Schwetzingen Palace was once the summer residence of the prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire. With its eclectic architecture and beautiful gardens, it is often considered a miniature version of Versailles, the palace of Louis XIV.
Records from 1350 mention that the palace, located in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, was a moated castle. Over the centuries, the structure transformed into a hunting lodge, which was destroyed during the 16th century. In 1697, Prince Elector Johann Wilhelm II rebuilt the original structure and extended it, adding two wings to the one-story building and a forecourt. In 1720, his successor, Charles III Philip, used it as a summer residence and laid the foundation stone for the palace garden.
Prince Elector Charles Theodore, a lover of the arts and science, extended the garden in the French Baroque style, characterized by symmetry and geometry. Court gardener Johann Ludwig Petri designed the formal garden, and landscape architect Friedrich Ludwig von Sckell added an informal English garden more than 20 yearslater.
Charles III Philip also commissioned an assortment of whimsical structures inside the gardens. Highlights include the marble bathhouse and various neoclassical temples.
The palace features the Zirkel, the two long wings that form a gentle semicircle at its sides. The northern Zirkel was designed by architect Alessandro Galli da Bibiena between 1748 and 1750; his student designed the southern end in 1753. A theater designed by Nicolas de Pigage is located in the northern Zirkel. Originally, the southern Zirkel accommodated members of the court.
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