Nymphenburg Palace

About

The Nymphenburg Palace (German: Schloss Nymphenburg, Palace of the Nymphs) is a Baroque palace situated in Munich's western district Neuhausen-Nymphenburg, in Bavaria, southern Germany. The Nymphenburg served as the main summer residence for the former rulers of Bavaria of the House of Wittelsbach. Combined with the adjacent Nymphenburg Palace Park it constitutes one of the premier royal palaces of Europe. Its frontal width of 632 m (2,073 ft) (north–south axis) even surpasses Versailles.

The palace was commissioned by the electoral couple Ferdinand Maria and Henriette Adelaide of Savoy to the designs of the Italian architect Agostino Barelli in 1664 after the birth of their son Maximilian II Emanuel. During its construction Barelli was again replaced (1674) by Enrico Zuccalli. The concept for the mythological decorative programme was supplied by the scholar Emanuele Tesauro of Turin; the ceiling paintings were by Antonio Triva and Antonio Zanchi. The central pavilion was completed in 1675. As a building material, it utilised limestone from Kelheim. The palace was gradually expanded and transformed over the years. It then quickly replaced the nearby Blutenburg Castle as major hunting lodge of the court and competed to Schleissheim Palace.

Starting in 1701, Maximilian Emanuel, the heir to Bavaria, a sovereign electorate of the Holy Roman Empire, undertook a systematic extension of the palace. Two pavilions were added each in the south and north of Barelli's palace by Enrico Zucalli and Giovanni Antonio Viscardi and were connected with the centre pavilion by two gallery wings. In 1716, Joseph Effner redesigned the facade of the centre pavilion in French Baroque style with pilasters. Later, the south section of the palace was further extended to build the court stables (1719). For the sake of balance, the orangery building was added to the north which was only completed in 1758. Finally, Nymphenburg Palace was completed with a grand circle (the Schlossrondell ) of Baroque mansions (the so-called Kavaliershäuschen – cavalier's lodges), erected under Maximilian Emanuel's son Holy Roman Emperor Charles VII Albert in the palace's driveway. His son Prince-Elector Maximilian III founded the Nymphenburg Porcelain Manufactory in 1747, to this day housed in one of these cavalier's lodges. Its fashionable Rococo products by porcelain sculptors Franz Anton Bustelli and Dominik Auliczek made the name Nymphenburg widely known.

In 1795, Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria ordered the widening of the galleries on the park side. In 1826, under King Ludwig I of Bavaria, his architect Leo von Klenze removed the gables of the main pavilion with the Electoral coat of arms and created an attic style decoration directly under the roof instead.

With the Treaty of Nymphenburg signed in July 1741, Charles Albert allied with France and Spain against Austria. Two of his children were born here: Maria Antonia (future Electress of Saxony) in 1724 and Maria Anna Josepha (future Margravine of Baden-Baden) in 1734. Charles Albert lived during his time in Munich as Holy Roman Emperor at Nymphenburg Palace and died there in 1745. In 1747, Elector Max III. Joseph founded the Nymphenburg Porcelain Manufactory. In 1792, Elector Charles Theodor opened the park for the public.

For a long time, the palace was the favourite summer residence of the rulers of Bavaria. King Max I Joseph died there in 1825 and his great-grandson King Ludwig II was born there in 1845. In 1863, the only meeting between Ludwig and Otto von Bismarck was held in Nymphenburg, although they remained connected in a lifelong friendship.

Today, Nymphenburg is open to the public but also continues to be a home and chancery for the head of the House of Wittelsbach, currently Franz, Duke of Bavaria.

The palace was commissioned by the electoral couple Ferdinand Maria and Henriette Adelaide of Savoy to the designs of the Italian architect Agostino Barelli in 1664 after the birth of their son Maximilian II Emanuel. During its construction Barelli was again replaced (1674) by Enrico Zuccalli. The concept for the mythological decorative programme was supplied by the scholar Emanuele Tesauro of Turin; the ceiling paintings were by Antonio Triva and Antonio Zanchi. The central pavilion was completed in 1675. As a building material, it utilised limestone from Kelheim. The palace was gradually expanded and transformed over the years. It then quickly replaced the nearby Blutenburg Castle as major hunting lodge of the court and competed to Schleissheim Palace.

Starting in 1701, Maximilian Emanuel, the heir to Bavaria, a sovereign electorate of the Holy Roman Empire, undertook a systematic extension of the palace. Two pavilions were added each in the south and north of Barelli's palace by Enrico Zucalli and Giovanni Antonio Viscardi and were connected with the centre pavilion by two gallery wings. In 1716, Joseph Effner redesigned the facade of the centre pavilion in French Baroque style with pilasters. Later, the south section of the palace was further extended to build the court stables (1719). For the sake of balance, the orangery building was added to the north which was only completed in 1758. Finally, Nymphenburg Palace was completed with a grand circle (the Schlossrondell ) of Baroque mansions (the so-called Kavaliershäuschen – cavalier's lodges), erected under Maximilian Emanuel's son Holy Roman Emperor Charles VII Albert in the palace's driveway. His son Prince-Elector Maximilian III founded the Nymphenburg Porcelain Manufactory in 1747, to this day housed in one of these cavalier's lodges. Its fashionable Rococo products by porcelain sculptors Franz Anton Bustelli and Dominik Auliczek made the name Nymphenburg widely known.

In 1795, Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria ordered the widening of the galleries on the park side. In 1826, under King Ludwig I of Bavaria, his architect Leo von Klenze removed the gables of the main pavilion with the Electoral coat of arms and created an attic style decoration directly under the roof instead.

With the Treaty of Nymphenburg signed in July 1741, Charles Albert allied with France and Spain against Austria. Two of his children were born here: Maria Antonia (future Electress of Saxony) in 1724 and Maria Anna Josepha (future Margravine of Baden-Baden) in 1734. Charles Albert lived during his time in Munich as Holy Roman Emperor at Nymphenburg Palace and died there in 1745. In 1747, Elector Max III. Joseph founded the Nymphenburg Porcelain Manufactory. In 1792, Elector Charles Theodor opened the park for the public.

For a long time, the palace was the favourite summer residence of the rulers of Bavaria. King Max I Joseph died there in 1825 and his great-grandson King Ludwig II was born there in 1845. In 1863, the only meeting between Ludwig and Otto von Bismarck was held in Nymphenburg, although they remained connected in a lifelong friendship.

Today, Nymphenburg is open to the public but also continues to be a home and chancery for the head of the House of Wittelsbach, currently Franz, Duke of Bavaria.

The palace, together with its park, is now one of the most famous sights in Munich. The baroque facades comprise an overall width of about 700 metres. Some rooms still show their original baroque decoration while others were later redesigned in rococo or neoclassical style.

The Steinerner Saal (Stone Hall) in the central pavilion, with ceiling frescoes by Johann Baptist Zimmermann and F. Zimmermann and decorations by François de Cuvilliés, is an impressive sight. Acting as a grand hall, it occupies over three floors of the central pavilion of the palace. The central ceiling fresco is Helios in his chariot, accompanied by other gods.

North of the Stone Hall, there is the wood-panelled antechamber, the audience chamber decorated with Brussels tapestries and the former bedroom with the so-called Little Beauty Gallery with the ladies of Versailles ; all rooms were remodelled under Maximilian II Emanuel in the style of the Régence but retain their original Baroque ceilings. Here are on display portraits of the elector and his wife Theresa Kunegunda Sobieska. The bedroom closes the park side, next to it is the Drechsel Cabinet (turnery cabinet) of Maximilian III Joseph, designed by François de Cuvilliés. Three rooms further to the north were created under Charles Theodore with the widening of the gallery wing. In the first room there are now more portraits of ladies from the Great Gallery of Beauties of Max Emanuel, the second one is decorated with a pile rug with the coats of arms of Bavaria and the Palatinate (known as "coat of arms room"), while the third room contains portraits of Charles Theodore and both his consorts Elisabeth Auguste and Maria Leopoldine.

South of the Stone Hall are inversely to the northern rooms of the main building, the hall with the portrait of Charles Albert, the audience room with the portrait of the founding couple Ferdinand Maria and his consort Henriette Adelaide and the Former Bedroom with portraits of Max Emanuel and his consort Theresa Kunegunda. Here too, the original Baroque ceilings have survived. The walls of the so-called lacquer cabinet that adjoins the bedroom are almost completely covered with Chinese panels showing scenes from a Chinese novel. The stucco was done by Franz Xaver Feuchtmayer the Younger. Behind the south gallery are the Writing Cabinet and Antechamber of Elector Charles Theodore, which were created with the widening of the gallery wings.

In both the North and South Galleries next to the Central Pavilion are vedutes of Bavarian castles. These galleries connect the central pavilion with the southern and northern pavilions.

The Inner southern Pavilion housed the apartments of the Electress during the period of its origin. The former small dining room of the Inner Southern Pavilion today houses the famous attraction Gallery of Beauties of King Ludwig I of Bavaria. On behalf of the king the court painter Joseph Karl Stieler portrayed 36 beautiful women from all social classes of Munich, the best known of these are the shoemaker's daughter Helene Sedlmayr and Ludwig's infamous mistress Lola Montez. In the nearby Queen's bedroom one can see where King Ludwig II of Bavaria was born on 25 August 1845. Its mahogany furniture was made in 1815 in Munich, unlike the mahogany furniture for Queen Caroline's audience room which was made in Paris, as was the furniture in the Queen's Study.

The Outer Southern Pavilion is generally inaccessible. It served as a kitchen building at Max Emanuel's time and was then reconstructed like the inner pavilion in neo-classical times. Further south, the third pavilion was built as a comedihaus and then served from 1750 as a new kitchen house. The southern corridor built in 1747 connects this building with the stables in the south wing.