3. - Schlösser-Magazin

pavilion of the southern arbour walk frames
the view of the Temple of Minerva (Nicolas
de Pigage, 1767-1773, in collaboration with
the sculptor Konrad Linck), a prostylos with
Corinthian columns. It stands in a grove of
irregularly planted trees and has a pool in
front of it. A further feature of the southern
angloise is the “avenue of urns”, an area lined
by tall hedges to form a salle de verdure,
whose focal point is a marble sculpture of the
Lycian Apollo (Paul Egell, c.1746). The avenue
is adorned with eight lead urns (Konrad Linck,
before 1769) und pillar-shaped thujas.
In the northern angloise, the Galathea
fountain (Gabriel de Grupello, 1716, brought
to Schwetzingen from Düsseldorf in 1767
at the behest of Carl Theodor), stands in the
location occupied by the Temple of Minerva
in the south. The counterpart of the southern
avenue of urns is the birdbath or “zig-zag
pool”, a long hedged area in which shallow
watercourses meander from each end towards
a central pool, which sports two cherubs
riding sea monsters (attributed to Barthélemy
Guibal, first half of the 18th-centuries). There
are eight lead vases (Anton von Verschaffelt,
c. 1770) and four benches placed in the oval
hedged area around the pool. The whole area
is dominated by an oversized marble statue of
Bacchus (Andrea Vacca, prob. first quarter of
the 18th-centuries, brought to Schwetzingen
around 1766). A path leads off at right
angles to the birdbath and ends at a tufa rock
discharging water into a semi-circular pool,
atop which sits a statue of Pan (Peter Simon
Lamine, 1774).
Bosquets
The bosquets in the west of the angloises
are crisscrossed by a symmetrical pattern of
paths, all of which are lined with hornbeam
hedges. There are stone benches at the ends
of the paths, and various types of topiary.
At the centre of the southern bosquet is an
oval sunken lawn (“boulingrin”) with two
monuments standing nearby (Peter Anton von
Verschaffelt, 1771). The monument at the
south end marks archaeological finds, and the
2. Description
north monument celebrates Carl Theodor as
the creator of the garden (“Look and admire,
wanderer! She who did not beget this also
marvels, the great mother of all things, Nature.
Carl Theodor created this place as a refuge
from his labours for himself and his own. He
erected this monument in 1771.”)
At the centre of the northern bosquet is an
open square space originally featuring a
quincunx pattern of sculpted trees.
The bosquets are bordered to the north,
west and south by a raised avenue flanked
by chestnut trees (an allée en terrasse). Two
longer north-south paths run through the
bosquets to two large independent gardens:
the open-air theatre with the Temple of
Apollo and adjacent bathhouse in the north,
and in the south the Turkish garden with the
mosque.
Open-Air Theatre and Apollo Temple
The open-air theatre (Nicolas de Pigage,
1762) has a low-lying auditorium watched
over by six sphinx figures (Peter Anton von
Verschaffelt, before 1773) and a moderately
elevated stage framed by rows of hedges
forming the wings. Behind the stage, the
Temple of Apollo (Nicolas de Pigage, 1762)
rises above a wide artificial waterfall.
2.
The natural theatre and Temple
of Apollo, east to west.
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