Germany’s Ludwigsburg Palace: The ‘Swabian Versailles’

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The Ludwigsburg Palace, designed by Italian architect Donato Giuseppe Frisoni, resides at the center of the German city of Ludwigsburg. The Baroque complex expanded to four wings around the palace courtyard. The central building is enclosed by the hunting and gaming pavilions and hosts state apartments. The large garden is in the formal French and naturalistic English styles, with lush trees, symmetric lawns, flower borders, and water features. Markus Mainka/Shutterstock

Ludwigsburg Palace (Schloss Ludwigsburg), just north of Stuttgart, Germany, is one of Europe’s largest Baroque complexes. The palace estate bears many similarities to Versailles in terms of size, historical importance, and architectural styles and is nicknamed the “Swabian Versailles” for its location in the southwestern region of Germany known as Swabia.

Eberhard Ludwig, Duke of Württemberg, built a hunting lodge on the grounds in 1704. In 1718, the duke enlarged the site into a sumptuous palace, featuring 18 buildings, 452 rooms, and a beautiful 79-acre park. Carl Alexander, Duke of Württemberg, Eberbard Ludwig’s successor, added apartments in the French Rococo style.