3. - Schlösser-Magazin

of the eighteenth-centuries. Most of these
are two-storey side-gabled houses of simple
design. Alongside these, the electoral stables
stands out as particularly worthy of note, a
U-shaped two-storey construction of 96 metres
in length, with a three-storey pavilion at each
corner and a richly ornamented archway
in the centre (built 1750-1752; designed by
Artillery Major L’Angé). The building is
now put to commercial and residential use.
Further to the west, Carl-Theodor-Straße
widens into the Schlossplatz, or Palace Square.
Schlossplatz
The square is rectangular; it measures approx.
80 m x 120 m, with the shorter sides running
parallel to the street. Each side is lined with
two rows of chestnut trees. The southern end
is characterised by two-storey, side-gabled
buildings forming a continuous frontage.
Built as a barracks in 1752-56 for the mounted
guards (design: L’Angé), the original building
was divided into five residential houses in
1833. The slightly protruding corner building,
which now houses the Erbprinz Hotel, was
originally also part of the barracks.
The north side of the square is less densely
built up. In the north-eastern corner is
the Palais Rabaliatti, a two-storey mansion
with an arched doorway and balcony
(built in 1755; designed by Franz Wilhelm
Rabaliatti, Electoral Architect). Next to it is
the Kaffeehaus, a neo-Baroque addition from
1896, set back slightly from the square. Of
particular note is the neighbouring Palais
Hirsch (built in 1749; former ‚Palais Seedorf‘,
probably designed by Alessandro Galli da
Bibiena), a two-storey building standing apart
from the Kaffeehaus in the centre of the
north side of the square. Its door is framed
by pilasters on each side and an ornamental
panel above, and the corners of the house are
adorned with rusticated pilaster strips. In the
west corner stands the two-storey, front-gabled
Ritter inn (construction started 1789, hall
added in 1825), which leads into Schlossstraße
to the north.
2. Description
Cour d’honneur and Palace
The visitor enters the cour d’honneur, which
is almost as wide as the palace square, via
a bridge over the Leimbach stream. The
entrance is framed by two one-storey
guardhouses curving out towards the square.
The courtyard is dominated by the four-storey
main wing of the palace with its towers at
each side. The right-angled north and south
wings (built 1711-1712) resemble, with their
mansard roofs, the style of the buildings
in the palace square, but are set apart by
a central projecture with pointed gable in
the centre of each wing and four doorways
framed with aediculae.
The north wing now houses Schwetzingen’s
Tax Office, and the south wing the School of
Court Registrars.
2.
View from the palace roof over
the court of honour, palace
square and town.
The Carl-Theodor-Straße west
towards the palace square.
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