Schwetzingen - Schlösser-Magazin

Origins
A “fort” at “Sweczinge” is mentioned for the
first time in 1350. That was the year when
Elector Ruprecht I acquired the usufruct from
members of the Erlickheim family, probably
belonging to the lower aristocracy. 18 At the
time, the building must have been in existence
for several decades. Details of the outer walls
and of the foundations, a small part of which
was recently uncovered, suggest that the
oldest parts date from the last third of the
13th century (see Building phase I).
This is suggested by the large rusticated
blocks with pointed or undressed bosses
and wide recessed margins, used for the
lower parts of the south tower (cp. Fig. 1).
They conform to the traditional look of
fortified buildings, made to appear rough
and powerful, like the rock itself, and utterly
impregnable to the eyes of the beholder
and potential attacker. A moat is reported to
have provided further protection, although
no documents survive regarding either its
width, depth and length or its exact location.
There is no doubt that there was a large
forecourt serving as a general service yard. It
was probably surrounded by the usual barns,
stables and so on, buildings that were torn
down when the space was converted into a
court of honour at the latest, that is to say
around 1700. The fort itself, lower than the
present core building, by at least two storeys,
has been shown by building analyses to
have had walls 24m, 24m, 20m, and 26m in
length (the south, west, north and east wall).
Adjoining the east and south curtain wall at
right angles, is the south tower serving as a
donjon; it marks the southeastern corner of
the “fort”, and from its shape and the texture
of its walls, certainly belongs to the first
building phase. (Cp. 16, Findings N°1, Building
phase I)
18 Rudolf Sillib, Schloß und Garten in Schwetzingen, Heidelberg
1907, pp. 2-3; Hermann Blank, Schwetzingen – eine Geschichte
der Stadt und ihrer Häuser, Vol. 1, Bürgermeisteramt
Schwetzingen (ed.), Schwetzingen 1979, p. 43. Kurt Martin,
Die Kunstdenkmäler des Amtsbezirks Mannheim, Stadt
Schwetzingen, Karlsruhe 1933, p. 5.
VI. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
Palatine Ownership and the Conversion into
a Hunting Lodge
In 1427, the estate finally came into Palatine
ownership under Elector Ludwig III,
surnamed “the Bearded”. 19 Beyond this fact
hardly any material survives from the 15th
century – apparently few changes were made
to the building (cp. Building phase II).
Social changes, the growing influence of
Renaissance thought and attitudes, as well
as the invention of gunpowder and firearms,
prepared the ground for major alterations of
the entire estate, that were first tackled in the
1520s ( cp. Building phase III).
Elector Ludwig V, appropriately surnamed
“the Builder” 20 , brought about Schwetzingen’s
conversion from a “château fort” into a
“château de plaisir”. Major rebuilding took
place. Nothing remains of the embrasures
that certainly existed; large stone-framed
windows were opened up to allow a better
lighting of the rooms. Two storeys were added
to the entire building (cp. Fig. 2). The large
four-vaulted rectangular extension added by
Ludwig V in the first half of the 16th century,
extended the building by about 8m to the
north, and was built over the moat that had
more or less lost its original function
(cp Fig. 10).
The south side received an extension as
well, again at the expense of the moat, that
probably existed here as well. An inscription
carved into a sandstone block in the south
wall of the new extension, the only one of
its type at Schwetzingen, provides the date:
“PFALZGR..LVDWIG/CHVRF. 1541”.
(cp. Fig. 8)
It is characteristic of the changing times, that
here as elsewhere, defensibility was sacrificed
for the sake of comfort. The former castle
became an electoral hunting lodge. Splendid
hunting parties were organized on a regular
basis, and the nearby hunting grounds were
popular with the Elector’s extended family
and aristocratic friends. A later descendant,
19 Sillib 1907, p. 2; Martin 1933, p. 6.
20 Blank 1979, p. 46.
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