II. - Schloss Schwetzingen

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.