Augustusburg Palace: A Rococo Masterpiece

In this installment of ‘Larger Than Life: Architecture Through the Ages,’ we visit Germany’s finest example of rococo architecture.

Designed by Dominique Girard, the gardens to the south (left) of Augustusburg Palace are among the best-preserved 18th-century gardens in the strictly symmetrical French style with four fountains and a mirror pool. Following English tradition, the surrounding lime trees were planted to resemble a natural forest in the 19th century. Rick Neves/Shutterstock

Built between 1725 and 1768, Bavaria’s Augustusburg Palace is one of the first examples of rococo architecture in Germany. The palace is set in one of the best-preserved mid-18th century landscapes and is one of the few rococo manors that can still be seen in their intended surroundings.

Augustusburg Palace was commissioned by Cologne’s Archbishop Clemens August of Wittelsbach. The palace was conceived as a luxurious replacement for the ruined medieval castle on whose foundations it was built.