- Type
- Palace / château
- Origins
- 1769 · 18th century per Wikidata: founding, first mention or construction
- Location
- Baden-Württemberg, Germany
- Style
- Rococo
- Commissioned by
- Karl II Eugen, Duke of Württemberg
- Architect
- Johann Friedrich Weyhing, Nicolas Guibal
- Coordinates
- 48.7869°, 9.0842°
History
Charles Eugene, Duke of Württemberg, commissioned the palace in 1763, and it was built to 1769 to designs by a team under Philippe de La Guêpière, with Johann Friedrich Weyhing and the duke himself closely involved. What began as a modest hunting lodge became a costly residence with gardens, a theatre and a menagerie, whose upkeep the duchy could not afford and which deepened the duke's quarrel with the Württemberg estates. In 1770 a school was founded here that grew into the Hohe Karlsschule, where the young Friedrich Schiller studied, but in 1775 it moved to Stuttgart and the court moved on to Hohenheim. The gardens became overgrown; King Charles I restored the palace in the 19th century, it served as a military hospital in wartime and as a hotel after 1918. Nicolas Guibal's ceiling paintings, ruined by water leaking into the rooms, were restored in 1972–1983, and since 1990 the side buildings have housed the Akademie Schloss Solitude, which supports young artists.
What to see
The palace is run by Staatliche Schlösser und Gärten Baden-Württemberg, and the interiors can only be seen on a guided tour – in season tours usually start every hour, with fewer, mostly at weekends, in winter. The route takes in the oval White Hall with its stucco-marble walls and Guibal's ceiling glorifying the duke's reign, the ducal apartment with the Palm Room and the Neoclassical Marble Hall, the guest rooms and the palace chapel. The arcaded terrace looks north towards Ludwigsburg, and one of the side buildings holds a museum of the sculptor Fritz von Graevenitz.
Wikipedia article Official website Wikidata Q561962
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