Schloss Augustusburg

The Augustusburg and Falkenlust castles are among the most important baroque and rococo buildings in Germany and have been UNESCO world heritage sites since 1984. As early as the 12th century, the archbishops of Cologne had a game park estate here. In 1284, the Cologne archbishop Siegfried had a moated castle built, which was finished in 1298. Under archbishop Walram, the castle was reinforced and lasted until it was blown up by the French in 1689. Archbishop Clemens August I. von Bayern (1700–1761), House of Wittelsbach, then had Schloss Augustusburg built on the site. The work started in 1725, based upon plans by the Westphalian architect Johann Conrad Schlaun, with the predecessor’s foundations being integrated into the new castle. That is the reason why the window axes of the wings are not arranged in complete symmetry - the width of the castle does here coincide with the older building’s. This is quite unusual in so far as symmetry was one of the most important architectural means of the baroque. Schloss Augustusburg is a three-wing structure with a hipped roof, embracing a cour d’honneur. The eastward front sides of the north and south wing are among the most important German baroque works. From 1728, the new building was further fitted by the Munich court architect François de Cuvilliés, who designed the facades and parade rooms in the Régence and early rococo style. The west side with its gallery wings is from the same time. From 1740 to 1746, Johann Balthasar Neumann created the stairwell, which is deemed one of the major creations of the German baroque. Johann Heinrich Roth executed the final interior work. The garden room on the first floor is decorated in yellow and green stucco marble and broken down by pilasters. The ceiling fresco is by Carlo Carlone. On the ground floor of the south wing are the former rooms of the prince-bishop, opening up toward the garden. In the castle’s church, consecrated in 1493, which in former times accommodated a Franciscan monastery, we find an impressive high altar by Balthasar Neumann. In 1735, it became a court church and got an oratorio connected to the castle proper by the orangery. Schloss Augustusburg was supposed to be a mere hunting and summer lodge and was only inhabited for four to six weeks a year. The main residencies were the Kurfürstliche Schloss and Poppelsdorfer Schloss in Bonn. At the end of WWII, Schloss Augustusburg was heavily damaged. From 1946, the repair work was started.

Author: This article is based on the article Schlösser Augustusburg und Falkenlust of the free encyclopedia Wikipedia and licensed under the terms of the GNU-Lizenz für freie Dokumentation. You can find a list of the authors at Liste der Autoren.
Last changed on 08.10.2007

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Architecture » Public Buildings » Palaces/Castles/fortifications