SCHLEISSHEIM PALACES
Royal Bavarian Baroque Grandeur and Gardens
Like a Baroque playground, the palace park in the village of Oberschleissheim
north of Munich remains the vestige of a grand and glorious age, as well
as monument to unfulfilled ambition. Three palaces inhabit the grounds
of an extensive park with glorious facades of imperial white and yellow,
fronted by the symmetrical balance which favored by the Baroque ideas
of architecture, a square equilibrium counter-pointed by a mad ornate
decoration. The palace complex was first acquired as a contemplative
country retreat by the Duke Wilhelm V in the 16th Century, but expanded
over the next hundred years into one of the grand examples of Bavarian
Royal Palaces with expansive formal gardens.
New Schleissheim Palace
The grandest of the
of the palaces the New Palace Schleissheim (Neues Schloss) which reflects
the ambition of the Elector Max Emanuel who ordered
it built after his defeat of the Turks in 1688 (see Bavarian Military
Museum Ingolstadt) with the intention of its being his palace once being
named Holy Roman Emperor. That never happened as Emanuel lost the rule
of Bavaria in the War of Succession and found himself instead the governor
of the Spanish Netherlands for eleven years as his palace stood empty.
The New Schleissheim Palace’s main wing was begun in 1701 but not
completed until 1726, with later additions. The palace was intended to
have several wings, but only the long two story main wing was completed.
In one of the palace rooms is a model of how the palace complex design
was intended.
The
most notable spaces of the palace are the Grand Hall and Grand Gallery
where
lectures and concerts are held on occasion. The impressive grand
staircase leads to four of the state apartments devoid of furnishings
but retaining the baroque wall decorations and parquet floors now house
the collection
of the Gallery of Baroque Paintings owned by the Bavarian State Picture
Collections. The paintings of portraits, landscapes and military victories
including works 
by Rubens and Van Dyck fittingly hang in one of the great
examples of German Baroque palaces. The Victory Hall and Chapel of the
Electress retain the most elaborate Baroque design decoration. When Bavaria
returned to the Wittelsbach family, Max Emanual’s son, Charles
who did become emperor (Charles VII) preferred the Nymphenburg Palace
to Schleissheim (see Schloss
Nymphenburg Summer Palace) so the palace
park remained an occasional project with additions by King Ludwig
I in the 19th Century.
Old Schleissheim Palace
The original Renaissance
palace at Schleissheim now called the Old Palace (Alte Schloss) was
begun in 1598 by Duke Wilhelm as a hermitage. It was
rebuilt in 1617 in the style of an Italian Villa by Maximillian I from
plans by architect Heinrich Schön the Elder. The façade of
the old palace today is a rather plain shadow of what it once was. The
building was almost completely destroyed by bombs in WWII, reconstructed
after having the misfortune of being near the Schleissheim airfield (see Schleissheim
Aircraft Museum) and factories. The undamaged rear gate
entrance retains the look of the old palace design. The Old Palace houses
a museum of cultural art including a rather fascinating collection of
nativity scenes from around the world and across time.
Lustheim Palace
The
first of the palaces ordered by Max Emanuel is the smallest of the
three palaces at Schleissheim. After his marriage to Maria Antonia,
daughter of the Austrian Emperor, Max
Emanuel commissioned the building of a garden palace and hunting lodge,
the Lustheim Palace which lies at the far end of
the palace park gardens from the other two and now houses the Ernst Schneider
collection of Meissen Porcelain.
Palace Park Gardens
The
extensive baroque gardens in the Schloss Hofgarten Park retain much
of their original form
designed
by Italian architect Enrico Zuccalli. Max Emanuel's views of palaces
in France and Holland influenced him to have his park design
infused with canals which add a bucolic naturalness to the more formal
lines,
with the geometric spaces and walks filled with colorful blooming flowers
in summer.
Visiting Schleissheim Royal Palaces
The
Schleissheim Palaces are open from April through October. The park
is open year
round from
8am until nightfall. On the grounds of the Hofpark,
near the Old Palace, a beer garden operated by the Hofbrau House brewery
makes for a stop to slake a thirst after wandering the extensive parklands.
From May to September Classical Music Concerts are held in the evenings
at the Schleissheim Palace Park. By car the palaces are under 30 minutes
from Munich via the A9 (exit Neuherberg) or A92 (exit Oberschleißheim)
toward the airport, or by the S1 train direction Freising/Flughafen to
Oberschleissheim. The Flugwerft Schleißeim aircraft museum is a
5 minute walk from the Old Palace, follow the road past the beer garden.
The Dachau Concentration Camp (see Dachau
Holocaust Museum) and the more intimate Dachau
Royal Palace (see Schloss
Dachau Palace and Garden) are
about ten minutes drive to the west. © Bargain
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See Also:
RESIDENCE PALACE - CROWN JEWELS - MUNICH
BENRATH PALACE AND GARDENS - DUSSELDORF
LUDWIGSBURG BAROQUE MASTERPIECE - STUTTGART
BMW WORLD - MUSEUM & FACTORY IN MUNICH
200 YEARS OF THE GERMAN BEER GARDEN
FUGGER & WELSER MUSEUM AUGSBURG
