AUGUSTUSBURG & FALKENLUST
German Rococo Palaces and Park of the Rhineland Westphalia
The palace and hunting lodges of Brühl, about 20 minutes from Frankfurt are one of the finest examples of Rococo royal fancy in Germany, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. On the grounds of what had been a medieval moated castle, in 1725, Clemens August of Bavaria, the Archbishop and Elector of Cologne, heir of the Wittelsbach line, commissioned the Westphalian architect Johan Conrad Schlaun to begin construction of a then modern personal palace. In 1728, the project was taken over by the Bavarian court architect François de Cuvilliés, with the vision to turn the palace and its garden park into one of the most impressive residences of the age, intending to rival those in Munich (see Schleissheim Palaces Bavaria) and Dresden (see Baroque Zwinger Dresden). The palace which managed to survive the war had been maintained since 1949 as a showplace reception hall for the German Federal President, until the reunification government moved to Berlin in 1994, now returned to public status as a museum.
Begun in the formal Baroque period, but shifting into the more elaborate Rococo, international artists and designers contributed to the palace as it took form over decades until its completion in 1768, creating a magical collection of architecture, sculpture, painting in a masterpiece of the German Rococo style. Perhaps its most famous interior feature is the magnificent staircase created by Balthasar Neumann, while the palace gardens, designed in 1728 by Dominique Girard in the French formal gardens in the style after Versailles. With constant renovation the garden of Augustusburg remains one of the most authentic existing 18th Century examples in Europe. While the forest around the garden, rather than random, were designed as an English garden landscape by Peter Joseph Lenne, beautiful for a stroll with views of the palace.
Falkenlust
The name of this hunting “lodge” comes from falconry pleasure palace. A modest walk through the forested grounds leads to Falkenlust, located at the edge of a wooden grove, added to the palace park as the favorite hunting lodge of the Elector Clemens August. It was built over eight years from 1729 to 1737 as part of de Cuvilliés design plan and is one of the most homogenous and intimate examples of the Rococo German hunting palace. The design was an advance on the Amelienburg hunting lodge he had created for the Wittlelsbachs at Nymphenburg (see Nymphenburg Palace Munich).
The site for the lodge was chosen according to the flight path of herons, making their way from the breeding grounds in the palace garden pools to fish feeding along the Rhine at Wesseling. The heron, a beautiful, but slow flying bird was a favorite prey for royal falconry. Clemens was an avid falconer and would enjoy the sport from the pavilion of his palace lodge with festive hunting parties. When the hunt was over for the day, the party would gather for dinner and entertainment in the lavish apartments of the lodge with elaborate cabinets which were complimented by the young composer Amadeus Mozart on visiting as a guest with his father in 1763 (see Mozart Birthplace). Today, unfortunately the herons are gone and their flight path would take them across the autobahn motorway to Cologne, but the Falkenlust palace still has a restaurant where visitors can imagine being a guest of the Elector.
Visiting Augustusburg and Falkenlust Bruhl Palaces
The palaces are open Tuesday to Friday 9 am to 12 noon and 1:30 pm to 4 pm. Weekends and hilidays from 10 am to 5 pm. Touring the Augustusburg Palace is only through a guided tour with timed entrance. Starting in 2015, unguided tour entry is offered on weekends, April to November. Falkenlust can be visited without a guide. Combination or family tickets are available.
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Bruhl Palaces
See Also:
LUDWIGSBURG BAROQUE PALACE STUTTGART
BENRATH PALACE AND GARDENS DUSSELDORF
COLOGNE'S
CRAZY CARNIVAL
COLOGNE TO HAMBURG BY NIGHT SLEEPER
