Schwetzingen - Schlösser-Magazin

VI.
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VI. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
After the Elector’s death, on 28th August 1680,
his son Karl came into the inheritance. The
next year he gave the palace and everything
belonging to it to his wife, Wilhelmine
Ernestine of Denmark, whom he had married
in 1671, as a gift for life. In 1684, she
commissioned Johann Peter Wachter 37 to build
a pheasant house with an octagonal ground
plan 38 ; on a number of maps it is shown to
have been in the southwestern part of the
grounds. There are no known plans or views
of the building 39 (cp. Schmalkalder view).
After a rule of only five years, Elector Karl,
brother of the Duchess Elisabeth Charlotte
of Orléans, and the last of the Pfalz-Simmern
line, died without issue. The title passed to
the Pfalz-Neuburg line, and Philipp Wilhelm
von Pfalz-Neuburg became Elector. The
succession was contested by King Louis XIV,
who claimed the inheritance in the name of
his brother’s wife – a claim that was entirely
without foundation.
In the Palatine War of Succession that
followed, French troops occupied the
country for the first time in 1689, destroying
Heidelberg Castle and ravaging the
surroundings. Schwetzingen did not escape
either. On 22nd March 1698, a treasury
official, Johann Thomas Urspringer, wrote:
“The outer walls of the palace at Schwetzingen
are standing firm, the middle storey, however,
has collapsed down to the lowest vaults... “. 40
Rebuilding the palace was out of the question
considering the condition of the Palatinate,
and Philipp Wilhelm was unable to take
charge again. He died in 1691, leaving it to
his son and heir, Johann Wilhelm to rebuild
his predecessors’ badly damaged old hunting
lodge, as a stately
37 Johann Peter Wachter (dates unknown), appointed architectural
clerk at Heidelberg in 1665, later an electoral master builder
and treasury official.
38 In 1698, Petrini was commissioned to repair the dilapidated
pheasant house. In 1704, the passages of the pheasant house
– where the Elector had stayed – were said to be decaying. In
1717, the building was converted into a falcon house. Further
repairs were carried out in 1746 and 1751. In 1776, Pigage
reports on the demolition of the building; Martin 1933, p. 89 n.
1-8.
39 Samson Schmalkalder, Ansichten von Schwetzingen im Jahre
1690, GLA KA, Bd. XX fol. 41, 68, 78.
40 Martin 1933, p. 24, n. 1.; Gropp 1930, p. 22, n. 46; Sillib 1907, p.
7.
summer residence in the spirit of Absolutism
for the Electors Palatine.
The Conversion into a Summer Residence
Under Johann Wilhelm and Carl Philipp
As described above, Johann Wilhelm
undertook a complete restructuring of the
estate in the years from 1700 to his death
in 1716 (Building phase IV). The east-west
axis, originally created by Carl Ludwig in
the shape of an avenue east of the palace,
was given added emphasis by the wings
surrounding the court of honour in the east,
and the jutting corner towers of the new west
building. The original intention had been to
create a visual connection between the palace
at Schwetzingen and the “Squat Tower” of
Heidelberg Castle. 41 Johann Wilhelm’s brother
and successor, Carl Philipp 42 , resurrected this
idea. His main project was the building of
the orangery, which was to house the famous
collection of orange trees 43 from Düsseldorf
over the winter. This building was aligned
on the axis between the Königstuhl hill,
rising behind Heidelberg Castle and the
summit of Kalmit, the highest hill of the
“Pfälzische Haardt” 44 . In order to enlarge the
(originally rather modest) garden and create
the necessary space for the building of the
orangery, land belonging to a number of
Schwetzingen farmers was expropriated –
eleven years later they were still waiting to be
recompensed. 45 The commission went to Galli
da Bibiena, who was appointed chief architect
by the new Elector, and probably started
building in 1718.
Two undated plans 46 show almost identical
ground plans for the orangery and its location
close to what today is the Arion basin. Its
south side is connected with the palace via a
41 Martin 1933, p. 41, n. 1 and 2.
42 Carl Philipp von Pfalz-Neuburg, 1660-1742, succeeded 1716.
43 Sillib 1907, p. 10; Martin 1933, p. 129, n. 2, bill for the shipping
of 760 plants from Düsseldorf to Schwetzingen, 15th Nov.
1724.
44 Expropriation plan of 1758 with the old palace garden, GLA
KA; Martin 1933, Fig. 109.
45 Gropp 1930, p. 81.
46 Expropriation plan, 1753-58; ground plan of the old orangery
and the quarter-circle pavilions by Schreiber and Hoffer, c.1753,
GLA KA; Martin 1933, Figs. 109 and 69.