Nymphenburg Palace: A European Gem of Bavarian History

Larger than life: Art that inspires us through the ages

A long and wide walkway invites visitors to admire the front façade of Nymphenburg Palace. Given as a gift to the electress Henriette Adelaide, the property was originally a country estate, to be used as a hunting lodge. The electress planned to make the palace her own by holding court in a mythological setting, dressed as the goddess Diana, but she died before her plans were realized. Her villa, the central structure today, consisted of a two-story cube, with a garden and a large wood behind the building. Over the years, the building was extended, but very few alterations were made to the original structure. In 1715, architect Joseph Effner created two wings on each side of the palace and modernized the façade in a French style. The central building has details from the French Regency style, an architectural and design transitional style between the architectural styles promulgated by Louis XIV and Louis XV. Richard Bartz/CC BY-SA 2.5

Historic, mythical, beautiful. These three words describe the architectural gem located west of Munich, Germany, that is the Nymphenburg Palace, a once-popular summer residence of Bavarian rulers.

In 1662, Elector Ferdinand Maria of Bavaria offered land outside Munich to his Italian-born wife, Henriette Adelaide of Savoy, to commemorate the birth of the heir to the throne, Max Emanuel. Two years later, Italian architect Agostino Barelli began work on a summer residence for the electress in the style of an Italian villa, and architect Henrico Zuccalli continued the project in 1673.