II. - Schloss Schwetzingen

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