johann Jakob
Hemmer (1733-1790), who modeled the
cabinets at Mannheim and later Düsseldorf
on those established by French scientist Abbé
5 GLA Karlsruhe, Akte Pfalz Generalia 77/7908, inventory of
1776.
6 Adolf Kistner, Die Pfl ege der Naturwissenschaften in
Mannheim zur Zeit Karl Theodors. Mannheim 1930, p. 72.
II.
Fig. 3: Cross section of the ice
cellar with the ice storeroom,
the vaulted passages and the
venison storeroom above (From:
Barock in Baden-Württemberg,
exhibition catalogue, Bruchsal,
27.6.-25.10.1981, Karlsruhe
1981, p. 307).
Fig. 4: View from the Roman
water tower towards the aqueduct
and the Lower Waterworks
(photo: Förderer).
69

II.
Fig. 5: Detail: water wheels in
the Lower Waterworks (photo:
LAD Esslingen, 2006).
70
Fig. 6: Bone mill (bowls
and pestles) in the Lower
Waterworks (photo: LAD
Esslingen, 2006).
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
Jean Antoine Nollet (1700-1770). Between November
and Easter, Hemmer offered introductory
courses in physics at the Mannheim lab;
it is safe to assume that similar demonstrations
were offered during the summer months
at Schwetzingen, probably involving burning
glasses, a large metal concave mirror and an
electrostatic generator. 7 Unfortunately we do
not know where exactly these devices were
kept at Schwetzingen Palace.
7 Kistner 1930, p.72. In the autumn of 1770 a number of
melting experiments using metal concave mirrors were
conducted at Mannheim Palace.
Lightning Conductor
Hemmer’s fi elds of research were meteorology
and electricity, and he was a member of the
Mannheim Academy of Sciences. He is best
known for his contribution to the introduction
of lightning conductors to the Palatinate.
His aim was the averting of lightning damage;
lightning that struck the electoral stables
at Schwetzingen in 1769, may have given him
an added incentive. The lightning conductor
recommended by Hemmer was a vertical rod
with a horizontal cross at the top. It was made
of wrought iron, with copper tips attached to
the ends. There were also simpler versions
consisting of an iron rod with a single copper
tip. The lightning conductors were put up on
buildings more or less under Hemmer’s personal
supervision.
Hemmer mounted the fi rst of them on 15th
April 1776, on the roof of Trippstadt Castle.
On 17th July 1776, it was the turn of Schwetzingen
Palace 8 , a number of private residences
in Mannheim and the magazines of Heidelberg
and Mannheim (a Klauber engraving
of 1782 shows the Mannheim arsenal with
Hemmer’s lightning conductors in place).
They can still be seen on the roofs of the palace,
the mosque and the Upper Waterworks
at Schwetzingen, as well as on those of the
Hockenheim and Reilingen town halls.
Meteorology
Privy Councillor Georg von Stengel had been
systematically working on weather observation
since 1758. In the palaces of Mannheim
and Schwetzingen he had fi tted out small meteorological
stations for the purpose; three
times a day he recorded the weather, the wind
direction as well as air pressure, warmth and
humidity. 9 The Elector, too, appears to have
owned a few meteorological instruments
which he occasionally took with him on his
travels. After the move from Mannheim to
Munich, Georg von Stengel kept him informed
about the weather in Mannheim. In
1780, the Elector approved the founding of a
8 Kistner 1930, p. 82.
9 Kistner 1930, p. 97.

“Societas Meteorologica Palatina” which became
the third branch of the Mannheim Academy
of Sciences; Hemmer was appointed its
secretary. The society’s aim was the precise
prediction of weather conditions for the seasons,
in order to provide valuable agricultural
assistance.
The Schwetzingen Observatory
On the roof of the central block of Schwetzingen
Palace there is a small platform with
a fl agpole. From the roof truss, the unusually
solid substructure of the platform becomes
evident; it looks rather excessive for a mere
fl agpole. But then the massive beams supported
a small observatory with a movable
dome from 1764 to 1773.
Since around 1758, a small collection of
astronomical instruments has been kept at
Schwetzingen Palace. Among the most important
were the instruments bought by Christian
Mayer on his 1757 trip to Paris – a portable
quadrant by Canivet, the second-beating pendulum
clock by André Le Paute – as well as
several telescopes by the English instrument
maker John Dollond, that were later provided
by the Elector, and a quadrant by Jeremias
Sisson. 10
In 1757, the court sent Mayer to Paris on a
trip to study hydraulics and astronomy. 11 He
was given the task of writing a report on the
water supply system of Paris, and examining
the possibility of adopting the system for
Mannheim. He was also expected to study astronomy
as practiced in the French capital. He
was accompanied by a professor of mathematics
from Würzburg 12 , Franz Huberti (who had
installed a small observatory on the bell-tower
10 When the Swiss scholar and mathematician Johann Bernoulli
(1744-1807) visited German observatories in 1768-1770, in
order to get an idea of their equipment, he noted that most of
them had obtained their more important instruments from
London. Along with Kassel and Göttingen, he also mentions
the small makeshift observatory at Schwetzingen; there he
found a French quadrant (made by Canivet), an English achromatic
telescope by Dollond, and a small English quadrant by
Sisson.
11 GLA, 77/No 7908 Pfalz Generalia, Kunstsammlungen,
Verzeichnis aller kurfürstlichen Instrumenten so auf hiesiger
Sternwarte in Mannheim, theils in Heydelberg sich befi nden.
Lit. B. ad N. 40 and 41, dated 24. 11. 1776.
12 Kistner 1930, p. 211, n. 67.
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
of the Würzburg university church as early as
1757) 13 , and by an aristocrat friend.
In Paris, Mayer met scientists Bernard Forest
de Belidor (1693-1761) 14 and Antoine Deparci-
eux (1703-1768) 15 , and with them visited the
wells outside Paris and the city’s network of
water distribution sites. 16 He also made the
acquaintance of another astronomer, Josephe
Jerome de Lalande (1732-1807), who in turn
introduced him to his colleagues, César
François Cassini de Thury (1714-1784), Joseph
Nicholas de Lisle (d.1758), Abbé Nicolas-Louis
de Lacaille (1713-1762) and Pierre Bouger
(1698-1758). 17
Abbé de Lacaille provided valuable advice
when Mayer bought the portable quadrant
from instrument maker Canivet. 18 From the
13 Adolf Kistner, “Der kurpfälzische Hofastronom Johann
Nepomuk Fischer...”, in: Mannheimer Geschichtsblätter (MGB),
36th year, 1935, col. 124, n. 13.
14 Bernard Forest de Belidor (1693-1761) was Professor of
Mathematics at the artillery college of La Fère as well as a civil
engineer and fortifi cations expert. He wrote the multivolume
Architecture Hydraulique (1737-39).
15 Antoine Deparcieux (1703-1768) studied mathematics at
Paris, made sundials and water pumps and was interested in
hydrodynamics and hydraulics. In 1746, he made a name for
himself with a demographic survey, “Essai sur les probabilités
de la durée de la vie humaine”.
16 GLA, 77/No. 7908, 1776 inventory of instruments .
17 De Lacaille had been the assistant of Cassini de Thury during
the survey of the meridian from Paris to Dunkirk in 1739-40;
Pierre Bouger had participated in the 1733 expedition to
Peru, led by the astronomers Charles-Marie La Condamine
(1701-1774) and Louis Godin (1704-1760).
18 GLA, 77/No.7908, 1776 inventory of instruments.
II.
Fig. 7: Lightning conductor
on the palace’s northwest
pavilion (central block) (photo:
Förderer).
71

II.
72
Fig. 8: Anniversary of the
transit of Venus in 2004.
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
horologist, André Le Paute Mayer bought an
upright clock with a second-beating pendulum,
which cost 12 louis d‘or, with the intention
of using it for his astrological observations.
The quadrant has been preserved; the clock’s
whereabouts are unknown. It was fi rst put up
in one of the rooms at Schwetzingen Palace,
that was briefl y used as an astronomy cabinet,
but went missing in the 20th century.
The quadrant was the fi rst instrument usable
for both astronomy and geodesy, that was
acquired by the small astronomy lab in
Schwetzingen. It was used for land surveying
(triangulation) and for determining the
altitude of stars.
Mayer’s aim was to determine a meridian
and make a full survey of the Palatinate. 19 In
1760, he ordered a semicircumferentor with
a compass and two telescopes (graphometer)
from Canivet, and in 1761, he ordered a copy
of the French unit of measure, a toise (c.1,949
m). With the quadrant he now had the
complete, state-of-the-art equipment for his
planned survey.
19 GLA 213/No. 3540 Mannheim Stadt. Acta die neue Sternwarte
betreff. Vol. I, Denkschrift Mayers zum Neubau einer Sternwarte
in Mannheim vom 31. 12. 1771, p. 171.
The Transit of Venus, 1761
Astronomers set great store by the transit of
Venus across the sun on 6th June 1761. From
the observations made at the time, and from
measuring the angles of Venus entering and
exiting the sun’s disk, they hoped to gain
new evidence of the derivation of the solar
parallax, and thus of the distance from the
earth to the sun. Measuring was to take place
in numerous places all over the globe; almost
200 astronomers were at their posts at more
than 120 observation sites. In Europe the
transit began early in the morning.
At Schwetzingen, a wooden platform was
built in the garden in front of the orangery,
and on this Mayer arranged his observation
instruments.
At this point the question arises about which
“orangery” was being referred to. Today’s
orangery, with its open square was built by
Nicolas de Pigage in 1761-63, and its garden
with the bridges is even later (1764). 20 It must
be assumed that the documents refer to the
north and south quarter-circle pavilions, built
after the Old Orangery of 1755 had been
pulled down and called “the new orangery
buildings” in the plans. 21 Mayer’s observation
platform would have been on the cleared site
of the former Old Orangery, more or less on
the park’s central axis and west of the Arion
fountain. The site was suffi ciently distant
from the palace, which was off to the east, to
permit an unobstructed view.
The platform would have been a simple raised
wooden construction with a fl oor of solid
planks, spacious enough for the astronomer,
his assistant, and his equipment. From there
the instruments were pointed at the rising
sun. The transit had started well before
sunrise, and in Schwetzingen it was over
around 8.35 a.m.
It had been hoped that the measurements
taken all over the world, in what was in effect
20 Hubert Wolfgang Wertz, “Die Schwetzinger Orangerien”, in:
Der Süden im Norden. Orangerien – ein fürstliches Vergnügen.
(Ed. Oberfi nanzdirektion Karlsruhe Staatliche Schlösser
und Gärten und Arbeitskreis Orangerien in Deutschland e. V.),
Regensburg 1999, p. 67.
21 Wertz 1999, fi g. on p. 58, plan of expropriations between 1748
and 1762.

the fi rst international scientifi c collaboration,
would allow a determination of the solar
parallax to a quarter-second 22 , but the results
proved unusable. The numbers arrived at for
the solar parallax were between 8.5’’ and 10.5’’,
which corresponds to a solar distance between
155 million and 125 million kilometres. 23
That same year, Mayer suggested the building
of an observatory on the palace roof, and the
Elector gave his permission. The idea was not
just to observe the sky. A facility was required
for the determination of a baseline that was
essential for a trigonometric survey of the
Palatinate. A meridian (north-south) was
needed too, in order to align the astronomical
instruments.
The observatory, probably consisting of a
small wooden tower with a movable copper
roof and a narrow catwalk, was completed
by 1764. 24 The movable dome had an inner
diameter of c.3,25m. Mayer considered the
small tower to be a temporary solution 25 ;
he was hoping for a larger observatory in
Mannheim.
The general appearance of the tower has been
preserved by a medal of Frankenthal porcelain
displayed by the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum
in Munich. 26 The observation dome was
probably taken to the Mannheim observatory
in 1773.
Work on the “Basis Palatina” and the
“Charta Palatina”
In March 1762, Mayer met Cassini de Thury
again, who stayed at Schwetzingen to settle
details of the impending mapping of the
countries bordering France with the Elector.
The mapping would cover the territories on
the Rhine – the Palatinate, Baden-Durlach and
22 Maurice Daumas, Scientifi c Instruments of the Seventeenth &
Eighteenth Centuries and their Makers, London 1972, p. 128.
23 Rudolf Wolf, Handbuch der Astronomie, vol. 2, p. 252.
24 Unfortunately there is no known depiction of this observatory.
From the description of the Mannheim observatory,
a few conclusions may be drawn – it is assumed that the
Schwetzingen observatory was transferred there once the
building at Mannheim had been completed. There are some
good depictions of that structure, with the small observatory
on its roof.
25 GLA 213/3540 Acta die neue Sternwarte zu Mannheim betreff.
Vol.I, Denkschrift Mayers vom 31. 12. 1771, p. 165.
26 For this piece of information the author is indebted to Mr.
Ralf Wagner, Schwetzingen Palace administration, 2005
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
Baden-Baden. That the Palatinate was quite
interested in a new survey of its territories
too, became evident from the opinion of the
Palatine surveyor Theodor Traitteur: “We have
geographic maps in abundance,[…] most of
them drawn on the basis of guesswork, of a
general inspection, of the cartographer’s imagination,
rarely on that of actual locations, let
alone astronomical latitude and longitude”. 27
Once Cassini had left, Mayer embarked on his
own surveys for a map of the Palatinate. The
instruments were at his disposal, and he had a
baseline as well in the shape of the fl awlessly
straight avenue, built by Elector Carl Philipp,
which ran from Rohrbach near Heidelberg,
right up to the palace’s court of honour and,
which had been used by Cassini for that very
purpose. Mayer extended the line through the
park’s main axis up to the eastern shore of the
Rhine near Ketsch.
The great central axis of the palace garden,
and the Carl-Theodor-Straße leading up to
the palace, are thus sections of the original
baseline for the mapping of the Palatinate.
The former avenue can still be seen on aerial
views, a straight line through the Rhine valley,
27 Theodor Traitteur, Über die Größe und Bevölkerung der
Rheinischen Pfalz, Mannheim 1789, p. 22.
II.
Fig. 9: Small map of the
Palatinate, Egidius Verhelst
after Christian Mayer, 1773.
73

II.
74
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
although it was intersected by the railway in
later years.
Later writers have confi rmed Mayer’s precise
survey, more precise than that undertaken by
Cassini de Thury. 28 Mayer found the distance
to be 6.238,72 toises (toise du Perou), approximately
12,16km. On this baseline from Ketsch
to Rohrbach, Mayer aligned his triangular net.
The merits of triangulation were that only
one baseline had to be precisely measured;
the remaining sides of the triangle could be
determined mathematically. Mayer published
his fi ndings in 1763, in a tract printed at
Mannheim, Basis Palatina 1762, ad normam
academiae Regiae Parisinae scientaiarum
exactam bis dimensa, anno 1763, novis
mensuris aucta et confi rmata, recentissimisque
observationibus et calculis stabilata. Ten
years later he published his map of the region
surveyed between Heidelberg, Mannheim
and Schwetzingen, the small Charta Palatina
drawn to a scale of 1:75000. It covered an area
of 360 km 2 .
Geographical Position of the Schwetzingen
Observatory
Measurements taken during the lunar eclipse
of 17th March 1764, and the eclipses
28 Andreas Weiss, “Die Charta Palatina des Christian Mayer”
in: Mitteilungen des Historischen Vereins der Pfalz, vol.
26, Speyer 1903, pp. 1-40., Hans Schmidt, “Der Urmassstab
Christian Mayers” in: Mannheimer Hefte, No.1, 1976 pp.
14- 18, Heinrich Merkel, Die geodätischen Arbeiten Christian
Mayers in der Kurpfalz, Karlsruhe 1928, “Kartographie und
Vermessungswesen” in: Kistner, 1930, pp. 48-56.
of Jupiter’s moons in 1765 and 1766, allowed
Mayer to determine the exact longitude of the
Schwetzingen observatory (26° 18” 30’). To
determine its latitude, Mayer measured a total
of 76 meridian heights between 1765 and
1766, calculated the mean and gave the value
as 49° 23” 4,5’.
Finally, he determined the Schwetzingen
meridian that was needed for the aligning of
the planned survey. For this Mayer used the
azimuth method.
In 18th-century Germany only eight places
had been precisely located by astronomical
means, and Mayer’s work was widely applauded.
29 Experts noted with satisfaction
that Schwetzingen now had its place among
those select few, that the relevant fi ndings
would be included in the yearbooks of foreign
academies, that the scientist himself would
be honoured by the membership of those
academies. 30
Suddenly, Schwetzingen had a place in the
coordinate system of the Earth’s survey. To the
Elector it must have been a pleasant thought
that at least as far as astronomical positioning
was concerned, his summer residence had
now caught up with Paris and London.
(Kai Budde)
29 Kistner, 1930,pp. 53.
30 GLA 213/3540 Acta die neue Sternwarte zu Mannheim betreff.
Vol. I., Denkschrift Chr. Mayers vom 31. 12. 1771, p. 2.

i)
The Palace Garden Arboreta –
a Botanical Research Station
Somewhat hidden behind the long orangery
building completed in 1761 by Nicolas de Pigage
(1723-1796), there are two separate areas,
the arboreta. The collections of woody and
shrubby plant species, assembled for scientifi c
purposes and with a collector’s passion, were
famous in their day. Work on the fi rst arboretum
started in 1777, in the time of Elector
Carl Theodor (1724-1799). From 1804, the tree
collection was continued by Archduke Carl
Friedrich (1728-1811).
The Arborium Theodoricum
“The garden contains a collection of all kinds
of native and foreign trees and shrubs, that
occur in the Palatinate; they are labeled with
their names for the instruction of young
gardeners. This is a very good and proper
institution.” 1
Thus, the philosopher and art theoretician
C. C. L. Hirschfeld (1742-1792) describes the
strip of land in the northwest of the Schwetzingen
palace garden, in his fi ve-volume book
about garden art, Theorie der Gartenkunst
(1779-1785). He is referring to the Arborium
Theodoricum, the fi rst area there to be laid out
in the English style in 1777. A comparatively
narrow strip of about 400 x 80 m behind the
menagerie and the canal that had formed the
garden’s boundary until then, was selected
for the purpose. The Arborium Theodoricum
with its layout based on naturalistic principles
was to provide a contrast to the strictly formal
French garden, characterized by axes and
symmetry.
A large nursery had been established in the
northwestern part of the garden, as early
as 1769. Here woody plants were grown to
supply the electoral gardens. The nursery
may have inspired Carl Theodor to create
1 Christian Cay Lorenz Hirschfeld, Theorie der Gartenkunst,
5 vols, Leipzig 1779-1785. Rpt. Hildesheim 1973. Quotation
from: Hubert Wolfgang Wertz, Orte für Seele und Geist,
Schlösser Baden-Württemberg, No. 3, 2004, pp. 24-27, p. 24.
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
an arboretum, a kind of educational garden
with a variety of trees and shrubs, exotic as
well as native. Pigage described it as “a living
dictionary of garden trees and shrubs” and
called it the “Arborium Theodoricum” 2 in
honour of the Elector. With regard to the new
gardening philosophy (“dans le style de la
nature”), he referred to this part of the garden
as “sauvage”. 3
Garden Layout and a Knowledge of Trees
In Germany the journey to England undertaken
by Prince Leopold III. Friedrich Franz von
Anhalt-Dessau (1740-1817) in 1764, signalled
the beginning of gardening modelled on
English landscape gardens. The park of Wörlitz
on the Elbe became a tourist attraction
of European status. Its collection of woody
plants was inspired by the famous gardens
of Chelsea and Kew. With the development
of landscape gardening, the attitude towards
trees and shrubs changed as well. They were
no longer easily replaceable raw materials for
formal gardens; they were considered more individually.
Innumerable species were collected
from all continents and planted in specialized
garden areas. They were equally popular with
experts and educated amateurs.
England had thus become a must for anybody
interested in the art of gardening. Friedrich
Ludwig von Sckell (1750-1823), born in
Weilburg on the Lahn and the son of a court
gardener, Johann Wilhelm Sckell (1721-1792),
quickly proved his gift for garden layout when
working with Pigage. In 1770, the Elector sent
the young man on a study trip to France and
England, the great European centres of garden
design. From August to December 1776,
Sckell was in England again on the Elector’s
instructions, and there he met up with Pigage.
Sckell had been asked to complete his studies
and buy new plants for Schwetzingen, and
had taken the opportunity to learn more about
dendrology, the science of woody plants.
2 Pigage: “Information sur les dépenses en Batimens et en
jardins de la Cour” (1776). In: Wiltrud Heber, Die Arbeiten des
Nicolas de Pigage in den ehemals kurpfälzischen Residenzen
Mannheim und Schwetzingen, Worms 1986, p. 469.
3 From: “Etat general”, 1784. In: Heber 1986, p. 471, s. n. 2.
II.
75

II.
Fig. 1: View of the Arborium
Theodoricum (photo: R. Stripf).
76
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
On his return to Schwetzingen Sckell was
commissioned to lay out a park in the English
style. He had brought a shipload of trees
from England. A year later, in 1777, Sckell’s
fi rst work, the “Arborium Theodoricum”, was
taking shape. The fi rst landscape garden at
Schwetzingen was supplied with another
canal to serve as a new outer boundary.
„The merit of a natural garden is not in its
great size, but in its inherent artistic value,
its beautiful shapes and images” 4 , Sckell was
to write later. In fact, he had all the elements
of a landscape garden at his disposal. The
long narrow island created by the canals was
modelled into a gentle valley and laid out as a
meadow surrounded by trees and shrubs. Two
meandering paths (the “belt walk”) presented
an ever-changing scenery. Skilfully arranged
groups of trees and shrubs guided the visitor’s
eye down the valley. Dense shrubbery hid the
rectangular canals from view. In one place
Sckell had the paths and canals meet in a complicated
knot; this is the garden’s picturesque
high point. Water is presented as a serene
pool, a thundering cascade and a meandering
stream. Because the layout of the Arborium
Theodoricum dispenses with axes, the view
4 Quoted in: Hubert Wolfgang Wertz, “Schöne Formen und
Bilder”, in: Fürstliche Gartenlust – Historische Schlossgärten in
Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart 2002, pp. 44-55, p. 47.
towards the Temple of Botany opens up as if
by chance – the structure is not intended to
be the central “point de vue” of this part of the
garden.
In accordance with gardening theory, the garden
was supposed to blend into the landscape.
Sckell’s inspiration was landscape painting:
“With regard to the different shades of plants,
it should always be kept in mind that the light
green trees must be placed in the foreground
and the dark green ones in the background, so
the former stand out clearly against the latter,
and display their shapes and silhouettes to
advantage.” 5
Imports and Experts
The main focus of the new was on its theoretical
and scientifi c uses. Unlike the great nursery,
which simply supplied trees, the arboretum
was a collection of valuable plants on display.
Both areas of the garden combined made up a
whole of theory and practice. The fi rst exotic
specimens were delivered from England,
France and the Netherlands to Schwetzingen,
in the shape of young plants or seeds. Many
interests and areas of research could create
the scientifi c impetus to lay out an arboretum.
Plants were collected according to geographic
or systematic criteria; the demands they made
on their site could be taken into account as
well as aesthetic considerations. The systematic
classifi cation of exotic woody plants
was made easier too. Sckell himself gives an
indication of the variety of species suitable for
a garden: “The plant world offers more than
four to fi ve hundred trees and shrubs, foreign
as well as native, for the garden artist to use
in decorating his garden and creating picturesque
combinations.” 6 Sckell drew up long
lists of “native and foreign trees and shrubs
that can be used in most gardens” 7 based on
different sets of criteria. Even today they
are still used for the re-planting of historic
gardens.
5 Friedrich Ludwig von Sckell, Beiträge zur bildenden Gartenkunst
für angehende Gartenkünstler und Gartenliebhaber,
München 1825, rpt. Worms 1982, p. 112.
6 Sckell 1825, p. 109.
7 Sckell 1825, p. 238.

The science of botany, which reached a heyday
in the 18th century, is celebrated in the Temple
of Botany. The interior walls are decorated
with portrait medallions of famous scientists
– Theophrastus (372-287 BC), Pliny the Elder
(23-73 AD), Jean Pitton de Tournefort (1656-
1708) and Carl von Linné (1707-1778). When
the temple was built, the world’s greatest
natural scientist was Carl von Linné, who had
died shortly before. Linné had introduced
the binomial nomenclature into the scientifi c
world. Linné’s system of the plant kingdom
(sexual system) was based mainly on the
number and arrangement of the stamens
and pistils. Linné himself considered it to be
too artifi cial and wanted a system that took
the entire plant into account. He brought
order to a multitude of naming systems and
made international communication easier.
The names of many of the plants listed in the
arboreta are Linnéan in origin. Linnés system
(“Systema Plantarum”) challenged the garden
artist to attempt a blending of art and science.
Aesthetically pleasing planting schemes and
the collecting of plants according to scientifi c
considerations, could be hard to reconcile in
a traditional formal garden. The more relaxed
layouts of English landscape gardens opened
up greater possibilities.
Tournefort had described numerous plants
and established a new classifi cation system,
based on the form of the corolla, which was
among the most successful and widely used
pre-Linnéan systems. In Greece and little Asia
he discovered more than 1000 new plants.
Pliny, an ancient Roman writer and scientist,
wrote a 37-volume natural history (Naturalis
historia), which represents the fi rst encyclopedic
description of natural phenomena,
including botanic ones. Theophrastus, a Greek
philosopher and the most remarkable among
the pupils of Aristotle, left numerous writings
including several on botany.
In this slightly separate part of the Schwetzingen
garden, an area for the studying of
woody plants, an increasing number of foreign
trees was included with the native ones.
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
In 1784, young Sckell planted a “ginkgo of the
Japanese”, 8 as he called it. He had bought it in
the Netherlands as a special rarity, and paid 10
fl . for it. This species of tree had been discovered
in Japan towards the end of the 17th
century by a German physician and botanist,
Engelbert Kaempfer of Lemgo, who described
it in his 1712 book, Amoenitatum Exoticarum.
Linné described the plant in 1771 and found
a name for it, Ginkgo biloba L. (L. is for Carl
von Linné, as the author of the name). A new
ginkgo to the right of the temple was planted
on 13th September 2000, to commemorate
the 250th anniversary of Sckell’s birthday, and
his contribution to the Schwetzingen garden
and the art of gardening in general. Some of
the arboretum’s trees are sure to date from
Carl Theodor’s time, among them, a common
oak (Quercus robur) at the entrance of the
Arborium Theodoricum (its bark supplied the
model for the exterior walls of the temple at
the other end of the garden), a London plane
(Platanus x hispanica) and a European white
elm (Ulmus laevis).
The scientifi c importance of the arboretum becomes
evident from a document dated 1795.
The Elector had ordered a stock-taking of the
garden and buildings, which was documented
8 Hubert Wolfgang Wertz, Ginkgo biloba: “Die größte Merkwürdigkeit
…”, in: Schlösser Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart, No. 1,
2001, pp. 14-17, p. 14.
II.
Fig. 2: Temple of Botany (photo:
R. Stripf).
77

II.
Fig. 3: Relief portrait of the
scientist Carl von Linné in the
Temple of Botany (photo: R.
Stripf).
78
Fig. 4: Entrance gate of
Zeyher’s arboretum (photo: R.
Stripf).
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
in a “Protocollum commissionale”, probably by
Sckell. Under §9 he writes: “The small English
garden (arboretum) with its plants and kinds
of wood, the walks and the small vineyard,
deserves to be kept from neglect because of its
fi ne and varied collection of foreign trees and
its beautiful layout, and because it is inexpensive
to maintain. (Especially considering that
this excellent garden does not merely provide
pleasure to visitors but also serves to educate
the forestry offi cials themselves about types of
trees, this request should be granted in full.)“ 9
The Zeyher Arboretum
After the diffi cult time of the French occupation,
the parts of the Palatinate on the eastern
bank of the Rhine became part of the new
Grand Duchy of Baden in 1803. Sckell – now
in the service of the Grand Duke – did his best
to remain in charge of Schwetzingen until he
was appointed court garden supervisor of all
Bavaria, and left Schwetzingen for Munich.
In 1804, Johann Michael Zeyher (1770-1843)
succeeded Sckell as garden director. Having
formerly worked at Ludwigsburg, Karlsruhe
and (as court gardener of Margrave Carl
Friedrich von Baden) at Basel, he was now
put in charge of all the gardens of the Grand
Duchy of Baden. One of Zeyher’s major
scientifi c accomplishments was his collection
of plants and animals from all over the world
(“Herbarium Zeyheri”), which was destroyed
when the palace at Karlsruhe burned down
during during WWII.
At Schwetzingen Zeyher’s task was to convert
the old menagerie, which had been closed
down in 1778, into another arboretum – something
Carl Theodor had been planning for
some time. For the “Draissche Forst-Institut” a
botanical garden was laid out with the stated
task of “planting every woody plant at all
obtainable” 10 . For this purpose Zeyher had the
menagerie buildings pulled down with the
exception of the basin.
The criteria that had applied for Sckell’s
landscaped meadow did not apply here. The
focus was not on the picture, as a whole, but
on the appearance of the individual plant, the
complete presentation of varieties and species
from a botanical point of view. The arboretum
was intended to give an overview of the “fl ora
palatina” “for the forester to fi nd everything
of value to him, that these parts will produce...
9 „Protocollum commissionale” of 30.6.1795 and 9.9.1795. In:
Heber 1986, p. 476.
10 Johann Michael Zeyher, Verzeichniss der Gewaechse in dem
Grossherzoglichen Garten zu Schwetzingen. Mannheim 1819,
p. 4.

The newly acquired, and sometimes very
rare, kinds of wood have been industriously
propagated, and used for bartering purposes”
11 . From 1806 onwards, Zeyher published
a number of inventories of the plants grown
at Schwetzingen. 12 The inventory of woody
plants published in 1809, lists 827 varieties. 13
In his 1819 inventory, Zeyher mentions a
total of 9,500 varieties. 14 The inventories are
important documents for today’s replanting
schemes.
A large iron gate surmounted by a gilt crown
gives access to the arboretum. It was probably
in 1825 that Zeyher wrote: “The arboretum.
Immediately behind the orangery we enter
this part of the garden. It was laid out in 1804,
at the orders of His Royal Highness, the Archduke
Karl Friedrich von Baden. Native and
foreign woody plants are grouped together
as much as possible. There is a pleasant pond
here enclosing a beautifully planted island.
During the summer the greenhouse plants are
displayed here, and at the foot of a a shady
wall, the alpine plants are situated, some in
pots, some in the soil [...] This collection is
probably one of the most complete in Germany,
and maintained with great care.” 15
About the nursery, Zeyher writes: “Beyond
the bridge is the entrance to a nursery
thirteen acres in size and containing more
than 240,000 foreign trees and shrubs. All the
archducal gardens are supplied from this rich
store, and the plant-lover, too, may buy here
whatever he needs for his own garden.” 16
Zeyher was concerned for the English garden
“where natives and visitors like to linger”. In
the plan of the garden submitted by him in
1809, the layout of the entire garden becomes
evident. The symmetrical paths within the
11 Zeyher 1819, p. 4.
12 Johann Michael Zeyher, Verzeichniss sämmtlicher Bäume
und Sträucher in den Grossherzoglich-Badischen Gärten zu
Carlsruhe, Schwezingen und Mannheim, Mannheim 1806.
13 after Wertz 2004, p. 27.
14 Zeyher 1819, p. 5.
15 Johann Michael Zeyher, probably 1825. In: Repr. Freiburg
1983, pp. 146 f.
16 Johann Michael Zeyher/Georg Christian Roemer, Beschreibung
der Gartenanlagen zu Schwetzingen. Mannheim 1809, p. 36
f. (First edition, with a “Verzeichniss sämmtlicher Bäume,
Glas- und Treibhauspfl anzen des Schwezinger Gartens”). Rpt.
Freiburg 1983.
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
menagerie area were later replaced with
meandering walks.
Some decades later, around 1840, disturbances
of growth and the thick planting necessitated
the felling of trees. However, it is thanks to
these measures, that the grand ducal arboretum
still retains some of its original plants,
among them Austrian pines (Pinus nigra)
and a pale green Japanese Zelkova (Zelkova
serrata).
The Arboreta Today
About thirty years ago a restoration of the old
arboreta was embarked on. Many new plants
were planted, that now complement the old
collection of trees. Today, the two arboreta
contain about 180 species and varieties of
woody plants belonging to about 50 families 17 .
Besides the above-mentioned woody plants,
dating from the early years of the arboreta,
a number of other fi ne trees are on display.
There are some magnifi cent deciduous
cypresses (Taxodium distichum) from North
America, a picturesque tulip tree (Liriodendron
tulipifera), an Italian maple (Acer
opalus) and spreading yews (Taxus baccata).
There are also numerous younger trees and
shrubs, planted more recently, the choice of
which was suggested by Zeyher’s inventories.
17 e.g. Jost Fitschen, Gehölzfl ora, Wiebelsheim 2002.
II.
Fig. 5: Autumn at Zeyher’s
arboretum (photo: R. Stripf).
79

II.
80
Fig. 6: Tree “Taxodium
distichum” (photo: R. Stripf).
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
The box so characteristic of Renaissance and
Baroque gardens, as well as of the traditional
rustic or cottage garden, is represented by approximately
25 varieties. The plants are left to
grow freely, allowing a study of their growing
habits and the size, colour and shape of their
leaves. The genus Magnolia is represented by
18 species and varieties too. 18
As well as measures to preserve the character
of the plant collections for scientifi c purposes,
steps are also taken to keep the historical
tradition of a landscaped garden alive. Sckell’s
criteria for the picturesque grouping and arrangement
of trees and shrubs are taken into
account, especially in the older arboretum, the
“Arborium Theodoricum”.
The woody plants of both arboreta have been
identifi ed with labels giving their botanical
and common names, their family and place of
origin. They are also listed and described in a
guidebook. 19
(Rainer Stripf)
18 after Wertz 2004, p. 27.
19 Rainer Stripf, Die Arboreten des Schwetzinger Schlossgartens,
München/Berlin 2004.

j)
Harmonious Opposites:
Carl Theodor’s Garden – Absolutist
Display and Utopian Idealism
Garden Art – Refl ections of an Era of Change
Like few other 18th-century gardens, the
grounds of Schwetzingen Palace refl ect the
many faces and complexities of an era poised
between tradition and progress, full of change
and turmoil, social as well as philosophical. 1
Even in itself the complex is a powerful testimony
of the interaction of social theory and
garden theory.
Like an open book, the Schwetzingen palace
garden displays the subtle transitions from
Absolutism to Enlightenment, oppression to
liberty, formalism to naturalism, and the changing
relationship between man, architecture
and nature. The ideal of formality, represented
by the French geometric garden, is challenged
by that of naturalness as expressed
by the open English landscape garden. Between
Le Nôtre’s aim of “shaming Nature by
means of Art” at the centre of the garden and
Rousseau’s principle of a “Return to Nature”
at its periphery, the intimate Rococo cabinets
serve as connecting links. The old is not built
over but accepted and preserved. In this way,
the palace garden represents an ideal embodiment
both of the Janus-faced latter half of the
18th century and of the Palatine court in general,
and Elector Carl Theodor in particular.
The Gardens of Schwetzingen Palace –
Expression of an Unsettled Character?
The sequence of different layouts, and their
respective historical and intellectual contexts,
1 Re. 18th-century gardens: Park und Garten im 18. Jahrhundert
(= Colloquium of the Arbeitsstelle 18. Jahrhundert,
Gesamthochschule Wuppertal 26.-29. 9. 1976), Heidelberg
1978; Iris Lauterbach (ed.), Der französische Garten am Ende
des Ancien Régime, Worms 1987. Select bibliography on the
Schwetzingen gardens: Dieter Hennebo / Alfred Hoffmann,
Geschichte der Deutschen Gartenkunst, vol. II, pp. 361 ff;
Ferdinand Werner, “Der Garten der kurfürstlichen Sommerresidenz
Schwetzingen”, in: Lebenslust und Frömmigkeit
Kurfürst Carl Theodor zwischen Barock und Aufklärung (exhibition
catalogue), Regensburg 1999, pp. 63 ff; Carl Ludwig
Fuchs / Claus Reisinger, Schloß und Garten zu Schwetzingen,
Wiesbaden 2001.
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
is more than a refl ection of the greater political
and philosophical developments of their
time. It also refl ects the personality of Elector
Carl Theodor. The many-faced appearance of
the palace gardens might be due to the caprices
of a ruling prince, but it might also refl ect
a process of adjustment to, and identifi cation
with, the requirements of the age, and the growing
intellectual emancipation of a ruler coming
into his own.
Elector Carl Theodor occupies a position between
an Absolutist claim to power and an Enlightened
modernity. 2 The more approachable
part of his personality is evident from his lively
interest in innovative artistic movements,
and his scientifi c and philosophical curiosity.
At the same time, introducing ideas to him required
a measure of skill and persuasiveness
on the part of his advisors – a certain reserve
concerning both people and ideas was one of
Carl Theodor’s essential traits. 3 He could oc-
2 Liselotte Homering, “Zwischen absolutistischem Machtanspruch
und bürgerlicher Aufgeklärtheit – Kurfürst Carl
Theodor und das Theater”, in: Lebenslust und Frömmigkeit […]
1999, pp. 305 ff; Stefan Mörz, “Aufgeklärter Absolutismus in
der Kurpfalz während der Regierungszeit des Kurfürsten Karl
Theodor 1742-77”. In: Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für
geschichtliche Landeskunde in Baden-Württemberg, Reihe B,
vol. 120, Stuttgart 1991; id., “Un prince attentif – Carl Theodor
als Landesfürst”, in: Lebenslust und Frömmigkeit […] 1999, pp.
211 ff.
3 Mörz 1991, p. 86.
II.
Fig. 1: Garden plan (From:
Carl Ludwig Fuchs/Claus
Reisinger, Schloß und Garten
zu Schwetzingen, Worms 2001,
p. 208).
Captions
1 Palace; 2 South quarter-circle
pavilion; 3 North quarter-circle
pavilion; 4 Palace theatre; 5
Orangery; 6 Arion fountain;
7 Stag fountain; 8 Temple of
Minerva; 9 Wild boar fountain;
10 Galatea basin; 11 Bird bath;
12 Rock of Pan; 13 Memorial
stones; 14 Mosque; 15 Temple
of Mercury; 16 Rhine and
Danube statues; 17 Chinese
bridge; 18 Mask fountain; 19
Temple of Apollo; 20 Natural
theatre; 21 Porcelain cabinet;
22 Bathhouse; 23 Waterspouting
birds; 24 Pheasant
yard; 25 Diorama; 26 Temple of
Botany; 27 Roman water tower;
28 Obelisk and aqueduct; 29
Lower Waterworks; 30 Upper
Waterworks; 31 Ambassadors’
House
81

II.
Fig. 2: Aerial view of the circular
parterre (LAD Esslingen,
2005).
82
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
casionally be both irresolute and easily infl uenced,
and he was melancholic by nature. This
complex personality, poised between scepticism
and a capacity for true enthusiasm, was
concealed behind a pleasant, kind manner.
All of these traits might be said to be refl ected
by his garden, the plurality of its architectural
and gardening styles and fashions and the
harmonious whole they present.
The Circular Parterre – an Icon of Absolutist
display
The building of a new palace in the centre
of the circle with its French-style layout 4
as originally planned, would have been the
architectural incarnation of Absolutist control
and expansionism. However, the palace was
not built. Instead the prominent position was
given to a circular basin with the fi gure of
Arion at the centre. It may seem surprising at
fi rst glance, that such an insignifi cant character
from Classical mythology should have
been given this honour. But in fact Arion,
a companion of Apollo, represents a veiled
allusion to the quasi-Apollinic existence of the
roi soleil, Louis XIV, and by association to that
of Elector Carl Theodor as well.
4 On Baroque gardens: W. Charles / William J. Mitchel / William
Runnball Jr., Die Poesie der Gärten. Architektonische Interpretationen
klassischer Gartenkunst, Basel/Berlin/Boston 1991,
pp. 23 ff; Wilfried Hansmann, Gartenkunst der Renaissance
und des Barock, Köln 1983.
But how did the French gardening style,
already considered somewhat outmoded at
the time, come to dominate the Schwetzingen
garden? The clear structure of the circle with
its surrounding quarter-circle pavilions was an
appropriate shape for an open-air reception
hall, such as the modest palace could not
provide. But its make-believe aspect, and the
opportunities for display it offered, may also
have appealed to a prince who in his early
years favoured an Absolutist attitude, but was
in fact quite dependent on his advisors.
Rococo Playfulness
Adjacent to this grand statement at the centre
of the Schwetzingen garden are the small-scale
open-air cabinets, more characteristic of the
spirit of the times. Here the capricious mirth
of Rococo unfolds in a number of separate
“rooms” laid out according to the principle of
varieté, and often giving the impression of inviting
the visitor to play and merriment. The
pleasure groves and green parlours embody
the new freedom to dispose of one’s time, to
retire into the private sphere, in keeping with
the spirit of the Enlightened era.
Here the sonorously Baroque is replaced by
a refi ned playfulness, that manifests itself
in images of vibrant grace. The uncertainty
and aimlessness that also characterized late
18th-century courtly society, and the search
for guidelines, occasionally take the shape of
mannerisms or decadences of both style and
essence, unmistakable signs of an era coming
to an end. The appreciation of freedom and
variety expressed by the multitude of motifs,
and the delight in everything exotic, foreign,
bizarre and fantastic, takes on the old formality
represented by the garden’s geometric
areas. In France this development – the
replacement of courtly formality and outward
display by the private and intimate – took
half a century. At Schwetzingen the transition
happened almost instantaneously.

Absolutism and Enlightenment
Elector Carl Theodor chose the so-called
bathhouse, a hermitage in the shape of a
summer house, to be his private refuge. The
linear development, and thus disciplining,
of the surrounding nature by the trellises
of the “water-spouting birds”, is in keeping
with Baroque tradition. The paysage sauvage
depicted by the diorama, on the other hand,
refl ects the longing for an earthly paradise,
an attitude more characteristic of the era of
Enlightenment. The same is exemplifi ed by
the sculptures of the “water-spouting birds”,
illustrating as they do an Aesop fable about
the Humanist ideals of solidarity and human
brotherhood.
The natural theatre, too, shows the infi ltration
of old structures by new ideals. The theatre
was built in 1766, along with its stage backcloth,
a “hill of the muses” surmounted by the
Temple of Apollo, here characterized as the
god of both the arts and the muses. Situated
in the immediate vicinity of the bathhouse,
which was used by Carl Theodor during his
stays at the summer residence from c.1776,
the theatre again suggests the Elector’s identifi
cation with the god, as well as his generous
patronage of the arts and, more generally, the
lively musical “scene” at the Palatine court.
In 1772, a terrace was added at the back of
the stage structure, another indication of
the Elector’s changing world view. Viewed
from here, the structure becomes a temple of
Reason, a sun temple, and Apollo takes on the
aspect of Helios, the sun god. By association,
Carl Theodor now appears as the radiant
fi gure of an enlightened ruler.
The building of the mosque heralds the
– belated – arrival of the Oriental fashion or
turquerie in the garden. The “architectural
view” towards the east in those years, was the
embodiment of a romantic need to project
hopes and desires onto the Orient. However,
this phenomenon also indicates a willingness
to distance oneself from one’s own culture,
to take a critical look through the eyes of
a stranger. The mosque is a statement of
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
this attitude, and of the values of the Age of
Enlightenment it is based on.
The English Landscape Garden
Friedrich Ludwig von Sckell was the man
responsible for the introduction of the English
gardening style in Schwetzingen. The newly
redefi ned relationship between man and
nature took the shape of the “ideal disorder”
of a landscape garden, a utopia suggesting
the earthly paradise. 5 Of course nature is not
really given free rein; rather, it is exalted and
idealized – but the gardener’s arrangements
remain invisible. Critics of the movement
were quick to point out that the attempt to
5 Götz Pochat, Geschichte der Ästhetik und Kunsttheorie – von
der Antike bis zum 19. Jahrhundert, Köln 1986, pp. 376 ff.
II.
Fig. 3: “Partie sauvage”, view
towards the Temple of Mercury
(photo: Brähler).
Fig. 4: Roman water tower and
obelisk (photo: Förderer).
83

II.
84
Fig. 5: Part of the english
garden near the Temple of
Botany (photo: Brähler).
II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
create a semblance of nature by artistic means,
might well be called vain and presumptuous.
Sckell’s “lines of beauty” manifest themselves
in softly meandering paths through seemingly
dense shrubs, inviting visitors to go for a
walk. In this, he was inspired by Rousseau
and Shaftesbury. According to Rousseau,
all landscapes attract the viewer’s attention.
Moreover, experiencing the spirit of nature
is inseparable from experiencing the spirit
of self. The natural experience inspires a
dreamy state of mind and an awareness of the
beholder’s essence. According to Shaftesbury,
the unspoiled wildness of the English garden
refl ects the harmonious unity of the world.
There are both idyllic and heroic landscapes
at Schwetzingen, both incorporating literature
and history, somewhat reminiscent of the ideal
landscapes of Poussin. They are expressive
of a longing for Arcadia, a Utopian attempt to
achieve a sense of unity with nature in order
to reclaim a “natural” human state of moral
integrity.
Another aspect reminiscent of Poussin is the
way the landscape refl ects the contrast of
living nature and the transitoriness of human
life. The slight melancholy adds a romantic
touch to the English landscape garden: it
seems that eternal nature has reclaimed the
works of man.
Next to the landscaped areas, kitchen gardens
were laid out; to the south of the circular
parterre an orchard and a vergetable garden
were planted. Here, too, the new interest in
natural phenomena is evident – an interest
that has to lead to new sciences like botany.
In the second half of the 18th century botany
was considered very important; the ability to
identify plants was part of a sound education.
In order to give this scientifi c progressiveness
its due, an arboretum was laid out in 1777, the
fi rst to become part of a landscape garden, the
so-called Arborium Theodoricum. 6 Here trees
and shrubs were planted that were considered
rarities, or had newly arrived in Central
Europe; they provided illustrative material for
scientifi c research, but were also the subject
of a considerable collecting passion. Friedrich
von Sckell created a walk-in dictionary
complemented by the Temple of Botany, as it
were, the sanctuary of the new science.
Conclusion
The Schwetzingen palace garden represents a
unique blending of the eras of Absolutism and
Enlightenment. It resembles an encyclopedia
– “as one wanders through it, one turns the
leaves of the book of this world.” 7
(Barbara Brähler)
6 Rainer Stripf, Die Arboreten des Schwetzinger Schlossgartens,
Führer / Staatliche Schlösser und Gärten, München / Berlin
2004
7 Monique Mosser / Georges Teyssot, Die Gartenkunst des
Abendlandes von der Renaissance bis zur Gegenwart,
Stuttgart 1993, p. 259.

II. Schwetzingen – A Prince Elector’s Eighteenth-Century Summer Residence
II.
85

RUINE DES MERCURTEMPELS
86
Nikolaus Harnoncourt, 1983
„ “
gest. von Haldenwang
The time I spent at Schwetzingen in the spring of 1983 has become a special time in my long
career – an enchanted castle set in an unreal park, and this incredibly atmospheric little theatre.
[…] In such an ambience you end up being enchanted yourself, as in Alcina’s fl ower garden – the
music must be played in a different way from the factories in the large cities.

III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
a)
The Prince Electors and their
Schwetzingen Estate
1. A Summarized Political History
The Electors Palatine who used Schwetzingen
as hunting-lodge and later as their regular
summer-residence, were among the most
powerful princes of the Empire.
Originally, they had been known as Counts
Palatine of the Rhine 1 , a title and offi ce the
development of which is “among the most
diffi cult and least clear in German constitutional
history” 2 . In Merovingian times, the
Counts Palatine had been stewards of the
royal “palatium” that is, palace. They were
also used as royal offi cers to represent their
master in the provinces. Thus, in the East
Frankish Kingdom, later to become Germany,
the offi ces of Counts Palatine for various
regions developed. All but one became sooner
or later extinct; only the position of the Count
Palatine of the Rhine survived.
His possessions had originally centred around
the lower Rhine, but the ever-increasing
temporal power of the Rhenish archbishops
(Cologne, Mainz, Treves), combined with the
fact that the Hohenstaufen Emperors bestowed
large chunks of their possessions around
the mouth of the Neckar, on the Counts
Palatine, they had appointed from the ranks
of their relatives, meant that the “Palatinate”
“drifted” up the Rhine and came to be situated
in the region south of Mainz, and north of
what today is Alsace.
From 1214, the offi ce and possessions of the
Count Palatine fell to the Wittelsbach family,
who developed a Palatine and a Bavarian
branch, which in turn split up into many more
“sub-branches”. The counts whose territories
stretched from the border of Lorraine to the
the border of Bohemia, were among those
princes who became electors of the German
king, a privilege that was confi rmed in the
1 For the development of the “Palatinate”: Meinhard Schaab,
Geschichte der Kurpfalz. Band 1: Mittelalter, Stuttgart 1988;
Geschichte der Kurpfalz, Band 2: Neuzeit, Stuttgart 1992.
2 G. Waitz, Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte 7, 1876, p. 176.
Golden Bull of 1356. That is how the Counts
Palatine became known als “Elector’s Palatine”.
The electors gained more and more infl uence
along both banks of the Upper Rhine down to
the Swiss border. However, a series of rather
unfortunate confl icts with ensuing defeats
in the late 1400s and early 1500s, meant
that they missed the chance of becoming the
principal power in what today are Alsace and
Baden.
Still, enough power and prestige remained for
them to continue as one of the important princes
of the Empire. Their defection from the
Roman-Catholic church during the Reformation,
embracing fi rst Luther’s and later Calvin’s
teachings, was thus of major importance for
the history of Southern Germany.
Grossly over-estimating their strength, the
electors played the role of the leading Protestant
and Calvinist power in Germany, stirring
confl icts with the neighbouring Catholic
territories, and establishing close family links
with ruling houses of both the Netherlands
and Britain. Their risky policy culminated in
the assumption of the crown of Bohemia by
the Elector Frederick V. (1596-1632) which, as
is well known, led to the outbreak of the Thirty
Years War. The “Winter-King”, beaten by
the Habsburg Emperor in the famous “Battle
of the White Mountain”, lost Bohemia and all
his other possessions. The Palatinate, in turn
occupied by Spanish, Bavarian, Swedish and
French troops, suffered from plunderings,
destruction, famine and plague, and, by the
end of the war, was left devastated and almost
totally depopulated.
The Peace of Westphalia 1648, restored to
the Winter King’s son an electorate that was
much reduced in size and power. When his
succession died out in 1685, the Neuburg
branch of the Palatine Wittelsbachs inherited
the electorate. This was hotly contested by
Louis XIV. of France, whose brother had been
married to the Winter King’s granddaughter
– the famous Liselotte of the Palatinate,
Duchess of Orleans (1652-1721), whose
letters confer such a vivid picture of the Sun
III.
87

III.
88
III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
King’s court. During the War of the League of
Augsburg (in German called “War of Palatine
Succession”), Louis XIV. applied the notorious
“scorched-earth”-tactics which left a trail of
almost complete destruction in the Palatinate
and the neighbouring territories. Faced with
the still visible traces of these barbaric acts,
Voltaire, when coming to Schwetzingen in
the 1750s, felt such shame, that he suggested
to his Italian secretary, Collini (died 1806), to
also pretend to be a native of the peninsula. 3
The Wars of Spanish, Polish and Austrian
Succession were also partly fought in the
central territories of the electorate, driving
many of its inhabitants into emigration. It was
not until the early 1750s, that a long period
of peace began, lasting to the outbreak of the
revolutionary wars in 1792. The number of
inhabitants grew sharply during this period
– and it was only then, after almost 200 years,
that it reached and surpassed the fi gures of
the late sixteenth century!
By the peace of Rijswick in 1697, which ended
the War of the league of Augsburg, the French
king had abandoned his attempt to annex the
Palatinate. It remained in the hands of the
Neuburg branch of the Palatine Wittelsbachs.
Apart from the electorate proper, they also
ruled over the dukedoms of Jülich and Berg on
the lower Rhine around Düsseldorf, acquired
in 1610, and the dukedom of Neuburg on the
Danube, which had been given to the Palatine
Wittelsbachs in the early sixteenth century. In
1742, the House of Neuburg died out and the
representative of yet another collateral line,
the Count Palatine of Sulzbach in the Upper
Palatinate, Carl Theodor (1724-1799), inherited
the electorate. Sulzbach and a few counties by
the mouth of the Rhine, the new elector had
inherited from his mother, were added to the
Palatine territories. Altogether, in the 1790s,
the electoral lands comprised about 17,000
square kilometres and had about one million
inhabitants.
Although the elector could rely on a rather big
income from his lands – a French diplomat
3 Cosmo Alessandro Collini, Mon séjour auprès de Voltaire,
Paris 1807, p. 105.
called Carl Theodor, the “richest uncrowned
monarch”, the fact that the Palatine territories
stretched from the mouth of the Rhine to the
Danube meant that they were incoherent and
frayed – quite unlike the other electorates. The
various dukedoms and counties had their own
history and customs; in many, though, not in
the electorate proper, the elector’s power was
restricted by powerful estates which jealously
guarded their rights and refused to be
adequately taxed. Each territory was exposed
to military attack by one or more of the great
European powers. An independent foreign
policy or a military establishment, suffi cient
to deter a potential aggressor, were quite
beyond the means of the electors.
The religious situation in the Palatinate was
equally delicate: The House of Neuburg had
originally embraced Lutheranism in the 16th
century, but had reconverted to Catholicism in
the early 17th century. The Catholic zeal of the
Neuburg electors subjected their new possessions
to what has been called a “belated counterreformation”.
And although the attempt at
a re-conversion of the Palatinate as a whole
failed, the electors succeeded in completely
changing the religious setup of the ruling
caste, supplanting an “imported” catholic
aristocracy, that formed a “landed gentry” (that
had not existed before in the Palatinate) for
the old mainly bourgeois Calvinist elite. The
Catholics, once a disadvantaged and disparaged
group, became the privileged minority
in the state. In 1705, the intervention of the
great Protestant powers led to a settlement
that preserved an uneasy balance between the
denominations throughout the 18th century.
While the Elector Johann Wilhelm (1658-
1716) had resided in Düsseldorf to avoid
the ravages of the War of the League of
Augsburg, his brother and successor Carl
Philipp (1661-1742) moved the court back to
Heidelberg, the old capital of the Palatinate.
A confl ict of the staunchly Catholic Elector
with the Heidelberg Calvinists, over the use of
the Heilig-Geist-Church, and an unauthorised
reprint of the Heidelberg Catechism, which

condemned Catholicism as “cursed idolatry”,
served as a pretext for moving the capital of
the electorate to Mannheim in 1720. During
the subsequent half-century, not only Mannheim
was enlarged and beautifi ed with the
enormously big electoral palace and various
government buildings, aristocratic houses and
grand Catholic churches. The new Catholic
aristocracy also turned the countryside around
the new residence into an area “studded”
with smaller and bigger aristocratic countryhouses,
and the electoral family not only used
Schwetzingen as their summer-palace, but
also built another big palace at Oggersheim
just beyond the Rhine, destroyed in 1794, and
several other country-houses and huntinglodges
nearby. Thus, baroque splendour and
refi ned tastes spread across the heartland of
the electorate.
The second half of the 18th century, however,
saw the spread of a different movement 4 .
Among the ruling elite, the infl uence of “the
spirit of the age” began to be felt. Even in such
a comparatively small state as the Palatinate,
which, apart from Mannheim, could not boast
of any bigger town, a new generation of upper-
and middle-class people infl uenced by the
Enlightenment, had grown up. Many of them
presented their ideas to the Elector: Catholic
clergymen wanted to promote reform in the
Church and to fi ght “superstition”, well-read
farmers advocated agricultural improvements,
both aristocratic and bourgeois civil servants
from all tiers of government, proposed a
rationally structured, well-governed body
politic, teachers hoped for better educational
establishments, legal experts wanted to
abolish the “dark” statute-books and confused
judicial system and replace them with just
and rational creations.
The young Elector, Carl Theodor, intelligent
and well-read, proved quite accessible to
modern ideas. This mirrored a European trend
– the increasing infl uence of enlightened
4 For Carles Theodore’s reign: Stefan Mörz, “The Palatinate. The
Elector and the mermaid”, in: German History. The Journal of
the German History Society, Vol. 20, Number 3 (Special Issue:
Imperial Principalities on the Eve of Revolution: The Lay
Electorates), London 2002, pp. 332-353.
III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
ideas on practical governance in many states.
Apparently, the Elector was driven by a
mixture of motives: genuine interest, a strong
desire to be praised by the contemporary
“philosophes”, and the realization that quite a
few of the intended reforms could consolidate
his power base. Carl Theodor was ready to
take up a lot of the projects suggested to him,
so much so that in the mid-1770s, government
offi cials complained that so many important
reforms were being discussed at the same
time, that they were completely overburdened.
From the rotation of crops to the abolition of
torture, many improvements were discussed
and partly implemented.
However, the Elector’s “enlightened” impulses
were constantly at war with his traditional Catholic
upbringing, and the staunchly absolutist
creeds he had been taught by his relatives and
his tutors. Carl Theodor grew up to become
a sceptic – sceptical of tradition, but also
sceptical of the lure of “the spirit of the age”:
While he called a “Life of the Saints” a “bunch
of lies” 5 , he also compared the age of enlightenment
to a mermaid with an attractive head
but a terrible fi sh-tail. 6 He received Voltaire at
Schwetzingen and paid generous tribute to his
anti-clerical and even anti-Christian plays, but
also gave shelter to the conservative jesuits
driven out of France by Louis XV.
In 1777, Carl Theodor became Elector of Bavaria,
after the death of the last male member of
the Bavarian branch of the Wittelsbach family.
The treaty of mutual succession obliged him
to reside in Munich. Count Oberndorf (1720-
1799), a minister of the Elector, who enjoyed
his particular confi dence, was appointed
stadholder of the Palatinate with far-reaching
competences. The Mannheimers were deeply
shocked by their master‘s departure. One
night, returning from the theatre shortly
before he left for Munich, the Elector and his
wife were besieged in their coach by desperate
people who, with tears and cries, beseeched
them not to leave them and lamented their
5 Recounted by the librarian Jung (Traitteur papers, Wittelsbach
family archive (GHAM Munich, Corr. 882 Vg).
6 Karl Theodor to Voltaire, Jan 12, 1757, in: Voltaire, Correspondence,
ed. Theodore Bessel, Geneva 1953 ff., no. 7116.
III.
89

III.
90
III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
cruel fate. 7 It was not to be. Carl Theodor and,
with him, his glittering court and famous
orchestra, left the town, which as a result lost
direct access to the monarch and vital cultural
impulses. The departure of the court also
meant a severe economic setback, not only
for Mannheim, but also for the Frankenthal
industries, fi rst and foremost for the porcelain
manufacture, which now had to compete with
its Bavarian counterpart.
The late 1780s also saw violent local upheavals,
obviously infl uenced by the events in
France, where the “inalienable rights” of all
humans were invoked. Despite such ominous
“grumbles”, the Elector, frightened by riots in
Munich, returned to Mannheim for almost
a year in 1788/89. It was rumoured that
he wanted to move back his court to the
Palatinate. But things had changed: his long
absence had gradually weakened the ties
between the Mannheim and Palatine population
and the ruling house. As Sophie von La
Roche put it, 8 those Mannheimers who “expect
laughter and festivities” from their monarch
were deeply disappointed when Carl Theodor
fi nally decided to move back to Munich. “The
Elector is publicly abused in the most vicious
terms” 9 , the Austrian ambassador reported
-- again a sign of a time that witnessed the
storming of the Bastille a month later. At
fi rst, the French revolution found many a
sympathetic observer in the Elector Palatine’s
lands, and riots erupted in various parts of the
country. The government tried to counter this
develpoment by censorship and the imprisonment
of “dangerous” people. However, when
the revolutionary armies began to invade the
electorate and, quite indiscriminately, looted
the posessions of aristocrats, wealthy farmers,
enligthened civil servants and even the poor,
the sympathies waned. The vast majority of
the population just wanted to survive.
7 Memoirs of Stefan von Stengel (ed. G. Ebersold) (Schriften
der Gesellschaft der Freunde Mannheims, vol. 23), Mannheim
1993, p. 100 f.
8 Quoted in: Ingeborg Görler (Ed.), So sahen sie Mannheim,
Stuttgart 1974, p. 54.
9 Despatch of Count Lehrbach, June 7, 1789, quoted in Friedrich
Walter, Mannheim in Geschichte und Gegenwart, vol. 1,
Mannheim 1907, p. 774.
By 1798, the whole of the Palatine territories
on the left bank of the Rhine had fallen into
French hands and remained part of the French
Republic and Napoleon’s Empire until 1814.
The remaining “rump-electorate”, heavily
burdened by debts Carl Theodor had incurred
during the revolutionary wars, was abandoned
by the Wittelsbachs and given to the new
Electorate and later Grand-Dukedom of Baden,
under the “Reichsdeputationshauptschluß” in
1802/03. Attempts of Bavaria to recuperate
the lands between Mannheim and Heidelberg
after 1815 failed. Thus, the Rhine remained
the border between the Bavarian new “Palatinate”
created by the Congress of Vienna and
Baden.
The downfall of the German monarchies after
1918, paved the way to ideas to redraw the
borders of the German states. Some notable
reformers in and around Mannheim claimed:
“The Rhine should no longer be a border”
between lands, that were closely bound up
with each other through history and economic
development. These ideas were taken up
after the second World War. However, as the
Palatinate and Northern Baden belonged to
different zones (French and American), the
attempts to form a German state comprising
the formerly Palatine lands on the left and
right bank of the Rhine failed. Instead, a
regional network, supported by municipalities
and big industry was founded, that in the past
decades has achieved some notable successes
to create common institutions (regional public
transport, cultural events etc.). In 2005, the
“Rhine-Neckar-triangle”, as it has come to be
called, was accorded the status of a “European
Metropolitan Region”. At its heart are situated
the former electoral residences in Mannheim,
Schwetzingen and Oggersheim.
(Stefan Mörz)

2. The Cultural Landscape of Schwetzingen
Today’s Schwetzingen is situated in the northwestern
part of Baden-Württemberg, on the
low terrace of the Rhine valley, about 18 km
southeast of Mannheim and 12 km west of
Heidelberg. To the north is the alluvial fan,
created by the Neckar river where it meets the
Rhine; today the Leimbach stream runs in the
old channels. To the west, the largely unwooded
plain that has been settled since antiquity,
is bordered by the Rhine meadow; south are
the Hardt forests. East the Bergstraße, once
an important north-south connection running
through Heidelberg, skirts the foot of the
Odenwald hills.
The Transformation of Schwetzingen into a
Hunting Lodge (c.1225-1720)
As early as c.1225, when Heidelberg
became the main residence of the Palatine
Wittelsbachs, the Hardt forests and the
nearby settlement of Schwetzingen became
of interest as a hunting ground. 10 From the
Palatinate’s rising to the rank of an Electorate,
during the mid-14th century and into the
early 18th century, the Electors gradually
transformed Schwetzingen and its surroundings
into an aristocratic hunting lodge
and electoral hunting ground, permanently
altering the appearance of the region west of
their capital, in the process. 11 The only major
interruptions of this development were the
Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) and the Palatine
War of Succession (1688-1697).
The “fort” 12 (i.e. fortifi ed manor) of Schwetzingen
fi rst appears in a written document of
1350; it was probably Elector Ludwig V., who
10 Cp. Karl Wörn, “Auf dem Weg zur Großen Kreisstadt. Aus
Geschichte und Kultur Schwetzingens”, in: Badische Heimat,
1/1993, pp. 29-40. P. 32: In the 13th century Elector Ludwig I.
gave Heidelberg and Schwetzingen to his wife as a present.
Cp. Walter Koch, “Die Schwetzinger Hardt. Die sieben
Hardtgemeinden und die Renovationskarte der ‚Haard’ aus
dem Jahre 1782”, in: Badische Heimat, 3/1986, pp. 113-120. P.
114: Elector Ludwig II. adds the Hardt of Schwetzingen to the
Palatine possessions.
11 Kurt Martin, Die Kunstdenkmäler Badens, Vol. 10, Kreis
Mannheim, Stadt Schwetzingen, Karlsruhe/Baden 1933. P. 6:
In the 15th century, Elector Ludwig III systematically acquired
land in and around Schwetzingen. See also Ralf Richard
Wagner, “Das Goldene Zeitalter der Kurpfalz”, in: Badische
Heimat, 1/2004, pp. 20-35. In the 16th century, the Schwetzingen
forests were used both as a communal pasture and an
electoral hunting ground.
12 Cp. Martin 1933, p. 5.
III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
turned it into a hunting lodge in the course of
the 16th century. 13 According to contemporary
depictions, 14 the building was situated on the
outskirts of two settlements, the Unterdorf
(Lower Village) in the north and the Oberdorf
(Upper Village) in the south (see Fig. 1).
It is assumed that the Unterdorf, with its
church and market originated as a “Haufendorf”
(an irregularly shaped village of
buildings arranged round a central square),
the Oberdorf as a “Straßendorf” (a settlement
of houses lining one main street). An open
space, today occupied by the palace square,
separated both settlements. 15 During the
Thirty Years’ War, Schwetzingen was sacked;
towards the end of the war the castle was
probably burned down. 16
After the war Elector Carl Ludwig I. had the
ruined castle converted into a palace with a
garden 17 , and a tree-lined avenue, the “Neuer
Weg”, was built to connect the new structure
with Heidelberg Castle via Plankstadt. 18
Later, a pheasant-house was added to the new
palace. 19 Early in the Palatine War of Succession,
the village and palace were burned to
13 Max Miller/Gerhard Taddey (eds.), Handbuch der historischen
Stätten Deutschlands, Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart 1980, p.
733.
14 Cp. Martin 1933, p. 23, fi g. 15 und 16.
15 Cp. Martin 1933, p. 400.
16 Martin 1933, p. 7.
17 Cp. Wilfried Schweinfurth, “Schwetzingen – Residenzstadt
oder Stadt mit Residenz?”, in: Badische Heimat, 2/2001, pp.
229-242.
Schweinfurth 2001, p. 231.
18 Schweinfurth 2001, p. 234. Cp. Martin 1933, p. 41. Here,
however, a path leading from Oftersheim to Schwetzingen is
called ‚Neuer Weg’.
19 Cp. Martin 1933, p. 89
III.
Fig. 1: Samson Schmalkalder,
View of Schwetzingen, 1690,
section of map (Karlsruhe,
Badisches Landesmuseum).
At the end of the 17th century
the electoral hunting lodge of
Schwetzingen bordered two
settlements.
91

III.
Fig. 2: Old map, time of origin
unknown (Karlsruhe, Generallandesarchiv).
At the beginning
of the 18th century several
paths connected Schwetzingen
with the neighbouring villages.
In order to create a visual link
between the capital and the
electoral hunting lodge the
road from Schwetzingen to
Heidelberg was laid out as an
avanue of mulberry trees.
92
III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
the ground, along with the Palatine capital of
Heidelberg itself. 20
Notwithstanding the destruction of his capital,
the ruling Elector remained interested in
Schwetzingen as his offi cial residence during
the hunting season. 21 Early in the 18th century,
Johann Wilhelm von der Pfalz Neuburg
had the palace rebuilt along with the middle-
class buildings; the plans were by Adam
Breuning, a court of honour wing was added
on the east side, and the pheasant-house was
converted into a falcon house. 22 A new eastern
boundary was created for the grounds, in the
shape of a moat fed by the Leimbach stream. 23
In 1718, Elector Carl Phillip moved his offi cial
residence to Schwetzingen, provisionally at
fi rst, from there to supervise the rebuilding
of Heidelberg. In accordance with Baroque
custom, the relationship between the capital
of Heidelberg and the palace at Schwetzingen
found expression in the buildings themselves.
Early in the 18th century, it had been discovered
that the Schwetzingen palace was situated
on a straight line connecting the Königstuhl
hill, and thus Heidelberg Castle, with the
Kalmit, the highest of the hills of the Pfälzer
Wald. This line was to be given form – an
avenue of mulberry trees 24 leading towards
Königstuhl in one direction (see Fig. 2), a wide
20 Martin 1933, p. 7.
21 Martin 1933, p. 7. Conceivably the court’s removal to
Schwetzingen during the rebuilding of Heidelberg was already
being considered at this time.
22 Cp. Martin 1933, p. 89.
23 Cp. Martin 1933, p. 29, Fig. 19.
24 Cp. Hubert Wolfgang Wertz, “Schwetzingen – der barocke
Garten”, in: Fürstliche Gartenlust. Historische Schlossgärten in
Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart 2002, p. 23.
lane cut into the woodland of Ketscher Wald 25
towards the summit of Kalmit in the other. In
this way a view of the distant hills would be
opened up.
Around 1720, the conversion of the palace
into the hunting lodge of the Electors ruling
from Heidelberg was complete. It is highly
likely that Schwetzingen was characterized by
built-up areas following individual roads, with
the two original settlements still separated by
an open space. 26
The Unterdorf area, with its church and market,
was bordered in the northwest by the buildings
on what is today’s Wildemannstraße, in
the east by the Heidelberger Tor (Heidelberg
Gate), the exact position of which is unknown.
The central triangular marketplace served as
a junction of the roads to Mannheim, Oftersheim
and, via Plankstadt, to Heidelberg. 27 The
village of Oberdorf to the south, along what
is today’s Karlsruher Straße, was bordered by
the Speyerer Tor (Speyer Gate) on the Leimbach,
and what today is Zähringer Straße. On
the southwestern outskirts was Schwetzingen
Palace, a three-wing structure with several
outbuildings enclosing a court of honour; on
the east side it was separated from the village
by a water-fi lled moat. 28
To what degree the mulberry avenue, that was
to constitute the central axis between Schwetzingen
Palace and Königstuhl hill was actually
created, has not yet been proved. 29 Attempts
to continue this axis by creating a wide lane
in the Ketscher Wald forest had failed – the
chapter of Speyer Cathedral refused to have
part of its forest cut down for the purpose. 30
The Conversion of Schwetzingen into a
Temporary/Summer Residence (1720-1806)
Around 1720, the ruling Elector decided to
move the Palatinate’s capital from Heidelberg
25 Cp. Martin 1933, p. 43.
26 Cp. Schweinfurth 2001, pp. 232 ff., Fig. 3.
27 Cp. Schweinfurth 2001, pp. 232 ff.
28 Cp. Martin 1933, p. 29, Fig. 19.
29 Cp. Martin 1933, p. 41.
30 Martin 1933, p. 43.

to Mannheim. 31 The conveniently small
distance between Schwetzingen and the new
capital, and the fact that the estate already met
the conditions required for a Palatine hunting
ground, led to the estate being gradually
turned into a summer residence by Electors
Carl Philipp and Carl Theodor, in the decades
that followed, up to the dissolution of the
Palatinate in 1803.
Until 1731 and while the new residential
palace at Mannheim was being built, Schwetzingen
served as a temporary residence.
Local conditions made for an unsatisfactory
government seat, both functionally and in
view of the fact that the electoral seat of
power required a suitably grand setting, and
so Elector Carl Philipp started on a number
of additions and conversions. In between the
scattered houses lining individual streets, new
buildings went up – houses for the “Ackerbürger”,
town-dwelling farmer-craftsmen, as well
as administrative buildings and private homes
for court offi cials. Probably the existing
streets were retained; the new buildings were
arranged according to contemporary models,
in rows of houses lining the streets. Major
alterations to the palace itself were limited to
the erection of a few additional outbuildings,
and the redesigning and slight enlargement
of the existing garden towards the west (see
Fig. 3). 32
The long-planned lane cut into the Ketscher
Wald forest now came into being as well. 33
After the succession of Elector Carl Theodor
in 1742, the enlargement and conversion of
Schwetzingen into a stately summer palace
continued with renewed vigour. A master plan
for the redesigning of the entire town had
been created by Alessandro Galli de Bibiena. 34
It featured a system of axes radiating from the
31 The decision to move the government seat from Heidelberg
to Mannheim was the result of a quarrel with the Reformed
citizens of Heidelberg, concerning ownership of the
Heiliggeistkirche on the one hand, and of the fact that
Heidelberg’s situation on a sloping hillside made it unsuitable
for rebuilding in the modern Baroque style, on the other.
32 Cp. Martin 1933, pp. 128 ff., Fig. 109.
33 Cp. Martin 1933, p. 43.
34 According to the latest research, the plans survive only in the
shape of descriptions of the “New Town”, while their execution
is evident from later maps. By all appearances, no actual plans
have survived.
III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
palace, serving to connect the electoral seat of
power, both with the nearby settlements and
with the surrounding countryside – an image
of the summer palace as a radiant centre and
an embodiment of the principles of Absolutist
town planning.
An orthogonal network of streets 35 was
aligned with the straight line connecting the
Königstuhl and Kalmit hills, the mulberry
avenue was further emphasized as the central
axis, and in front of the palace a square marketplace
was added that also served to connect
35 Today: Carl-Theodor-Straße, Friedrich-Straße, Herzog-Straße,
the former footpath east of the electoral stables, and Zähringer-Straße.
III.
Fig. 3: Expropriation plan
of 1758 showing the palace,
the old orangery, the garden
as it looked in Carl Philipp’s
time, the market square, the
quarter-circle pavilions and
the expropriations of 1753
(Karlsruhe, Generallandesarchiv).
In the course of the 18th
century, the Electors converted
Schwetzingen into a stately
summer residence. The requisite
town and garden planning
necessitated numerous
expropriations.
93

III.
Fig. 4: Garden plan and
projected “star avenue”, 1769
(Karlsruhe, Badisches Landesmuseum).
In the second half
of the 18th century, there were
plans to connect the palace
garden with a landscaped
stretch of forest via a path. An
enclosure for shooting fallow
deer with an eight-lane “hunting
star” and a connecting avenue
were built.
Fig. 5: Christian Mayer,
“Kleine Karte der Pfalz” (A
Small Map of the Palatinate),
1773, section (Karlsruhe,
Generallandesarchiv). At the
end of the 18th century, the
townscape of Schwetzingen,
and its relationship to the
surroundings, refl ected the
alterations of Carl Theodor’s
time and the town planning by
Bibiena, which was in keeping
with Absolutist ideas.
94
III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
the Oberdorf and Unterdorf settlements.
East of the square, new streets were built at
right angles to the central axis; existing ones
were integrated into the layout, and the great
roads to Mannheim and Oftersheim were
improved and emphasized. A huge amount
of earthwork was required to create the new
streets; it seems reasonable to assume that the
newly developed area between the villages of
Oberdorf and Unterdorf, had been considered
unsuitable for building before – a possible
explanation of the fact that the settlements
had remained separate for centuries. 36
Sources indicate that Bibiena envisioned a
standardized front of townhouses lining both
the marketplace and the central axis. The
36 Cp. Martin 1933, p. 400.
sole exception was the plot, taking up most
of the square’s north side and separated from
it by a wall; here a house and garden for Carl
Theodor’s father confessor were built. However,
this appears to have been a decision based
on the Elector’s wishes, rather than his master
builder’s intentions.
As explained above, the whole layout of the
“New Town” 37 was aligned with Schwetzingen
Palace, while the palace itself merely received
a few outbuildings and a new kitchen building
south of the court of honour; earlier plans for
a rebuilding had been abandoned.
In the course of the town’s restructuring,
the palace’s modest garden was redesigned
as well (1753-58); the plans were by Johann
Ludwig Petri. Up to the beginning of the 19th
century, the work was continued and refi ned
by Nicolas de Pigage (1766-74) and Friedrich
Sckell (1778-1804); decorative buildings and
water features were added, and the park
was enlarged further. Petri took up the idea
of using the straight line connecting the
Königstuhl, the palace and the Kalmit as a
central axis, and thus created the park’s main
thoroughfare. About 200m west of the palace,
another axis was to intersect it at right angles
in the centre of a circular parterre, allowing
an unobstructed view of the surrounding
countryside. West of this, later plans envisioned
landscaped areas gradually merging into
the countryside; a path was to lead to a stretch
of carefully tamed woodland (see Fig. 4) 38 .
The new layout of both the town and the park
necessitated expropriations, and the existing
plot structure was severely disturbed (see
Fig. 3).
After Elector Carl Theodor had inherited the
domains of the Bavarian house of Wittelsbach,
the residence was moved from Mannheim
to Munich in 1777. Once the court had left,
building at Schwetzingen declined. When the
Palatinate was dissolved in 1803, the character
of the Schwetzingen townscape, and the
town’s relationship to its surroundings, were
37 Cp. Martin 1933, p. 401.
38 Cp. Martin 1933, p. 163, Fig. 126.

still characterized by the alterations made in
Carl Theodor’s time, and by Bibiena’s plans
based on the principles of Absolutist town
planning (see Fig. 5). 39
The important existing roads to Oftersheim
and Mannheim had been improved and made
up; the road to Mannheim had been straightened
in parts. 40 By the 1760s, parts of the
planned building along the central axis and
the marketplace were completed 41 , (see Fig.
6) among them the stables 42 and the southern
front of the square. It is reasonable to assume
that the resident court had served to further
and inspire local trade and craftsmanship 43
and left its permanent mark on a settlement,
that had been rural in character before. The
demand for lodgings caused by a growing
population, had resulted both in more densely
built-up areas, and in a larger town. 44
The layout of the palace remained basically
that of the early 18th century. Functional
defi cits had been compensated for by the
addition of extensions and small additional
structures, while some existing outhouses
had been demolished. 45 The Leimbach still
marked the town’s eastern boundary, but its
course had been adapted to the new extension
housing the kitchens 46 and other newly
erected outbuildings.
The plain garden of the early 18th century
had been completely restructured by the
designs of Petri, de Pigage and Sckell; it was
now characterized by the geometrical French
style, as well as that of the English landscape
garden, and had been extended towards the
west by 900m into what had been arable
land. The great east-west axis constituted
the park’s central path, continuing into the
surrounding countryside as a lane cut into
the woodland. According to historic maps, the
plan to reshape the eastern part of the axis as
39 Cp. Schweinfurth 2001, pp. 236 ff., Fig. 3a
40 Cp. Martin 1933, pp. 44 ff.
41 See also Martin 1933, p. 43, Fig. 32.
42 Martin 1933, p. 427.
43 Schwetzingen had been granted market rights in 1759.
44 Cp. Schweinfurth 2001, pp. 236 ff.
45 Cp. Martin 1933, pp. 89, 95, 423. During the 1750s the old
orangery was pulled down; the dilapidated stables were
demolished in the 1760s, and the former pheasant-house in
the 1770s.
46 Cp. Martin 1933, p. 71 ff.
III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
a mulberry avenue was still being considered
(see Fig. 5 and 7).
The transverse axis took the shape of an
avenue of trees running to the southern
boundary of the park; northwards it continued
beyond the park until it met the Mannheim
road, where the new crossing had been shaped
into a circus. 47 Of the planned hunting park
southwest of the palace gardens, an eight-lane
“Jagdstern” (a star-shaped enclosure) housing
fallow deer had been built; it was connected to
the garden by an avenue (see Fig. 4). 48
47 Cp. Martin 1933, p. 44. In the second half of the 19th century,
Christian Mayer S. J. used the axes as coordinates when
conducting the fi rst exact survey of the Rhine valley (Fig.
5); the cartographical result was the “Basis novae Chartae
Palatinae” (Fig. 7: Basis novae Chartae Palantinae. 1773.)
48 Cp. Wertz 2002, p. 25.
III.
Fig. 6: Ground plan of the new
market square, with residents’
names, c.1775 (Karlsruhe,
Generallandesarchiv). By the
middle of the 18th century,
the alterations were clearly
showing in the layout of the
town. The new square and main
street were lined with a closed
front of handsome townhouses.
Fig. 7: Christian Mayer,
‘Basis novae Chartae Palatinae’,
engraving by C. Verelst, 1773
(Karlsruhe, Generallandesarchiv).
The palace formed the
focal point of a Baroque system
of axes, created by the electoral
town and landscape planning
– in keeping with Absolutist
ideas, it was to dominate its
surroundings, the radiant
centre of the town.
95

III.
Fig. 8: Map showing the
boundaries of Schwetzingen,
1872-78, section. When the
town grew in the course of the
19th century, Bibiena’s plan
was largely followed. In 1870
,Schwetzingen became part
of the railway network, and a
station was built on the eastern
perimeter of the town.
96
III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
In the course of the 19th century, the town of
Schwetzingen expanded largely on the lines
laid out in Bibiena’s Baroque building plan.
Densely built-up areas developed along the
existing roads to the north, south, and east.
To the west of the garden, the areas of arable
land grew to include what had formerly been
woodland (see Fig. 9).
Until well into the second half of the 19th
century, Schwetzingen was connected to the
neighbourhood by two major roads. One road
led up from Mannheim and continued south;
the other was the former electoral avenue
connecting Schwetzingen to the “Bergstraße”.
When the fi rst direct railway from Mannheim
to Karlsruhe via Schwetzingen was opened in
1870, the town received its fi rst railway connection.
The station building was erected on
the eastern outskirts, along with the railway
lines running at right angles to the former
Heidelberger Straße, the Baroque east-west
axis (see Fig. 8). The extension of the railway
network continued with the construction of
the Heidelberg-Speyer line. In the Schwetzingen,
Eppelheim and Plankstadt areas, this
was built in places to run exactly where the
old avenue leading to Heidelberg had been,
with the inevitable damages resulting. 49 The
49 Cp. Joachim Stephan, “Infrastruktur und Zentralität. Die
Amtsstadt Schwetzingen und das Straßenbahnprojekt
Schwetzingen-Ketsch”, in: Badische Heimat, 1/2004, pp. 73-84.
older road to Heidelberg, further to the north,
became important again. During the 1920s,
the tramways system was extended, with a
line connecting Schwetzingen and Heidelberg
via Carl-Theodor-Brücke and Nadlerstraße.
Unlike the former electoral capital of Mannheim,
Schwetzingen escaped destruction
during WWII. Later extensions were built on
the existing road network. In 1974, two largescale
projects were completed: a new hospital
was built south of the palace gardens, and to
the north, high-rise apartment blocks went
up; both structures were intended to mark the
respective ends of the town’s great transverse
axis. The built-up areas not only of Schwetzingen
itself, but also of the neighbouring
communities of Oftersheim and Plankstadt,
kept growing; today the three towns have
largely merged into one.
The importance of the railroad system
declined with the rise of individual transport
in the course of the 20th century. Both the railroad
and tram lines connecting Schwetzingen
and Heidelberg were abandoned. Today, two
motorways and a high-speed train line run
past the town area, connecting Schwetzingen
to the long-distance network through a
number of new connecting roads.
The Historic Cultural Landscape of
Schwetzingen Today
The surroundings of Schwetzingen, the
appearance of the town itself and its
ground plan in particular, are still largely
characterized by the large-scale building and
landscaping undertaken by the ruling Electors
of the 18th century.
Even today Bibiena’s plans for a “New Town”,
drawn up as part of Schwetzingen’s conversion
into a summer residence, are clearly
visible in the course of the streets. The layout
of today’s palace square and main axes has
survived almost unaltered, as have the street
courses of the earlier settlements, the villages
of Oberdorf and Unterdorf. The former electoral
avenue and the market square are lined
with a closed front of individual buildings, as

intended by the Baroque building plan. The
Baroque structures 50 have been added to, and
occasionally replaced, in the course of the
19th and 20th centuries. Traces of the earlier
rural buildings survive in some of the side
streets.
As in earlier times, the Leimbach, serving as
an open moat, separates the town centre from
the palace area. The shape and layout of the
palace itself 51 and the garden adjoining it to
the west, still convey the appearance of the
18th-century summer palace. The original
intention of extending the main axes beyond
the confi nes of the park is still apparent: north
towards the circus, this is achieved by the
houses on the tree-lined Lindenstraße avenue,
west up to the motorway crossing by the trees
lining the street, where the original lane used
to be cut into the woodland. Southwest of
the gardens where the hunting park used to
be the eight-lane “Jagdstern” survives in the
shape of a crossing of eight paths.
Large sections of the main west-east axis,
the avenue of mulberry trees created at the
beginning of the 18th century to connect
Schwetzingen and Heidelberg, survive in the
form of paths and of sections of the former
railway route to Heidelberg, still directing the
50 Cp. parts of the 1760s stables and the buildings to the south of
the square.
51 Cp. Martin, pp. 76, 190 ff. Besides the palace itself the 1760s
waterworks and the guardhouses from the late 18th century
survive.
III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
view towards Königstuhl. Likewise, the older
Schwetzingen-Heidelberg connection further
north still recalls the 17th-century road, the
“Neuer Weg”.
Up to the present day, the early 21st century,
the historic cultural landscape of Schwetzingen
is characterized largely by the heritage
of its Palatine past. Supplementing this are
the remains of the earlier rural settlements,
and the heritage of the industrial age.
(Svenja Schrickel)
III.
Fig. 9: Section of a topographic
map of the Archduchy of Baden,
1838. In the course of the 19th
century, much woodland in the
vicinity of Schwetzingen was
developed for farming.
97

III.
Fig. 1: Document from the
monastery of Lorsch. The fi rst
written proof of the existence
of Schwetzingen, dates from
766. A woman named Agana
transferred her entire property
in Schwetzingen “quidquid
proprietatis in Suezzingen
habeo” to the monastery of
Lorsch (facsimile, Stadtarchiv
Schwetzingen).
98
III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
b)
History of the Town of
Schwetzingen
Prehistory and Early History up to the First
Written Reference
The Codex Laureshamensis, the 12th-century
collection of documents of the abbey of
Lorsch1 , contains the fi rst written reference
to Schwetzingen, there called Suezzingen, in
the Gift of Adana dated 21st December 766. 2
The name is derived from a personal name,
Suezzo, and translates as “part of Suezzo’s
place”. However, archaeological fi nds prove
that the site was settled well before that time.
Situated on the southern alluvial fan of the
Neckar, on the bank of the Leimbach stream,
it was settled from Neolithic times (5000
BC) through the Celtic era (300 BC) to that
of the Neckar Suebes (100 AD), a Germanic
tribe from the lower Neckar. 3 Grave fi nds
from Merovingian times (500-700 AD) point
to two settlements, confi rmed by entries
in the Lorsch Codex, dated 805 and 807. 4
The denomination of Suezzingen superiore
indicates that Schwetzingen, situated in the
Frankish district of Lobdengau, at the time
had an upper and a lower village. These
unconnected core settlements are still visible
within the layout of the town. To the south is
the Oberdorf or Upper Village, a settlement
1 World heritage site since 1991.
2 Karl Josef Minst, Lorscher Codex: deutsch, Urkundenbuch der
ehemaligen Fürstabtei Lorsch, Lorsch 1968, p. 278.
3 Karl Wörn, Schwetzingen zur Jahrtausendwende; Geschichte
– Kultur – Wissenschaft, Schwetzingen 2000, pp. 7-11.
4 Minst 1968, pp. 283 f.
made up of the houses lining what today is
the Karlsruher Straße. North is the Unterdorf
(Lower Village), an unmistakable “Haufendorf”
(i.e. a closely built-up village clustering
round a central square or pond) with a town
hall and church. The fort of Schwetzingen
between the two, was probably not built until
the 13th century.
New Lords: the Counts Palatine
In the 11th and 12th centuries, not only
the abbey of Lorsch, but also the bishops
of Worms, lords of the Lobdengau, and the
convents of Aldenmünster and Schönau
at Schwetzingen were very wealthy. The
Counts Palatine, serving as bailiffs and thus
entrusted with the management of the Lorsch
properties up to the abbey’s decline in 1232,
fi rst acquired property of their own “in villa
Swezingen” 5 in 1288. The settlement included
a church, the patronage of which Counts
Palatine Rudolf and Ludwig transferred to the
monastery of Neuburg in 1305, in exchange
for an estate at Seckenheim and the sum of 60
Pfund Heller. Its location in the Unterdorf and
the patronage of St. Pankratius, fi rst mentioned
in 1435, have survived. The church was
destroyed during the Thirty Years’ War and
rebuilt in 1736-1765, from plans by Sigismund
Zeller, Franz Wilhelm Rabaliatti and
Nicolas de Pigage. 6 Full Palatine overlordship
is documented from 1350 by the levying of
taxes. A cellarer managed the Palatine estates
and taxes, including the mill, the “Herrengut”
estate and the sheep farm. At this time, the
castle was still owned by the Erligheim family.
By 1472, however, it belonged to the Counts
Palatine and was used as a hunting lodge
conveniently situated on the game-rich slopes
of the Schwetzinger Hardt, rather than a
military stronghold. 7
5 Regesten der Pfalzgrafen am Rhein: 1214-1508, ed. Badische
Historische Commission, ed. Adolf Koch and Jakob Wille, Vol.
1, Innsbruck 1894, p. 69.
6 Kurt Martin, Die Kunstdenkmäler des Amtsbezirks Mannheim
– Stadt Schwetzingen, Karlsruhe 1933, pp. 5, 8, 404-412.
7 Die Weistümer der Zehnt Kirchheim, ed. Karl Kollnig,
Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für geschichtliche
Landeskunde in Baden-Württemberg; Reihe A, Quellen; Vol.
29, Stuttgart 1979, pp. 206 f.

Changes of Faith, War and Reconstruction
Very little information about Schwetzingen
has survived from the Reformation era. The
Peace of Augsburg, signed in 1555, made
the “cuius regio, eius religio” (“he who rules,
his religion”) principle obligatory for the
Schwetzingen subjects too – the result being
that they had to change their faith several
times. From 1698 to 1703, the Catholic church
was used by all confessions. After 1703, the
Reformed and Lutheran communities had
to make do with improvised churches for a
while. The Reformed church, built in 1758 and
much altered in 1888 and 1913, has served as
the town’s principal Protestant church since
the “Badische Kirchenunion”, the merging of
the Protestant churches of Baden, of 1821. 8
During the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648)
the village and castle suffered pillages and
billetings; in 1635, both were burned to the
ground by imperial troops under General
Gallas. Elector Carl Ludwig had the castle
rebuilt as a domicile for his second wife,
Luise von Degenfeld. A newly constructed
road, lined with walnut trees and running
in a straight line towards the “Dicker Turm”
(Squat Tower) of Heidelberg Castle, allowed
him to travel quickly between Heidelberg and
Schwetzingen. 9 The later mulberry avenue
probably adopted the same course.
In March 1689, the village and castle were
incinerated again in the course of the Palatine
War of Succession (1688-1697). On the orders
of Elector Johann Wilhelm the castle was
rebuilt and enlarged in 1698-1717. The village,
on the other hand, was not completely rebuilt
even two decades after the War of Succession.
The “Schwetzinger Schatzungsbuch” of 1717,
lists a number of new houses, but it also
mentions dilapidated buildings, bad living
conditions and empty lots, proof of the bad
economic situation caused by the war. 10
8 Martin 1933, pp. 418-420.
9 Generallandesarchiv Karlsruhe 221/Schwetzingen Nr. 447.
10 Stadtarchiv Schwetzingen B 404.
III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
Schwetzingen’s Heyday
When the electoral court was transferred
from Heidelberg to Mannheim in 1720,
Schwetzingen became Elector Carl Philipp’s
summer residence. In order to create a grand
entry, the east-facing court of honour was
laid out, and the road leading up to it from
Heidelberg was turned into a straight avenue
lined with mulberry trees. Its course from
the foot of Königstuhl hill to Schwetzingen,
and its continuation as an axis leading on to
Kalmit, the highest point of the Pfälzer Wald
hills, is clearly visible to the present day. By
all appearances, this axis was fi rst designed
to focus attention on the palace alone, thus
reinforcing the separation of the Oberdorf and
Unterdorf parts of the small town. 11 It was left
to Elector Carl Theodor, who came into power
in 1742, to turn the mulberry avenue into
the most prominent feature of his summer
residence’s new Baroque townscape. It was on
this road, which also provided the basis of the
enlargement of the palace gardens, that from
1748 onwards, Oberbaudirektor (director-inchief
of building) Alessandro Galli da Bibiena
(1687-1748) constructed his “New Town” with
11 Martin 1933, pp. 400 f.
III.
Fig. 2: Gmelin plan, 1809. In
1809 Wilhelm Gmelin drew
not only the palace gardens
but the market town too. The
churches and all electoral
buildings, among them the
barracks of the mounted guard
on the market square and the
stables on the mulberry avenue,
are marked in darker colour.
(Generallandesarchiv Karlsruhe
G Schwetzingen/51).
99

III.
Fig. 3: Aerial photograph, 1965.
Carl-Theodor-Straße, the town’s
main axis, and the square
blocks lining it are clearly
visible (Stadtarchiv Schwetzingen,
Fotosammlung).
100
III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
its market square and the four square blocks
of buildings adjoining it to the east. 12 The side
streets meeting the avenue at right angles,
the new Mannheimer Straße and the Gassengartenweg,
later Friedrichsstraße, opened
up the new residential areas. The intention
was to connect the two separate settlements,
thus creating a new town centre, that would
replace the old village square between the Catholic
church and the town hall, and provide
an entry to the palace. Bibiena’s layout of the
market square, twice the depth of the court of
honour, creates a space that focuses attention
on the palace by way of the buildings lining it,
merging the court of honour and the marketplace,
the palace, and the town into a unifi ed
whole. 13
At fi rst, the new town centre was to provide
homes for those inhabitants, who had lost
their properties when the new northern
quarter-circle pavilion was built, and the “New
Town” laid out. But private building declined
due to the regulation that new houses had
to be urban in character. To attract investors,
sites were given away free of cost, and
12 Stadtarchiv Schwetzingen U 54.
13 Martin 1933, p. 402.
builders enjoyed years of tax exemption. 14
Grand buildings, like the electoral stables built
on the mulberry avenue by Prince Friedrich
von Pfalz-Zweibrücken, and the barracks of
the mounted guard on the new market square,
increasingly characterized the appearance of
the new town. Bibiena’s successor, Nicolas
de Pigage (1723-1796), continued the town’s
transformation. In 1767, the Franciscan order
was given a building site adjacent to the
electoral stables, the result being that “not
only did the town of Schwetzingen grow
more beautiful, the surroundings of the palace
gained in liveliness too”. 15
While the architectural remodelling of
Schwetzingen provided a considerable
economic boost on the one hand, on the other,
it endangered the inhabitants’ means of living
through the extension of the palace gardens,
and the resulting loss of arable land. New
sources of income were discovered through
the cultivation of tobacco, and craftsmen,
traders and innkeepers were in demand. In
fact, during the summer months, when the
court was in residence and visitors fl ocked to
Schwetzingen, the catering trade became one
of the major sources of income. When Schwetzingen
was granted market rights in 1759,
and one weekly market as well as two annual
fairs were authorized along with a number of
tax advantages, another economic upswing
set in. 16 The population, now urban rather
than rural, increased from 443 inhabitants
in 1727 to 1538 in 1777. 17 When the court
moved to Munich in the winter of 1777/1778,
building waned, the visitors and court offi cials
stayed away, and industry and commerce fell
into decline. Schwetzingen reverted from
the splendours of a summer residence to the
insignifi cance of a provincial town.
14 Eugen Seyfried, Heimatgeschichte des Bezirks Schwetzingen,
Schwetzingen 1925, p. 147.
15 Martin 1933, p. 422.
16 Stadtarchiv Schwetzingen U 2.
17 Die Stadt- und die Landkreise Heidelberg und Mannheim,
offi cial description, ed. Staatliche Archivverwaltung Baden-
Württemberg, Karlsruhe 1970, Vol. 3, p. 855.

Schwetzingen in the 19th Century
The territorial reorganizations of Napoleon
brought about the end of the Palatinate in
1802/03. Schwetzingen became part of the
Grand Duchy of Baden, remained a garrison
town and became the seat of a Bezirksamt
– a local government authority – until 1924.
Its character as an administrative centre of
urban character, its high tax yield and the
court administration still required by the
palace and the gardens, already famous at
the time, convinced Grand Duke Leopold
to grant Schwetzingen the town charter in
1833. One of the benefactors of the newly
minted “town” was the garden director, Johann
Michael Zeyher (1770-1843), who was given
the freedom of the town in appreciation of his
many donations for schools and institutions
for young people. It is due to his efforts,
that Schwetzingen became a school town
– al-though the Baden Revolution of 1848/49,
and the severe retributions that followed,
crippled any further efforts of this nature for
many years. The middle-class confi dence and
sense of identity, that had been cultivated in
the new clubs and societies and furthered by
democratic ideas, was crushed by Prussian
troops. For some of the revolutionaries,
emigration was the only course left. 18
Around 1850, the industrialization set in, starting
with the intensive culture of crops such
as hops, tobacco, and asparagus. Asparagus in
particular, cultivated in the palace gardens for
the fi rst time in 1668, 19 and much improved
in the late 19th century by the varieties grown
by the court garden inspector, Gustav Unselt
(1866-1924), came to be a local specialty of
worldwide reputation. Well-known fi rms like
the tinned-foods company Bassermann and
the cigar maker Neuhaus, established themselves
once Schwetzingen had been connected
to the Rhine valley railway line in 1870,
trading the local produce world-wide.
18 Revolution im Südwesten: Stätten der Demokratiebewegung
1848/49 in Baden-Württemberg, ed. Arbeitsgemeinschaft
hauptamtlicher Archivare im Städtetag Baden-Württemberg,
Karlsruhe 1997, pp. 562-566.
19 Generallandesarchiv Karlsruhe 67/942, pp. 1250-1256.
III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
With the railway connection to Mannheim
and Karlsruhe, and the line to Heidelberg and
Speyer, that was opened in 1873, both tourists
and new citizens found their way to Schwetzingen.
Town planning allowed extensions
along the railway line and in the eastern part
of the town. 20
The Twentieth Century to the Present
Early in the new century, the basic conditions
for the establishment of new and important
industrial settlements were provided by
measures to ensure the water supply, the
construction of a sewerage system and the
introduction of electricity. 21 The economic
depression after WWI brought shut-downs
and unemployment, resulting in an increased
popularity of the NSDAP, the National
Socialist Party.
After Hitler had seized power in 1933, the persecution
of political opponents and of Jewish
citizens set in. With the deportation of the
Jewish community to Gurs on 22nd October
1940, the history of the Jewish community,
established in 1700, came to an end.
For Schwetzingen, WWII ended on 30th
March 1945, when American troops occupied
the town. The war had left 799 dead or missing,
and 187 buildings damaged or destroyed.
Parts of the town were quickly rebuilt, and
20 Stadtarchiv Schwetzingen A 7; K 102.
21 Jörg Schadt, “Das Stadtarchiv Schwetzingen im Dienst an
Verwaltung und Bürgerschaft”, in: Badische Heimat, 1/2004, p.
16.
III.
Fig. 4: Letterhead of Leopold
Hassler. The company was
one of several, that had a
part in the industrial rise of
Schwetzingen. In its letterhead,
it proudly promises rapid
delivery of its tinned goods by
rail (Stadtarchiv Schwetzingen,
A710).
101

III.
102
III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
as early as 1946, the Schwetzinger Festspiele
(Schwetzingen music festival) took place for
the fi rst time, with the town still run by the
US military. Ever since 1952 (the founding
year of the land of Baden-Württemberg) it has
been an annual event, and the institution that
brought Schwetzingen international fame as a
festival city.
In the years after 1945, the town was faced
with several urgent tasks: to remedy the
serious lack of living quarters, to push ahead
with road construction and the extension
of public transport, to provide schools with
suitable rooms and facilities, to improve the
health service, to attract more industries.
Other municipal tasks could only be solved by
specifi c administrative unions. But conditions
improved, and in consequence, the population
increased; on 30th March 1993, Schwetzingen
attained the status of a “Große Kreisstadt”. 22
Today Schwetzingen is a pleasant modern
city with the fl air of history and a lively and
varied cultural scene. The European idea is
represented by its twin cities of Lunéville in
France (since 1969), Pápa in Hungary (since
1992) and Spoleto in Italy (since 2005).
(Joachim Kresin)
22 Wörn 2000, pp. 54-78.

c)
History of the Palace
1. The Origins of the Castle and Palace
The following text reviews the state of research
into the origins of the palace complex
(up to 1700) and reports on current research
regarding developments in the 18th, 19th and
20th centuries.
Building History
When Carl Theodor became ruler of the
Palatinate in 1742 at the age of eighteen, 1
the heritage included, among other things,
the summer palace at Schwetzingen. At the
time, the palace’s core buildings were almost
identical to those still visible today, with the
exception of the later kitchen building and
the quarter-circle pavilions 2 . Both of Carl
Theodor’s predecessors – Johann Wilhelm
(1690-1716), who rebuilt the palace after
the ravages of the Palatine War of Succession,
and Carl Philipp (1716-42), who used
Schwetzingen as the regular residence of the
Elector Palatine up to the completion of his
new palace at Mannheim 3 – had been fond of
their summer retreat, and the opportunities
it offered as a hunting lodge. The Palatinate
hunts were widely famous. 4
The new Elector was faced with a team of
veteran court architects (Bibiena, Rabaliatti
and Zeller), 5 whose building style had shaped
the Absolutist “look” of the residences of
Mannheim and Schwetzingen for the past
four decades, and, who had more or less
1 1724-1799; 1733 Count Palatine in Sulzbach; 1742 Elector
Palatine; 1777 Elector Palatine and Elector of Bavaria.
2 North pavilion built 1748-50, south pavilion 1753-55.
3 „For a period of more than ten years, Carl Philipp had to make
do with the ‘Oppenheimer Haus’ serving as a palace during
the months spent in his winter residence – the summers were
spent in the country, at Schwetzingen Palace” and “it was only
in 1731, that Carl Philipp moved into his new palace”, from:
Stefan Mörz, “Haupt- und Residenzstadt; Carl Theodor, sein
Hof und Mannheim”, in: Kleine Schriften des Stadtarchivs
Mannheim, no. 12, Mannheim 1998, pp. 19 and 24.
4 Die Lust am Jagen, exhibition catalogue, Staatliche Schlösser
und Gärten Baden-Württemberg (ed.), Ubstadt-Weiher 1999.
5 Alessandro Galli da Bibiena, b. Parma 1687, d. Mannheim
1748, from 1719 primus architectus of the Elector. Francesco
(Franz Wilhelm) Rabaliatti, 1716-1782, pupil of Bibiena, 1742
appointed court architect by Carl Philipp. Sigismund Zeller,
1680-1764, succeeded Court Builder Breunig in 1727.
III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
divided up the building work due to be dealt
with among themselves.
While Mannheim had been planned on the
drawing board, a new city 6 with a prestigious
residential palace, there was a centuries-old
heritage to be considered at Schwetzingen.
Palatine history and tradition demanded to be
treated with respect. Even after the ravages
infl icted fi rst by the Thirty Years’ War, and
later by the Palatine War of Succession of
1689/93, pulling down the old buildings and
replacing them with a new palace was never
even considered, damaged though they must
have been.
Johann Wilhelm: Reconstruction and
Absolutist Beginnings
It was the interest Carl Theodor’s predecessor
Johann Wilhelm von Pfalz-Neuburg 7 took in
the Palatinate, after the devastation infl icted
on it by Louis XIV’s French troops, that
gained him a standing with the inhabitants
of his heartland. He had spent many years at
his Düsseldorf residence, seemingly without
taking much notice of Schwetzingen. Now,
however, that attitude changed – the estate at
Schwetzingen was renovated and converted
into a comfortable summer palace. The only
hindrance was the claim of ownership of the
widow of Johann Wilhelm’s predecessor. The
Elector made several offers, but Wilhelmine
Ernestine of Denmark 8 refused to sell.
It did not prevent Johann Wilhelm from
embarking on the necessary repairs, although
Court Architect Alberti’s 9 plans for a grand
6 Mörz 1998, s. n. 3, pp. 19, 24.
7 Johann Wilhelm v. Pfalz-Neuburg, Duke of Jülich and Berg,
Elector Palatine, b. 19th April 1658 in Düsseldorf, d. 8th June
in Düsseldorf; succeeded his father as Elector Palatine on 2nd
September 1690. The Palatine War of Succession (1688-1697)
prevented the planned move from Düsseldorf to Heidelberg.
Supported by his second wife, Anna Maria Luise of the Medici
family (1667-1743), he made his Düsseldorf residence into one
of the major European centres of the arts; the Palatinate had
nothing comparable to offer to this splendour-loving Baroque
prince. After: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon,
DAHM, Christof, Vol. III, 1992, cols. 171-174.
8 Ernestine Wilhelmine of Denmark, b. 20th June 1650. She
married Elector Karl II (1651-1685) in 1671, a marriage that
remained without issue and thus led to the Palatine War of
Succession. She died on 23rd April 1706 at Schwetzingen,
in the palace given to her by her husband on 22nd February
1681.
9 Count Matteo Alberti, born in Venice, 1690-1716 Oberbaudirektor
of Johann Wilhelm, active mainly in the Rhineland
(Schloss Bensberg).
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III.
104
III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
new palace to be built in the plain near
Heidelberg were still being considered.
And so, after an amount of fussing from
the treasury, 10 which persisted in calling
attention to the depressing fi nancial situation,
fi fteen carpenters erected a new roof to cover
the core buildings in 1701. The document
recording this agrees with the results of a
dendrochronological analysis conducted in
2003. 11
During the years that followed, Johann Adam
Breunig 12 rose from the position of foreman
to that of architect in charge. Several times
he was dispatched to see the Elector at
Düsseldorf, about the plans for the layout
of the court of honour. When Wilhelmine
Ernestine died in 1706, the palace fell to the
court treasury. Now Johann Wilhelm was free
to press on with his conversions and extensions.
A court of honour facing east towards
the town was decided on. 13 Two extensions
were added at right angles to the east front
of the old palace building in order to hide its
lack of symmetry. The protruding north and
south wings and the resulting court made for
a grand, stately Baroque solution. Compared
to the old core building, the space available for
the housing of the courtiers and the kitchen
had been increased fi vefold.
Contrary to a popular tradition carried on
by older publications, that reconstructed the
building history from archival documents,
recent dendrochronological tests on the
building itself have yielded new facts about
the exact time of building. 14 The wings of the
court of honour with the chapel, the “cavaliers’
house” in the northern and the “ladies’ house”
in the southern wing, have been found to date
from 1711/12.
10 The court treasury served as the equivalent of a building
department too.
11 Samples analyzed by: Labor für Dendroarchäologie, Dr. S.
Bauer, Trier, LSB-Nr. 131/03.
12 Johann Adam Breunig, b. in Mainz, 1684 a resident of
Heidelberg, d. 1727. Work on Heidelberg Castle in 1698 under
Court Architect Petrini and 1699 under Flemal; rose from
master mason to foreman within a few years, and became
Palatine Master Builder in 1708.
13 The ground plans (1711) of the fi rst design proposal and the
modifi ed execution design (signed by Breunig), have been
preserved; Generallandesarchiv (GLA) Karlsruhe.
14 Typed report; P. Knoch, Büro f. Bauforschung, Heidelberg,
2005.
With Breunig’s help, Johann Wilhelm’s
Düsseldorf court architect, Sarto 15 , succeeded
in doubling the area covered by the old core
building. The garden wing was built on to the
old castle’s west wall, the moat conveniently
serving as a cellar. The addition of two massive
protruding towers at the corners, resulted
in a symmetrical garden front and a building
that concealed the medieval castle behind.
Only the passage leading into the court of
honour, which fails to follow the central axis,
betrays the fact that older buildings had to be
taken into account. Most of the building work
went on in 1715/16; the formal principles
used for the court of honour were applied to
the “garden” front as well.
An analysis of the colours used for the facades
after 1700, revealed that originally lime
plaster was covered in white lime paint; the
sandstone elements were painted brick-red. 16
It is remarkable that the newly built rooms
were painted the same colours straight away,
i.e. that the interior colour scheme matched
that of the outer walls. Only after the completion
of every other surface, saffron-coloured
oaken window frames were installed. Shutters
probably painted forest green or dark brown,
added to the lively colour scheme.
While analyses based on dateable alterations
of the outer walls of the entire palace were
conducted in 2002-2005, a full analysis of
the building history of the comparatively
small core building has not been attempted
so far. As regards the medieval origins of
the Schwetzingen palace, we have to rely on
archival documents and their interpretation
by a handful of authors: 17
Origins
A “fort” at “Sweczinge” is mentioned for the
fi rst time in 1350. That was the year when
Elector Ruprecht I acquired the usufruct from
15 Sarto (dates unknown) succeeded Alberti as building
superintendent at the electoral court of Düsseldorf.
16 Documentation of colour analysis; P. Knoch, Büro f. Bauforschung
in Heidelberg, 2005.
17 The resulting “research backlog” is being tackled by building
research measures, coordinated with the ongoing restoration
work. However, an extensive and detailed documentation of
the core building has not been undertaken so far.

members of the Erlickheim family, probably
belonging to the lower aristocracy. 18 At the
time, the building must have been in existence
for several decades. Details of the outer walls
and of the foundations, a small part of which
was recently uncovered, suggest that the
oldest parts date from the last third of the
13th century (see Building phase I).
This is suggested by the large rusticated
blocks with pointed or undressed bosses and
wide recessed margins, used for the lower
parts of the south tower (cp. Fig. 1). They
conform to the traditional look of fortifi ed
buildings, made to appear rough and powerful,
like the rock itself, and utterly impregnable
to the eyes of the beholder and potential
attacker. A moat is reported to have provided
further protection, although no documents
survive regarding either its width, depth
and length or its exact location. There is no
doubt that there was a large forecourt serving
as a general service yard. It was probably
surrounded by the usual barns, stables and so
on, buildings that were torn down when the
space was converted into a court of honour at
the latest, that is to say around 1700. The fort
itself, lower than the present core building,
by at least two storeys, has been shown by
building analyses to have had walls 24m,
24m, 20m, and 26m in length (the south,
west, north and east wall). Adjoining the east
and south curtain wall at right angles, is the
south tower serving as a donjon; it marks the
southeastern corner of the “fort”, and from its
shape and the texture of its walls, certainly
belongs to the fi rst building phase.
(Cp. 16, Findings N°1, Building phase I)
Palatine Ownership and the Conversion into
a Hunting Lodge
In 1427, the estate fi nally came into Palatine
ownership under Elector Ludwig III, surnamed
“the Bearded”. 19 Beyond this fact hardly
18 Rudolf Sillib, Schloß und Garten in Schwetzingen, Heidelberg
1907, pp. 2-3; Hermann Blank, Schwetzingen – eine Geschichte
der Stadt und ihrer Häuser, Vol. 1, Bürgermeisteramt
Schwetzingen (ed.), Schwetzingen 1979, p. 43. Kurt Martin,
Die Kunstdenkmäler des Amtsbezirks Mannheim, Stadt
Schwetzingen, Karlsruhe 1933, p. 5.
19 Sillib 1907, p. 2; Martin 1933, p. 6.
III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
any material survives from the 15th century
– apparently few changes were made to the
building (cp. Building phase II).
Social changes, the growing infl uence of
Renaissance thought and attitudes, as well
as the invention of gunpowder and fi rearms,
prepared the ground for major alterations of
the entire estate, that were fi rst tackled in the
1520s ( cp. Building phase III).
Elector Ludwig V, appropriately surnamed
“the Builder” 20 , brought about Schwetzingen’s
conversion from a “château fort” into a
“château de plaisir”. Major rebuilding took
place. Nothing remains of the embrasures that
certainly existed; large stone-framed windows
were opened up to allow a better lighting of
the rooms. Two storeys were added to the
entire building (cp. Fig. 2). The large four-vaulted
rectangular extension added by Ludwig V
in the fi rst half of the 16th century, extended
the building by about 8m to the north, and
was built over the moat that had more or less
lost its original function (cp Fig. 10).
The south side received an extension as
well, again at the expense of the moat, that
probably existed here as well. An inscription
carved into a sandstone block in the south
wall of the new extension, the only one of
its type at Schwetzingen, provides the date:
“PFALZGR..LVDWIG/CHVRF. 1541”. (cp. Fig.
8)
It is characteristic of the changing times, that
here as elsewhere, defensibility was sacrifi ced
for the sake of comfort. The former castle
became an electoral hunting lodge. Splendid
hunting parties were organized on a regular
basis, and the nearby hunting grounds were
popular with the Elector’s extended family
and aristocratic friends. A later descendant,
Elector Ott-Heinrich, 21 himself a man whose
personality would shape both Heidelberg
and the Palatinate, comments repeatedly on
the pleasant stays at Schwetzingen, and his
20 Blank 1979, p. 46.
21 Otto Heinrich, b. 10th April 1502 in Neuburg, elder son of
Count Palatine Ruprecht “der Tugendhafte” (the Virtuous)
and Elisabeth von Bayern-Landshut; d. without issue on 12th
February 1559 in Heidelberg. Count Palatine of Pfalz-Neuburg
1505-1559, Elector Palatine 1556-1559.
III.
105

III.
106
III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
successors appear to have agreed wholeheartedly.
For Schwetzingen the 16th century was a predominantly
peaceful time. Several wars were
fought in southern Germany, but only once,
in 1546, is there mention of the repercussions
of the War of the Schmalkaldic League.
Count Eberhard von Erbach was lodged at
the palace with a small contingent. There is
no mention of damage or harm, however.
Thus, the Schwetzingen palace with its new
Renaissance garb, created by Ludwig V, was
left undisturbed up to the Thirty Years’ War.
Not even the marriage of Friedrich V 22 to
Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of the English king
James I, who introduced a royal court and lifestyle
to the Palatinate, changed things for the
Schwetzingen hunting lodge. In his description
of the newlyweds’ arrival at Heidelberg
in May 1613, Gotthard Vögelin specifi cally
mentions this property belonging to the
young Elector: “His Grace the Elector also
owns a fair castle called Schwetzingen, a mile
from Heidelberg, with a fi ne stock of deer
in its forests, which extend for two miles.“ 23
Evidently the hunting-mad couple were quite
satisfi ed with the lodge – which by that time
may well have looked a little old-fashioned,
having last been modernized seventy years
before. But like the small hunting lodge of
Wolfsbrunnen 24 in the vicinity of Heidelberg
Castle, another hunting ground, Schwetzingen
was not required to provide the luxuries of
a residence; the “simple life” was considered
adequate. If Friedrich and Elizabeth had
wished for display at Schwetzingen, they
would not have hesitated to convert the estate
accordingly.
His quest for importance and political power
led Friedrich to make a bid for the crown
of Bohemia in 1619; he was crowned on
4th November 1619, at St. Vitus Cathedral
22 Elector Friedrich V (1596-1632), in 1613 married the daughter
of the King of England, Elizabeth Stuart (1596-1662), both
aged sixteen at the time; elected King of Bohemia in 1619. He
initiated the magnifi cent rebuilding of Heidelberg Castle and
the laying out of the Hortus Palatinus.
23 Martin 1933, p. 7, note 1.
24 „Jagdgelage am Wolfsbrunnen”, copperplate engraving
by Matthäus Merian the Elder., Kurpfälzisches Museum,
Heidelberg, inventory no. S. 2278.
in Prague. 25 The Prague Defenestration of
1618 sparked the Thirty Years’ War, bringing
peace at Schwetzingen to an end. In 1621,
Tilly’s troops marched through the Palatinate,
pillaging and burning as they went, and the
old hunting lodge was not spared. 26 The documents
record an amount of damage, although
the building was evidently still habitable – in
1633, Swedish troops moved in to use it as an
outpost against Heidelberg. Two years later
the history of the Renaissance castle came to
an abrupt end. Imperial troops led by General
Gallas, Count of Campo and Duke of Lucca,
wreaked enough havoc to render the buildings
uninhabitable for years to come. 27
Friedrich V and the Aftermath of the Thirty
Years’ War
By the time Tilly’s troops moved in, Friedrich
V – the Winter King – had been living in exile
at The Hague for years, along with his large
family, and he was not to leave it again until
his death in 1632. 28 Afterwards Count Palatine
Ludwig Philipp von Simmern was appointed
guardian of the royal children. The heir to the
Electorate was Carl Ludwig, his elder brother
Friedrich Heinrich having died in a naval accident
in 1629. After the end of the Thirty Years’
War, in 1648, the Palatinate (minus the Upper
Palatinate) was fi nally returned as agreed in
the Peace of Westphalia. Carl Ludwig became
Elector, returned to Heidelberg, and embarked
on a determined rebuilding of the country. 29
As early as 1650, the court offi cial Hans Karg
drew up a detailed report on the ruined palace
at Schwetzingen and the utility buildings. 30
The report has survived and provides information
about the state of the palace itself and the
outbuildings, especially those surrounding the
forecourt, no trace of which remains today.
25 Rosalind K. Marshall, “Elizabeth Stuart – die Winterkönigin”,
in: Der Winterkönig – Friedrich von der Pfalz, exhibition
catalogue Augsburg 2003, Stuttgart 2003, p. 40.
26 Sillib 1907, p. 4.
27 Kayser, Schauplatz der Stadt Heidelberg, 1733, pp. 351, 364,
400.
28 Der Winterkönig – Friedrich von der Pfalz exhibition
catalogue 2003, p. 171.
29 Kayser 1733, p. 209.
30 Martin 1933, p. 18, n. 1-3.

In 1655, cleaning up and renovating work
was begun in order to render the complex
habitable again (cp. Building phase III). Carl
Ludwig’s family circumstances were one
reason for him to press ahead with work at
Schwetzingen.
In 1650, the Elector had married Charlotte von
Hessen-Kassel (1627-1686); the union produced
two children, Prince Karl and Elisabeth
Charlotte (“Liselotte von der Pfalz”), later to
become Duchess of Orléans and sister-in-law
of King Louis XIV of France. The marriage
was not happy, and Carl Ludwig turned to
Baroness Luise von Degenfeld (1636-1677),
one of his wife’s ladies-in-waiting. When the
Elector proposed a divorce in 1657, Electress
Charlotte refused to agree to it; it was not
until fi ve years later that she retired to
Kassel. 31
In 1657, the palace at Schwetzingen was
suffi ciently restored for Luise von Degenfeld
to take up residence there, removed from the
seat of power at Heidelberg, but in a manner
befi tting her station, with a small court of her
own. In 1658, the Elector took her wife in a
morganatic marriage.
Wedding Politics and their Outcome: The
Palatine War of Succession
Political considerations, and not least the
hope of putting an end to the frequent
French invasions of the Palatinate 32 , caused
the Elector to marry his daughter Elisabeth
Charlotte to the brother of the Sun King, Duke
Philipp of Orléans.
The marriage took place in 1671. Afterwards,
Elisabeth Charlotte lived at the French court;
she never returned home, not even for a visit.
Nevertheless, she took a lively interest in
Palatine events and affairs, including those at
Schwetzingen – as is evident from the famous
correspondence she left to posterity. 33
Carl Ludwig continued to improve conditions
at the palace. In 1664, the dining hall was
31 Kayser 1733, p. 210.
32 In 1674, Turenne established his headquarters at Schwetzingen
for a few weeks; Sillib 1907, p. 6.
33 Briefe der Liselotte von der Pfalz, Helmuth Kiesel (ed.),
Frankfurt a. M. 1981/86.
III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
expensively decorated with gilt-leather
“wallpapers” 34 . Building was going on near
the eastern curtain wall and in the rooms on
the west side, under the direction of Daniel la
Rousse 35 .
In 1677, three years before his death, the
Elector had an inventory drawn up, with
special emphasis on the “Turkish tapestries” at
Schwetzingen 36 , a sign of his fondness for the
place. There were, however, no major changes
to the building itself or extensions of the
estate (cp. Building phase III) – this was left to
his successors.
After the Elector’s death, on 28th August 1680,
his son Karl came into the inheritance. The
next year he gave the palace and everything
belonging to it to his wife, Wilhelmine
Ernestine of Denmark, whom he had married
in 1671, as a gift for life. In 1684, she commissioned
Johann Peter Wachter 37 to build
a pheasant house with an octagonal ground
plan 38 ; on a number of maps it is shown to
have been in the southwestern part of the
grounds. There are no known plans or views
of the building 39 (cp. Schmalkalder view).
After a rule of only fi ve years, Elector Karl,
brother of the Duchess Elisabeth Charlotte
of Orléans, and the last of the Pfalz-Simmern
line, died without issue. The title passed to
the Pfalz-Neuburg line, and Philipp Wilhelm
von Pfalz-Neuburg became Elector. The
succession was contested by King Louis XIV,
who claimed the inheritance in the name of
34 The Portuguese Jews at Mannheim were commissioned to
decorate the dining hall walls with gilt leather “of the kind
used at Friedrichsburg, Bacchus and Ceres in gold, on a green
background”; Sillib 1907, pp. 5-6.
35 Daniel la Rousse (dates unknown) was employed at Heidelberg
Castle, the fortress of Friedrichsburg and elsewhere;
Heinrich Gropp, Das Schwetzinger Schloss zu Anfang des 18.
Jahrhunderts, diss. Karlsruhe, Leipzig 1930, pp. 14-15.
36 Nikolaus Schwarz, appointed steward in the autumn of 1677,
was instructed to draw up the inventory – and to make sure
that nothing went missing during the stays of aristocratic
visitors; Sillib 1907, S. 6.
37 Johann Peter Wachter (dates unknown), appointed architectural
clerk at Heidelberg in 1665, later an electoral master
builder and treasury offi cial.
38 In 1698, Petrini was commissioned to repair the dilapidated
pheasant house. In 1704, the passages of the pheasant house
– where the Elector had stayed – were said to be decaying. In
1717, the building was converted into a falcon house. Further
repairs were carried out in 1746 and 1751. In 1776, Pigage
reports on the demolition of the building; Martin 1933, p. 89
n. 1-8.
39 Samson Schmalkalder, Ansichten von Schwetzingen im Jahre
1690, GLA KA, Bd. XX fol. 41, 68, 78.
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107

III.
108
III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
his brother’s wife – a claim that was entirely
without foundation.
In the Palatine War of Succession that
followed, French troops occupied the country
for the fi rst time in 1689, destroying Heidelberg
Castle and ravaging the surroundings.
Schwetzingen did not escape either. On
22nd March 1698, a treasury offi cial, Johann
Thomas Urspringer, wrote: “The outer walls
of the palace at Schwetzingen are standing
fi rm, the middle storey, however, has collapsed
down to the lowest vaults... “. 40 Rebuilding the
palace was out of the question considering
the condition of the Palatinate, and Philipp
Wilhelm was unable to take charge again. He
died in 1691, leaving it to his son and heir,
Johann Wilhelm to rebuild his predecessors’
badly damaged old hunting lodge, as a stately
summer residence in the spirit of Absolutism
for the Electors Palatine.
The Conversion into a Summer Residence
Under Johann Wilhelm and Carl Philipp
As described above, Johann Wilhelm
undertook a complete restructuring of the
estate in the years from 1700 to his death
in 1716 (Building phase IV). The east-west
axis, originally created by Carl Ludwig in
the shape of an avenue east of the palace,
was given added emphasis by the wings
surrounding the court of honour in the east,
and the jutting corner towers of the new west
building. The original intention had been to
create a visual connection between the palace
at Schwetzingen and the “Squat Tower” of
Heidelberg Castle. 41 Johann Wilhelm’s brother
and successor, Carl Philipp 42 , resurrected this
idea. His main project was the building of
the orangery, which was to house the famous
collection of orange trees 43 from Düsseldorf
over the winter. This building was aligned on
the axis between the Königstuhl hill, rising
behind Heidelberg Castle and the summit
40 Martin 1933, p. 24, n. 1.; Gropp 1930, p. 22, n. 46; Sillib 1907,
p. 7.
41 Martin 1933, p. 41, n. 1 and 2.
42 Carl Philipp von Pfalz-Neuburg, 1660-1742, succeeded 1716.
43 Sillib 1907, p. 10; Martin 1933, p. 129, n. 2, bill for the
shipping of 760 plants from Düsseldorf to Schwetzingen, 15th
Nov. 1724.
of Kalmit, the highest hill of the “Pfälzische
Haardt” 44 . In order to enlarge the (originally
rather modest) garden and create the necessary
space for the building of the orangery,
land belonging to a number of Schwetzingen
farmers was expropriated – eleven years later
they were still waiting to be recompensed. 45
The commission went to Galli da Bibiena,
who was appointed chief architect by the new
Elector, and probably started building in 1718.
Two undated plans 46 show almost identical
ground plans for the orangery and its location
close to what today is the Arion basin. Its
south side is connected with the palace via a
roofed passage; the remains of this are still
visible next to the palace’s south wing (cp.
Volume 2, dendrochronological plan). A full
description of the building can be gained from
a detailed list of bricklaying work done for
the “electoral orange-house”, dating from 25th
February 1726. 47
Kurt Martin describes the chief parts of the
building thus 48 : “The central room of the old
orangery building was a large hall taking
up the entire depth of the building, and
emphasized on the outside by the fact that it
protruded markedly. The curving segments
that constituted the wings enclosed the garden
(as it was then); in this way, the orangery
constituted a corresponding architecture to
that of the palace. At the end of each wing
there was a pavilion, probably accentuated by
the structuring of the elevation. To the west,
the hall featured two small protruding alcoves;
between them was a terrace with steps leading
down to the open grounds. The garden front,
too, featured a base of low steps that served to
raise the architecture above its surroundings.
Above the central hall was a gallery which
probably protruded towards the garden. The
outside wall was structured by lesenes of
rough stone, and covered with plaster; the
44 Expropriation plan of 1758 with the old palace garden, GLA
KA; Martin 1933, Fig. 109.
45 Gropp 1930, p. 81.
46 Expropriation plan, 1753-58; ground plan of the old orangery
and the quarter-circle pavilions by Schreiber and Hoffer,
c.1753, GLA KA; Martin 1933, Figs. 109 and 69.
47 Gropp 1930, D. Anhang, pp. 145-156.
48 Martin 1933, pp. 90 ff.

ooms could be heated, the ceilings were
stuccoed, and the hall appears to have been
covered in Dutch tiles.” The orangery took a
long time to build; it was fi nally completed in
1728, after ten years of work.
Enlargement of the Summer Residence
Under Carl Theodor
However, it was in use for less than twenty
years. In 1746, four years after Carl Theodor
had taken over as Elector, the great hall of
the orangery could no longer be used for the
theatre performances, that had taken place
here before. The construction was fl awed and
the building unsafe, especially the timberframe
construction of the gallery and roof.
By that time, Bibiena had probably started on
the designs for the quarter-circle pavilions.
A circular parterre in front of the palace was
being planned. The pavilions were to be built
in the spaces between the crossing main
axes, running north-south and east-west. It
is unclear whether the idea of a new palace
building in the north was already being
considered. But the necessity of providing
a suitable space for the wintering of the
valuable exotic plants required prompt action.
In 1748, Bibiena embarked on the building
of the northern quarter-circle pavilion 49 . He
was not to see its completion, however. His
successor, d’Hauberat 50 , continued his work
as chief architect from 1748, but he died
the next year. The pavilion was probably
completed in the spring of 1750. Whether or
not the promising young architect, Nicolas
de Pigage from Lunéville, taken on by Carl
Theodor on 10th February 1749, as director
of gardens and water features 51 , supervised
the last stages of building, is unclear. Pigage,
very close in age to the Elector himself, was
commissioned to continue planning the new
49 According to the dendrochronological analysis, the timber was
cut 1747/48, confi rming the preliminary planning phase, the
supplying of materials and the (documented) start of actual
building in 1748 (analysis of DP.-Nr. 31-38, 2003, LSB-Nr.
131/03).
50 Guillaume d’Hauberat succeeded Froimon at Mannheim in
1726; in 1734, he was a master builder working for the court
building department headed by Bibiena.
51 Nicolas de Pigage, b. 3rd August 1723 in Lunéville, d. 30th July
1796 in Schwetzingen.
III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
electoral residence 52 , a task begun by Bibiena a
few years earlier.
By 1750, the site of the second pavilion had
not yet been determined. Only after the plans
for a new palace at Schwetzingen had been
abandoned, in 1753, did Rabaliatti propose
the building of a southern pavilion. In this
way, the existing east-west axis created by
the symmetrical western palace front would
be continued by the quarter-circle pavilions.
Preparations had been going on for at least a
year, as evidenced by the felling date of the
logs used – 1752.
There was a lot of building going on at
Schwetzingen in those years. Pigage, promoted
to Oberbaudirektor (director-in-chief
of building) in 1752, was commissioned
the same year to build a court theatre. The
most recent interpretation of the documents
suggests that this was built in the course of a
few months, adjoining the back of the north
quarter-circle pavilion. 53
However, recent analyses appear to contradict
this. The building of the brick structure alone,
with its high mansard roof, within six months,
is hard to imagine. Moreover, within that time,
a complex three-storey timber construction
would have had to be built as well, to provide
the substructure for the galleries and seats,
not to mention the elaborate stage machinery.
54 Further analyses are under way.
The surviving bills tell of considerable
and rising costs, which Pigage justifi ed by
pointing out the numerous changes of plans
and enlargements. Instead of the estimated
5900 fl . the building ended up costing 22790
fl . 42 kr. Shortly after the theatre had been
completed, Carl Theodor ordered work on the
southern pavilion to begin. Franz Wilhelm
Rabaliatti completed it in 1754. The stately
halls, among them a dining hall and a gaming
room, added to the palace’s available space
52 So far it has not been examined how far planning had actually
proceeded, and whether or not foundations had been laid on
the axis towards the north, behind the north quarter-circle
pavilion.
53 Monika Scholl/Peter Knoch: “Bretterbude? Neue Erkenntnisse
zur Baugeschichte des Theaters”, in: S. Leopold/B. Pelker (eds.),
Hofoper in Schwetzingen. Musik – Bühnenkunst – Architektur,
Heidelberg 2004, pp. 251-301.
54 P. Knoch, ongoing studies and examinations.
III.
109

III.
110
III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
and were frequently used by the court. Plays
were performed on a regular basis in Pigage’s
threatre, opened in 1752, especially during
the summer. Soon the Elector asked his chief
architect to enlarge both the auditorium and
the anteroom, both already deemed too small.
Ten years after the theatre’s completion,
Pigage skillfully managed almost to double
the number of seats on the galleries. A new
staircase on the west side gave easy access to
the upper storeys.
At the same time, Pigage designed and built
an orangery in the northwest of the garden,
not far from the transverse north-south axis.
Its structure is clean and simple, the windows
face south; the central projection houses the
gardener’s apartment, and at the eastern end
a greenhouse was added that was remarkably
modern for its time. The orangery’s south side
is unique among the palace buildings, in that
it features an elaborate painted trompe-l’oeil
architecture.
Another building, begun in 1761, was an
extension at the back of the court of honour’s
southern wing, intended to house the kitchens.
It provides a direct connection between
the palace and the passage leading to the
southern quarter-circle pavilion. The building
runs parallel to the court of honour wing;
it housed the kitchens on the ground fl oor,
and servants’ quarters above (s. dendroplan).
When it was completed in 1764, the major
projects were largely accomplished. Only a
number of small extensions of the garden
wing and on the roof of the main building
were left to be completed. They were the
Electress’ “writing alcove” on the south side of
the fi rst fl oor 55 ; the Elector’s writing cabinet, a
half-timbered structure on the north side, the
so-called “Green Pavilion” 56 ; and the observatory
on the roof 57 . However, they had little
impact on the appearance of the palace as a
whole. The “Reichsdeputationshauptschluss”
of 1803, 58 gave the Palatinate east of the Rhine,
including Schwetzingen, to the Grand Duchy
of Baden. Maintenance work and the reapportion
of parts of the building, and individual
rooms, to serve different functions, were
the major changes. Even after 1919, when
the estate became the property of the Baden
family, little changed up to the present day.
The following plans (Building phase I-IV)
constitute a summary of the architectural
history of the Schwetzingen palace in four
stages. Building phase IV also included the
addition of the quarter-circle pavilions, the
theatre and the kitchen block to the palace
complex.
55 DP-Nr. 79, felled after 1760 (LSB-Nr. 131/03-2)
56 DP-Nr. 78, 1778.
57 DP-Nr. 66-67, 1762. The Jesuit Father Christian Mayer, electoral
court astronomer, made his epoch-making discoveries here.
The fi rst result was the “Small Map of the Palatinate”, one of
the most precise cartographic surveys of the 18th century; see
Martin 1933, pp. 74-5 and Sillib 1907, p. 16.
58 Carl Eduard Vehse, Die Höfe zu Baden, Leipzig/Weimar 1992,
pp. 98f.

The Castle of the von Erlickheim Family,
Last Third of the 13th Century
The core building of the medieval moated
castle at Schwetzingen is still recognizable in
a few places of today’s building (cp. Fig. 16).
When combined into a plan of the ground
fl oor, 59 they reveal a building measuring c.24 x
24 x 20 x 26m (the south, west, north and east
walls). The walls are aligned with the points
of the compass; the north and south walls
are parallel and adjoin the east wall at right
angles. The west wall is a diagonal, extending
the rectangle in the southwestern corner.
No reason has been found for this; property
59 All major renovation work to date has been based on a survey
of the main building made in 1975 (Staatl. Hochbauamt
Mannheim, Bauamt Schwetzingen). Measuring of the historic
structures has been going on along with the renovation work,
for example, in the cases of the fruit storehouse (roof truss),
chapel, and north wing (1998-2004).
III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
boundaries or the course of the Leimbach
stream may have been accountable. On the
whole, the shape of the original fort was that
of a “Kastell”, which conforms to the ground
plans of moated castles in the plain.
Evident characteristics of the medieval
castle are the large rusticated blocks of the
southeastern tower, the donjon and the stretch
of curtain wall in the east (cp. Fig.1; Findings
1). They come to about mid-height and feature
a very characteristic surface. Most of the
individual blocks have a strongly projecting
boss, which may have been a result of the
manner in which they were quarried, or may
have been hewn out of the quarried block
afterwards. The recessed margin is usually
rough and effected with a mason’s axe. The
occasional hole left by tongs points to the
manner of lifting and placing the blocks. The
III.
111

III.
Fig. 1: Findings 1 – East front
of the moated castle: the lower
part of the southeast tower with
join of the remaining part of
the curtain wall.
bb. 2: Findings 2 – Southern
view of the central block with a
projecting extension. Behind it,
the top fl oor of the octagonal
stair tower.
112
III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
masonry is regular, and most courses are
of equal height. The east side of the donjon
and the curtain wall built onto it, are still in
existence; they are the only medieval walls of
any size remaining within the palace. The masonry
is disturbed in places, pointing to later
alterations. However, it is not inconceivable
that later openings made use of existing ones,
e.g. embrasures, that were merely enlarged.
No detailed analysis has been attempted so
far.
An indication of the height of the original
castle’s enclosing wall is given by the original
southwestern corner, which was re-used in
today’s south wall and is still visible (Fig. 6,
Findings 2). The surface treatment of the
corner blocks is the same as that of the east
side.
The original west moat, which became a
cellar in the course of later extensions, can be
entered in two places. The medieval surfaces
are evident here as well. Moreover, the transition
from the basement, probably the original
inner wall of the moat, to the castle wall is
visible. An unbossed edge approximately 15
cm in depth, carved at an angle of 45° with an
axe, marks the place where the ground fl oor
rose above the basement.
So far no detailed plans covering relationships
in height have been prepared. It is likely,
however, that the height and shape of the
southwest base’s upper edge corresponds to
that of the original northwestern corner (Fig.
3, Findings 3, southwest side; Fig. 4, Findings
4, northwest corner).
Three medieval stone courses survive on the
inside of the northwestern corner beneath the
later staircase (cp. Building phase II) (Fig. 5,
Findings 5).
At least the rectangle of the original building
is largely defi ned. The exact location and look
of the gate and the details of the courtyard
to the west are unclear. Of the rooms only a
barrel-vaulted room survives in the southwestern
corner, on the ground fl oor of the former
donjon, that very probably dates from that
period (Findings 6).

III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
III.
Fig. 3: Findings 3 – Base with
the bank of the moated castle’s
former west wall.
Fig. 4: Findings 4 – Construction
joint in the base between
the original west wall and the
Renaissance extension, with its
bossed bank.
Fig. 5: Findings 5 – Remains
of the medieval curtain wall
beneath the fi rst courses of the
Renaissance stair tower.
113

III.
114
III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
Friedrich V and the conversion of the ‘château
fort’ into a ‘château de plaisir’ during
the fi rst half of the 16th century
The progress in weapons technology in
the course of the 15th and 16th centuries,
rendered medieval fortifi cations largely
obsolete. Realizing this, Ludwig V converted
the castle from a fortress into a Renaissance
hunting lodge. Both the southern and the
western moats were built over; at the back of
the donjon, an octagonal stair tower housing
a spiral stair was added to give access to the
two newly added storeys (Fig. 7; Findings 2;
Findings 7). Another was built on the east
side 60 (cp. Fig. 11; Findings 12). Immediately
adjoining this, an octagonal room with
striking fl oor-level windows was built (cp. Fig.
60 Excavation fi ndings made during work on the foundations,
2006 .
2; Findings 2a; Findings 8). From the shape of
the jambs and the window vaults on the east
and west sides, the building appears to date
from the second third of the 16th century. The
only inscription of its kind at Schwetzingen
gives the date 1541, and the builder, Ludwig V
(cp. Fig. 8)
Next to the medieval north wall, Ludwig built
a hall. The ground fl oor room is divided up by
three transverse arches into four rectangular
vault bays of equal size. The three western
vaults are emphasized by box ribs with
keystones bearing coats of arms or dates. The
eastern vault still retains its keystone and
the stumps of its original ribs, but has been
converted into a ribbed vault. A bay set in
the middle of the narrow east side is shaped
like a tower on the outside; the idea may have

een to create a counterpart to the donjon,
and a certain symmetry. Several features of
the exterior wall provide information about
the building. A construction joint and a break
in the basement, mark the join of the medieval
north-west corner (Fig 4; Findings 4a;
Findings 9). The upper edge of the basement
is no longer smooth; it has acquired a quarter-round
moulding. The former north-west
corner, dating from the mid-16th century,
is still visible in the shape of quoins from
ground fl oor to roof (Fig. 10; Findings 10). To
the left of them, two of the original fl oor-level
windows have survived; the sill is a reworked
Baroque version (Fig. 10; Findings 11).
The southwestern corner of this, the palace’s
largest single building, features another stair
tower with a spiral staircase, which resembles
the one on the south side (Fig. 11; Findings
12).
The surface treatment of the building recalls
that of the older medieval one; some of the
old rusticated blocks were even re-used in
the walls. Mostly, however, new blocks with
cushion-shaped bosses have been used. The
deliberate roughness suggesting well-fortifi ed
strength, has become a Renaissance conceit
(Fig. 6, original south corner; the shape of the
blocks changes between the second and third
fl oor).
The building done in the 14th and 15th
centuries (tinted purple) is hard to determine
without invasive measures. Easiest to identify
is the square, barrel-vaulted room adjoining
the donjon to the east (Findings 13). All that
remains apart from it is probably stretches of
wall, that somehow escaped the later rebuilding.
III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
III.
Fig. 6: Findings 6 – Quoins of
the former southwestern corner.
Medieval rusticated blocks
underneath, the added storeys
with cushion-shaped bosses
on top.
Fig. 7: Findings 7 – In the
centre is the octagonal
Renaissance stair tower on the
south side.
115

III.
Fig. 8: Findings 8 – Inscription
on the southern extension.
116
Fig. 9: Findings 9 – Western
part of the base of the
Renaissance extension, with
cushion-shaped blocks.
Fig. 10: Findings 10 and 11
– Former northwest corner of
the Renaissance extension with
quoins over the entire height.
III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
Fig. 11: Findings 12 – Remains of the base of the former eastern
stair tower, resting on a massive grid of oak beams.
Fig. 12: Findings 14 – Vertical joint marking the location of the
demolished stair tower, which was in line with the surviving base at
the bottom of the picture.

Reconstruction Under Carl Ludwig from
1655 and Early Baroque Tendencies
The ravages of the Thirty Years’ War and
new demands on the estate persuaded Carl
Ludwig to rebuild the surviving parts of the
palace. In particular, he replaced the ruined
north-eastern stair tower (cp. Fig. 11; Findings
14) with the double staircase, still standing
today. It adjoins the hall built by Ludwig V to
the east and gives access to its upper storeys.
The materials of the older, octagonal stair
tower are re-used in the building, especially
in the foundations 1 (cp. Fig. 16; Findings 18).
Rusticated blocks with corners shaped into 45°
degree angles are numerous.
A recessed double arcade adjoins the staircase
(cp. Fig. 13; Findings 15), connecting it with
1 During underpinning work done in 2006, the relevant exterior
areas were exposed down to the natural soil.
III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
the main building and providing access to the
western rooms of the upper storeys.
Exactly opposite, an identical arcade with the
same early Baroque features, was installed,
probably for symmetry’s sake (cp. Fig. 14;
Findings 16). From the shape of the new
windows and doors, the alterations on the
ground fl oor west of the courtyard, appear to
have been part of the building done by Carl
Ludwig (cp. Fig. 15; Findings 17).
III.
117

III.
Fig. 13 (left): Findings 15
– Double arch on the north side
of the old enclosed courtyard.
Fig. 14 (right): Findings 16
– Mirror-image double arch on
the south side.
Fig. 15: East front of the central
block, re-used materials.
Fig. 16: East front of the central
block.
118
III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context

The Development of a Baroque Summer
Residence after 1700
In the course of the 18th century, the Schwetzingen
palace underwent a complete conversion.
In keeping with the Electors’ Absolutist
self-image, the palace was not merely rebuilt
after the war; it was enlarged beyond recogni-
tion. Lack of space forbids us to discuss the
major extensions of the original core building
– the wings enclosing the court of honour,
the quarter-circle pavilions, the theatre and
the kitchens (but see the ground plans and
plan of dendrochronological fi ndings in Vol.
2, Images). It is remarkable that the centuries-old
existing buildings were respected,
instead of being pulled down and replaced
with an entirely new palace, something that
was common elsewhere. The old castle was
converted and expanded into a Baroque
III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
complex. Johann Wilhelm’s fi rst large project
was the building of the two “court of honour”
wings in 1711/12 (cp. Fig. 17; Findings 19,
20). They were symmetrical structures built
onto the north and south ends of the main
(east) front, creating a spacious open square. A
balustrade and gate separate it from the town.
The entrance is marked by two symmetrical
guardhouses.
This extension was the fi rst step towards the
18th-century summer residence. Even the top
fl oors and roofs of the two eastern towers
were rebuilt to achieve a more symmetrical
appearance.
The new west wing was built directly onto
the diagonal west wall of the old building.
The new garden front, fl anked by two massive
towers at the corners, now ran parallel to the
main front (this was the main result of the
III.
119

III.
120
Fig. 17: Aerial view of the
palace.
Fig. 18: West front of the
palace.
III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
building done in 1715/16). Seen from the
west, no trace now remained of the medieval
castle (cp. Fig. 19; Findings 21).
The symmetry of the entire plan, aligned on
an axis running from Königsstuhl hill to Kalmit
summit, was retained as the basic formal
principle for the next three decades; Johann
Wilhelm’s successors applied it to the town
and garden as well. Accordingly, Carl Phillip’s
orangery, built in the 1720s, was placed to
mark the garden’s western boundary and the
end of the main axis, and when it was pulled
down, the new quarter-circle pavilions built
by Carl Theodor on either side of the palace’s
garden front, were once again aligned on the
main axis. (cp. dendroplan).
The last part of the 18th-century palace to be
completed was the so-called “Green Pavilion”, a
writing cabinet for Elector Carl Theodor, that
was built on to the west wall of the nort-west
tower after 1778.
(Peter Knoch/Robert Erb)

III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
III.
Fig. 19: Castle grouns.
The grey marked areas display
the immense increase of the
building during the reign of
Carl-Theodor.
121

III.
Fig. 1: Room on the fi rst fl oor
of the central block, historical
photograph dating from the
early 20th century (Staatliche
Schlösser und Gärten Baden-
Württemberg, Bruchsal).
122
III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
2. The Palace Interior Through the Ages
The palace of Schwetzingen, once a medieval
fortress, underwent many alterations in the
course of its 650-year history. Not only the
building itself, but also its interiors, were much
changed over time. Especially the demands
made on a Baroque summer residence necessitated
a lot of refurbishing. From the time
before the Palatine War of Succession only a
few Gothic rooms with oriels survive. As regards
the interior decoration and furnishing, little
is known even of the early Baroque period.
The earliest remains date from the time of
Elector Carl Philipp (1716-1742): fi ne stuccoed
ceilings on the fi rst fl oor and a recess for
an oven on the second. Between 1748 and
1785, Elector Carl Theodor commissioned the
architect Nicolas Pigage (1723-1796) to redecorate
a number of rooms in a Rococo style.
Pigage, who was director of gardens and water
features too, had little chance of infl uencing
the outer appearance of the palace – the look
of the main building, wings and quarter-circle
pavilions, had long been determined. Only
in the design of the interior could he make
his infl uence felt, and he cooperated with
the Elector in designing the mantelpieces,
wainscoting and stuccoed ceilings. When the
rooms were apportioned, those in the north
of the ground and fi rst fl oors became Carl
Theodor’s apartments (Rooms 103-107), while
the southern rooms on the ground and fi rst
fl oors became those of the Electress, Elisabeth
Auguste (Rooms 115-127). The medieval
core building did not allow a symmetrical
layout modeled on that proposed by French
theoretician Blondel, and so the two linear
suites of rooms (enfi lades) were arranged
east-west and north-south instead. Both
include antechambers, salles de compagnie or
salles d’assemblée, chambres de parade and
cabinets.
The second fl oor was reserved for the apartments
of Duke Christian von Pfalz-Zweibrücken
(1722-1775) and Count Palatine Friedrich
Michael von Pfalz-Zweibrücken (1724-1767).
When Carl Theodor’s long-awaited son and
heir died, they had become next in the line of
succession. The rooms were not elaborately
decorated, however.
The most valuable and authentic interior of
the electoral age is without a doubt, that of
the bathhouse in the Schwetzingen grounds.
Built c.1775 by Pigage and the court craftsmen
from Mannheim in a neo-Classical style, it
has survived intact, except for some pieces of
furniture. This is where Carl Theodor retreated
when he wanted to be merely “a good
man and pleasant companion”. 61 The interior
betrays the Elector’s very modern personal
taste; the intimacy and functionality displayed
here did not become customary until the 19th
century. The walls and furniture are designed
to complement each other; the precious
materials add to the dignity of the rooms.
Besides the court carpenters Zeller and Graf,
Carl Theodor employed a master furniture
maker from Osthofen, Johann Georg Wahl.
Among other things, Wahl created a highly
decorated bureau for the Elector’s bedroom;
it was taken to Munich at the end of the 18th
century, and today is at Schloss Berchtesgaden.
Furniture makers from Mannheim built
simple, solid furniture in the Louis XVI or
61 Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart 1777. From: Dietrich
Rentsch, Schloss und Garten Schwetzingen, Karlsruhe 1987, p.
44.

Rococo styles, with geometric inlays. The
court furniture maker Jacob Kieser, who
created the bathhouse furniture, was considered
the leading craftsman in pre-Classicist
Schwetzingen.
After Carl Theodor’s move to Munich in 1778,
the electoral interest in Schwetzingen waned.
For a while Carl Theodor thought of returning,
and a number of building projects and
interiors were completed or even embarked
on, among them the Green Pavilion built onto
the north front next to the garden, and several
sopraportas by the court painter, Leidensdorffer.
But inevitably the disuse brought its
own consequences. Pieces of art and furniture
were taken away to be used elsewhere; in
the time of the next Elector, Max Josef von
Pfalz-Bayern, only second-rate pieces were left
at Schwetzingen.
The year 1803 brought another massive
change. With the backing of Napoléon, the
House of Baden took over the Palatinate,
and the former summer residence became a
country retreat used by members of the court
as a garden palace, a place to receive visitors
or to go hunting.
The new ruler, Karl Friedrich von Baden
(1728-1811), used the former apartments of
Electress Elisabeth Augusta on the fi rst fl oor.
The lodgings of his wife, Luise Karoline Countess
of Hochberg, were on the second fl oor
directly above her husband’s. The countess’
apartments received new, modern furniture
almost Biedermeier in style, and in 1804,
the rooms were decorated with matching
hand-printed wallpaper, made by the fi rm
of Zuber in Rixheim, Alsace, and depicting
romantic mountainous scenery. They have
survived largely intact, making the so-called
Hochberg rooms the most authentic rooms in
the palace. It is thanks to the next generation
of inhabitants, that they were preserved. Karl
von Baden (1786-1818) and his wife Stéphanie
Napoléon (1789-1860) occasionally stayed in
the fi rst-fl oor rooms, and they left the interior
decoration largely as they found it. The
somewhat austere Consulat furniture of the
III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
second fl oor went well with the new Empire
style, introduced by the princesse impériale.
The interior was altered once more around
1840, when the great autumnal manoeuvre
of the 8th German corps was about to take
place nearby. The palace of Schwetzingen
became a headquarters of royalty – the King
of Württemberg, the Grand Duke of Hessen
and the Prince of Bavaria stayed here. Grand
Duke Leopold I von Baden (1790-1852) used
the occasion to raise his prestige, and had
the rooms redecorated. The idea was not to
create a unifi ed whole, but to manufacture
an occasion for display. For this purpose,
furniture and other items from the palaces of
Karlsruhe, Bruchsal, Favorite, Mannheim and
elsewhere, were brought to Schwetzingen.
Inevitably older and newer styles mixed.
Nevertheless, most of the furniture remained
in place until 1918, when the palace of
Schwetzingen was opened to the public. After
WWI, with the rule of the House of Baden at
an end, the furniture was sorted and arranged
into random, occasionally fanciful “ensembles”
– the Elector’s apartments received a set of
Empire and Biedermeier furniture. Names and
functions were invented for the rooms; in this
way the Elector’s bedroom became a sitting
room. The existing inventories were ignored,
III.
Fig. 2: Room on the second fl oor
of the central block, present
appearance (LAD Esslingen,
2005).
123

III.
Fig. 3: Bathhouse, Elector
Carl Theodor’s study (From:
Carl Ludwig Fuchs/Claus
Reisinger, Schloß und Garten
zu Schwetzingen, Worms 2001,
p. 153).
124
III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
and after WWII, attempts at stocktaking
revealed an urgent need for action. It was only
in the 1970s, however, that it was decided to
work out a consistent presentation strategy
based on the historic layout.
The plan to recreate the palace’s original
appearance sparked a lengthy and hard-fought
discussion in the 1980s. However, the intended
use of the palace as a museum was never
in question. The intention was to present
historic events and processes in their authentic
setting, and the presentation of these
settings had to be worked out accordingly. It
was decided that the fi rst fl oor would provide
a context for the Palatine heyday in the
days of Carl Theodor and Elisabeth Auguste
(around 1775), and the second would serve as
a fi ne background for the furnishings from
the times of the Princes of Pfalz-Zweibrücken
(c.1775) and the Elector of Baden (c.1804).
Original pieces were recovered from museums
and palaces all over Baden; other suitable
items were purchased as replacements. In this
way, life in the summer residence of Schwetzingen
could be recreated for visitors.
As the historical overview has shown, in
the course of the centuries, massive changes
were made to the interior of the palace.
Nevertheless, the garden, the building and
its interior decoration combine into a unifi ed
whole. Once this was the setting for the gay
festive life of the electoral court 62 , and today
it provides both an invaluable heritage site
and an equally invaluable source of knowledge
and insight. This is what the palace of
Schwetzingen represents.
For the near future, plans are underway to
recover or replace items of furniture and
interior decoration, among them the sets of
Frankenthal porcelain, listed in the inventories.
Suitable sets, produced by the electoral
manufactory, are available on the art market.
The original collection of seventeen paintings,
depicting hunting themes, once displayed
at Schwetzingen and currently in storage, 63
will be displayed again in suitably renovated
rooms on the third fl oor.
(Wolfgang Wiese)
3. The Palace’s fortunes in the
19th and 20th Centuries
The 19th Century
Besides the evidence gained from restoration
work and building analyses, it is archival documents
that provide information about the
work done at Schwetzingen, its palace and
gardens, in the past. The number of surviving
documents is very large, and it includes the
correspondence between the local administration
and its superiors, as well as letters to and
from tenants and craftsmen. 64 Nevertheless,
these documents frequently provide only circumstantial
evidence of the condition of buildings
or the work being planned and executed.
Very often there is no precise detail. For
62 Rentsch 1987, p. 3.
63 Anna Hierl-Linzer, “Die Schwetzinger Jagdgemälde”, in:
Jahrbuch der Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen in Baden-Württemberg,
Vol. 35, München 1998, pp. 105-123.
64 Most of the relevant archival documents are at the main
archive of Baden-Württemberg, the Generallandesarchiv
Karlsruhe (GLA). They are listed in an inventory, “Verzeichnis
der im Generallandesarchiv Karlsruhe verwahrten Archivalien
über die Stadt Schwetzingen”, 1958.

that reason, there is no full chronology of building
measures and uses for any of the electoral
buildings at Schwetzingen.
Repairs and Alterations
The palace of Schwetzingen was rarely visited
by its owners after the electoral court had
moved to Munich (1778) and the property had
fallen to the Grand Dukes of Baden (1803).
The House of Baden did little beyond organizing
the occasional festive event, using the
garden and a few halls in the southern quarter-circle
pavilion as well as the corps de logis,
for the purpose. Thanks to this general lack of
interest, the palace itself and the smaller buildings
were spared large-scale alterations during
the 19th and the fi rst decades of the 20th
century. Only the occasional detail, such as
wallpaper or furniture, was adapted to current
taste, at the request of the archducal family. 65
On the other hand, the property needed to be
maintained. Even from Carl Theodor’s time
documents tell of constant repairs. 66 During
the entire 19th century, the respective owners
were aware of the need to keep the buildings
and grounds in good shape (Fig. 1). 67 For that
reason, a slater was commissioned to inspect
all roofs twice a year, and repair them where
necessary. 68 A glazier was given the task of
keeping the windows clean and intact. 69 Shutters,
doors, mountings, fl oors, gutters 70 and
65 In 1804, a number of second-fl oor rooms in the corps de logis
received new wallpaper (cp. Kurt Martin (ed.), Die Kunstdenkmäler
Badens 10,2, Stadt Schwetzingen, Karlsruhe 1933, p.
83). In 1904, the Archduchess herself chose the wallpaper for
her bedroom (GLA 56/3905).
66 The “protocollum commissionale” of 1795, gives a detailed description
of the condition of the garden and its buildings (GLA
221/46). Moreover, in 1776, Nicolas de Pigage (1723-1796)
summarized all work done in the past 15 years [„Les ouvrages
tout à fait neufs, qu´on a fait depuis 15 ans à Schwetzingen
(GLA 221/39)].
67 One document dated 1812, explicitly states the importance
of an annual sum for maintenance and the repair of damages
caused by “time, war or malice” (GLA 221/208). From the fi rst
half of the 19th century, some lists survive, drawn up by the
court builder and the steward, and listing all necessary work
done and the cost incurred, entitled “Die auf die Unterhaltung
des herrschaftlichen Schlosses und der dazugehörigen
Nebengebäuden zu Schwetzingen […] verwendeten Kosten
1804-1809” (GLA 221/36); “Die Unterhaltung des herrschaftlichen
Schlosses und der dazugehörigen Nebengebäude
1810-13” (GLA 221/7).
68 Documented for the years 1813 (GLA 56/3901), 1850 (GLA
56/3903) and 1901 (GLA 56/3904), among others.
69 Documented in 1809 (GLA 56/3901) and elsewhere.
70 For example, in 1858, the stone gutters near the quarter-circle
pavilions were to be cemented with a mixture of cement and
linseed oil (GLA 56/3903).
III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
other parts prone to deterioration were kept
in working order. The repair and occasional
renewal of coats of plaster and paint was seen
to – one example is the repainting of the corps
de logis and the wings with grey-green lime
paint in the 1830s, a detailed description of
which has survived. 71 Occasionally, large-scale
renovation work became necessary, for example
on the mosque 72 and the bathhouse 73 .
As well as maintenance work, there were
measures in connection with the letting of
certain buildings, or fi nding new uses for
them. In particular, this concerned the working
quarters, the side wings, the quarter-circle
pavilions and the orangery. Rooms were
let to private individuals for residential purposes,
which, despite the rules of conduct, re-
71 GLA 56/3901 and 237/36923.
72 Documented work on the mosque includes repainting and
urgent repairs in 1821 (GLA 56/3901); unspecifi ed repairs in
1830 (GLA 56/3979); work on the badly damaged dome in
1868 (GLA 56/3904).
73 For example, numerous repairs of the roof and the stonework
in 1810-12 (GLA 221/57); repairs in 1886 (GLA 54/11); a
restoration of the ceiling painting in 1890 (GLA 56/3904);
dry-rot control measures in the entire building in 1902ff. (GLA
56/3904).
III.
Fig. 1: Section of an early
19th-century document listing
the expenses for the upkeep of
the palace (“Die auf die Unterhaltung
des herrschaftlichen
Schlosses und den dazugehörigen
Nebengebäuden zu
Schwetzingen […] verwendeten
Kosten 1804-1809”) (Blatt 16v,
Generallandesarchiv Karlsruhe,
221/36).
125

III.
Fig. 2: Plans for the conversion
of the right wing of the palace
into a home for the blind,
Fischer 1866 (Generallandesarchiv
Karlsruhe 221/76).
Fig. 3: Green Pavilion, photo
of 1912 (Generallandesarchiv
Karlsruhe 56/3905).
126
III. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
sulted in damage to the buildings. 74 A number
of institutions were housed in the palace
74 Regulations from the year 1803 forbid the keeping of animals
and storing of damp products in the apartments, as well as
alterations not authorized by the court building department
(GLA 221/73).
buildings too, among them the bursary (north
wing, 1850-1909), the Ministry of Justice (north
wing, from 1909) and a trade school (north
wing, 1908-1923). The south wing accommodated
a school for the blind (1866; Fig. 2) and
the kitchens, a cookery school (1890). 75 The
middle section of the orangery was converted
into a horticultural college (1899). 76 Apparently
little care was taken to make sure that
these uses were compatible with the historic
buildings. On the contrary – once tenants had
contacted the court building department, they
were at liberty to adapt the rooms to their requirements,
which could include the moving
of stairs, walls and doors, as well as the laying
of water pipes and the installation of taps. 77
A similar fate was reserved for the quarter-circle
pavilions. The letting of rooms for events 78 ,
and of the attics as drying rooms for tobacco
and hops, 79 on the whole caused little damage.
But the fi tting-out of schoolrooms 80 , a gymnasium
81 and a synagogue, 82 required walls to
be built, windows to be bricked up and entrances
to be moved. The worst damages occurred
when military institutions were housed in
the pavilions. The historic structures were not
suited for the arena that was fi tted out in the
northern pavilion (1816-24) 83 , against the opposition
of the garden director, Johann Michael
Zeyher (1770-1843), who rightly anticipated
damage to the building 84 , or for the stabling
of 60 cavalry horses (south quarter-circle pavilion
1849) 85 either. The same went for the repeated
use of both quarter-circle pavilions as
a sickbay, which usually required alterations
of the buildings themselves, as well as the surrounding
grounds (1870-1873; 1916-1918). 86
Some effort was made to protect the interior
75 GLA 221/76 and 54/3.
76 GLA 56/3904 and 56/3920. The rooms were converted into
apartments only 13 years later (GLA 56/3971).
77 GLA 56/3964 and 56/3971.
78 Cp. GLA 54/3.
79 GLA 56/3973.
80 From 1897 (GLA 56/3995 and 56/3972).