Hereditary Prince Palace

The Erbprinzenpalais on Wilhelmstrasse now houses the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (as it was after the 2009 renovation).

Erbprinzenpalais (state before the 2009 renovation).

The Erbprinzenpalais on Wilhelmstrasse in Wiesbaden is a classicist building with a dominating central gable, built by Christian Zais between 1813 and 1817 for the Hereditary Prince of the Nassau dukes . After an eventful history, it is now home to the Wiesbaden Chamber of Commerce, founded in 1865 .

history

After the founding of the Duchy of Nassau , the representative building was built especially for the Nassau Hereditary Prince Wilhelm (* June 14, 1792; † August 20, 1839). The well-known city architect Christian Zais, who had already built the old Kurhaus in the city, could be won over for the building project.

The Duke Friedrich August von Nassau-Usingen (born April 23, 1738), who had been ruling since 1806, had no male heir, as his two sons among his seven children died in childhood. It was clear at an early stage that the ducal dignity would be transferred to the Nassau-Weilburg line. Friedrich August's cousin, Friedrich Wilhelm von Nassau-Weilburg (born October 25, 1768), who was 30 years his junior and who already shared the business of government with him, was to inherit Friedrich August. For this reason, he had the building built for his son Wilhelm from 1813, which he was to live in during his upcoming term of office. However, it did not come to that: when Friedrich August died on March 24th, 1816 at the age of 77, Friedrich Wilhelm was also dead: he died two months earlier, on January 9th, 1816 in a tragic accident in Weilburg Castle by falling from a staircase crashed.

Wilhelm became a duke at the age of 23, moved out of the not yet fully completed Erbprinzenpalais and moved to Biebrich Castle . The palace was converted into an administration building. From 1821 the later Hessian State Library moved in , and in the years up to 1829 also the three museums that are now combined as the Wiesbaden Museum: Art Museum, Natural Science Museum and Museum of Antiquities. 1913–1915 the museums and the library were given their new buildings in Friedrich-Ebert-Allee (museum) and in Rheinstrasse, respectively . The Erbprinzenpalais was then as Behördenzentrum used the city and from now on as " Altes Museum called".

After the Second World War , the Hessian state government rented the building and used it for the Ministry of Justice. In 1968 the Wiesbaden Chamber of Commerce and Industry finally bought the building for 1.2 million marks from the city and subjected it to a complete renovation. However, since this was much more expensive at 5.2 million marks than initially assumed, the then unrealized consideration was given to demolish the building and replace it with a cheaper new building. The Erbprinzenpalais is the only surviving of the three classical buildings by Christian Zais in Wiesbaden today (the old Kurhaus was replaced by a new building in 1906, the Hotel Vierjahreszeiten was destroyed in the Second World War).

The building, which is sometimes called the " Kronprinzenpalais ", is located at Wilhelmstrasse 24, named after Wilhelm, directly opposite the park of the Warmen Damm .