II. - Schloss Schwetzingen

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