Benrath Castle

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Benrath Palace with wing buildings
Benrath Palace: north side of the Corps de Logis
Benrath Palace: south side of the Corps de Logis

The Benrath Castle is located in the southern district of Benrath in North Rhine-Westphalia state capital Dusseldorf .

It was built from 1755 to 1773 under the direction of Nicolas de Pigage (1723–1796) on behalf of Elector Karl Theodor von der Pfalz as a widow's residence for Electress Elisabeth Auguste . The cost was 700,000 thalers. The listed ensemble of pleasure palace , hunting park , ponds and canal system is considered to be an important architectural synthesis of the arts in Düsseldorf.

style

The overall impression of the Benrath Palace is a palace in the style of the late French Rococo at the transition to Louis Seize ( Style Transition ). The main rooms, such as the vestibule and hall, show more consistent classical forms ( Goût Grec ), while rocaille decors can still be found in the garden halls in the apartment of the Electress . Stylistically, the whole building shows a very fashionable, yet conscious departure from traditional baroque and rococo forms, as they were still maintained throughout Germany (especially in Prussia and Austria ) at the time of construction.

investment

Benrath Palace: Grand Salon, Dome Hall
Benrath Palace and Park: Colored pen drawing by Wiebel and Couven, 1806.

The exterior architecture of the palace with the main building and cavalier wings is in the representative Baroque style, with the wings on the reception side encompassing half of the circular palace pond. Just like the elongated rectangular mirror pond on the garden side, it was created to reflect the facades in the water. The entire water architecture is fed by the Itter .

The main building, the Corps de Logis , is symmetrically divided into the eastern area of ​​the Electress, which shows thematically decorations related to the garden, and the western area of ​​the Elector, which shows thematically decorations from the area of ​​hunting.

Thematically oriented to the interior decoration are the fruit and vegetable garden in the east and the hunting park in the west. Externally, the main building appears to be two-story, which also applies to the high mansion rooms, but not to the servants' rooms. These extend over four floors, as they are only half as high as the manor rooms. If you add the basement and the attic under the Belvedere (view), the entire palace has 6 floors.

Two gatehouses and two wings flank the Corps de Logis. The wing buildings now house two museums: the Museum of European Garden Art in the east wing and the Museum of Natural History in the west wing. In the Corps de Logis, musical events such as the convertible concerts take place. The castle can only be visited with guided tours. In the basement of the castle there is also a lapidarium , which shows the originals of some figures and statues that must be protected from the weather in the outdoor area.

The city of Düsseldorf placed the entire palace complex and the park under monument protection in 1984 .

history

Medieval castle

An original castle of the "Lords of Benroide" , about which no more detailed information is available, was taken over by the Counts of Berg towards the end of the 12th century . It is also not known whether this castle was already a moated castle or whether it was only the “Berger” who converted it. The occasional presence of the counts and later dukes in a castle in Royde is documented by documents from the 13th century. Later, from the beginning of the 16th century, it was pledged several times by the dukes but repeatedly released.

Renaissance castle

This original and now dilapidated moated castle from the 15th century was to be converted into a representative moated castle in the Renaissance style on the instructions of Elisabeth Amalia Magdalena , Duke Philipp Wilhelm's second wife . Chief engineer Johannes Lollio (called Sadeler) was commissioned to build the castle. It was completed in 1666 and used for the duke's family to spend summer and hunting. The eldest son and successor of Philipp Wilhelm, Elector Johann Wilhelm von Pfalz-Neuburg (called Jan Wellem), who resided in Düsseldorf Palace , was closely connected with Benrath Palace and used it with his second wife Anna Maria Luisa de 'Medici as a summer retreat.

  • Old renaissance castle Benrath
  • Orangery Chapel
  • View, painting by Jan van Nikkelen

Baroque castle

In 1755, the Elector Karl Theodor (1724–1799), who came from the Palatinate – Sulzbach line, decided to build a new summer residence and hunting lodge in Benrath ( maison de plaisance type ) as a summer residence in the Baroque style. While he was residing in Mannheim and Schwetzingen , he commissioned his court architect Nicolas de Pigage, who had been trained in Paris, with the new building. He initially had the dilapidated moated castle demolished, only the chapel and a side wing, the so-called orangery , remained. Evidence of the old castle can still be found in frescoes, stucco work and chimneys in rooms of the orangery and on an altar in the chapel.

The new baroque palace was built about 300 meters north of the old one and shone in 1771 after 14 years of construction on a floor area of ​​42 by 27 meters in the color of peach blossoms, with the gentleman's cabinet in the Rococo style and the reception rooms in the classicist style. In the apparently single-storey facade there is a kind of "understatement" by the princely client. Because behind the façade is a cleverly composed system of 80 rooms, two atriums and seven stairwells on four floors. This created a surprise effect that was already popular in baroque architecture and gardening: visitors should only notice the spaciousness inside.

It took a short time until the water features , the ponds and parks, which are closely related to the construction, were completed. Because the building and park form a unit. The round and angular shapes of the green spaces continue in the castle. The castle with its two wings and gatekeeper houses is symmetrical. Likewise, the living areas of the Elector and Electress were built in mirror image. The residential wing of the Electress is laid out in the east with a view of the French garden. The princely living rooms and bedrooms as well as the servants' chambers are grouped around two hidden inner courtyards, which are not visible from the outside.

The electoral house chapel was set up on the upper floor . There are also apartments for guests of the royal couple and two lounges. The furnishings include parquet floors, marble fireplaces, colored paneling, carved mirror frames and colored chintz wall coverings that were renewed as part of restoration measures in the 1970s.

The work on the interior and exterior was completed in 1771. With the exception of minor changes in the garden, Benrath Palace is still unchanged.

Elector Carl Theodor and Electress Elisabeth Auguste hardly enjoyed the advantages of the cozy castle. They only visited the pleasure palace once each time. In contrast, many artists and writers traveled to Benrath. Theodor Fontane and Thomas Mann, for example, were inspired by the electoral gem for their works.

The inner structure of the castle is effective and adjusted to a rich court. A sophisticated system of corridors for the servants with their own stairwells runs in the thick inner walls, so that the prince and his guests were disturbed as little as possible by the staff.

The upper floor has oval standing windows, from which there are pleasant views of the artificially arranged landscape.

The side parts of the main building are divided into a male and a female part. The bathrooms face the small courtyard of the palace and cannot be seen from the official rooms. Both rooms are lavishly furnished with stucco decorations. That of the elector is decorated with oak leaves as an indication of male strength. A bathtub had to be transported through the doors for the bathing ceremony itself.

The side windows of the main building offer views of smaller gardens, which were also laid out towards the castle. In the east were the private rooms of the elector, in the west those of the elector Elisabeth Auguste. The princess originally looked at a French garden too, but this was later redesigned into a wilder English garden.

  • New baroque palace Benrath

  • Longitudinal section

  • View, painting after Antoine Charles Horace Vernet

  • view

As an enlightened prince, Karl Theodor was interested in science and the arts. The composers Christian Cannabich and Johann Stamitz worked at his Mannheim court . He also maintained correspondence with Voltaire . The legacy of the Electorate of Bavaria in 1777 made it necessary to move his residence to Munich . On the occasion of his last stay in government in the Duchy of Berg , he went on a day trip from Düsseldorf to Benrath Castle on June 6, 1785.

From 1806 to 1813 Benrath Palace was the official residence of the Grand Dukes of Berg and Kleve . The capital of this newly formed state from the former area of ​​the Duchy of Berg and the areas on the right bank of the Rhine of the Duchy of Kleve and parts of the Electorate of Cologne-Bonn and the Duchy of Münster in Westphalia was Düsseldorf. The Grand Dukes of Berg and Cleves were equipped with Napoleon Bonaparte verschwägerte Joachim Murat , husband of Caroline Bonaparte , and his nephew Louis of Holland .

Prussian possession

After the Wars of Liberation and the negotiations at the Congress of Vienna , the palace passed into Prussian ownership in 1815. Friedrich Wilhelm III. made the building available to his nephew Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig von Prussia in 1821 in his function as division commander and his wife, Princess Luise . After 1852 it was used by Prince Karl Anton von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as a summer residence. Ten years later, his son, Hereditary Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen , asked the reigning Wilhelm I to be allowed to move into the castle, which he was granted at the end of 1862. As the building was in a state of disrepair, it had to be restored for residential use. On June 1, 1868, the director of the palace construction commission responsible for Prussia's external palaces, Ludwig Ferdinand Hesse , presented the king with his report on the repairs, which Wilhelm I approved with the wish to restore them to the original. In 1820, stylistic parallels to the Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam were recognized in the floor plan, elevation and interior decoration. Due to the high restoration work, the completion was delayed until 1870. The royal family lived in Benrath Palace until 1875. In September 1877, Kaiser Wilhelm I stayed at the palace after he had paid a visit to the “Malkasten” artists' association in Düsseldorf.

Parish ownership

In 1911 the community of Benrath acquired the castle from the Prussian crown. By incorporating Benrath, the palace came into the possession of the city of Düsseldorf in 1929.

The community of Benrath had already started in 1907 to use the side wings of the palace for the gradual construction of a boys' school, which later also took girls in. Initially, the students only used the eastern wing building, later also some areas of the western wing building as the “ castle gymnasium ”. In 1980 the company moved to the newly built school center on Wimpfener Strasse while retaining the name. The girls' school was initially called "Benrath Castle Lyceum" and later "Schloß-Schule Benrath". She left the castle in 1958, moved into her current domicile at Brucknerstraße 19 and shortly afterwards called herself Annette-von-Droste-Hülshoff-Gymnasium .

The castle was partially damaged after the Second World War , so that school operations had to cease at the end of 1945. It was restored over many years with considerable effort and with great stylistic fidelity.

Foundation ownership

After the schools moved out, the Benrath Palace and Park Foundation took over management and use on behalf of the City of Düsseldorf in 2000 . The museums that have now been set up there are today, in addition to tax revenue, the financial basis for maintaining the listed ensemble. The large park, which can be used free of charge, is an attractive place to relax. The castle is also used for representative purposes. For example, state receptions from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia for Michail Gorbatschow and Queen Elisabeth II took place here, as well as during Erich Honecker's visit to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1987 .

Corps de Logis

Floor plan and floor plan

The main building of the castle houses the rooms intended as living areas for the Elector and Electress. This floor is designed as a double apartment based on the French model , so that the private rooms are separated from the common rooms. The vestibule - the festive entrance hall - and the grand salon or domed hall, which was primarily intended for celebrations, form the central axis of the building and divide it into two symmetrical living areas: the western part of the palace was intended as the elector's apartment, the eastern part for his wife Electress Elisabeth Auguste . Only the stairwell shows a deviation in the symmetry of the floor plan. The vestibule could have been used as a large dining room, which confirms its official, social function.

To the east and west of the central axis with the representative rooms Vestibül and Grand Salon, symmetrically arranged garden halls, bedrooms, cabinets, cloakrooms, orderly rooms, toilets and bathrooms are connected. The smaller rooms inside receive daylight thanks to two atriums. From there, the inner story structure is also visible: Although the castle only looks two-story from the outside, it is actually four-story (or five-story, if you include the basement). This is possible because rooms that have a non-representative character (cloakroom, bathroom) or those that were intended for servants (living quarters for the valet and the chambermaid as well as orderly rooms) are only half as high as the representative rooms. While the ground floor was reserved for the electoral couple and offered two large lounges, the electoral servants were accommodated on the first floor. There are four guest apartments on the following roof floor.

There is also another, very low storey in the slate-covered mansard roof , which is only lit by tiny portholes and originally housed other servants - primarily guests. In the northeast attic attic, in the so-called clock room, a chamber above the salon of one of the northeast guest apartments, there is the large wrought-iron mechanical clockwork of the castle clock. It is a work by Johann Jacob Möllinger and dates from 1771. 3 heavy stone weights, which have to be cranked up by hand, are guided through a shaft by means of cables and supply the clockwork with the necessary drive force for several days. The clockwork strikes a quarter and an hour on two artistically decorated bronze bells, which can be seen above the dial behind the putti. The two bells also date from 1771. The clockwork was restored in spring 2017 after a decade of standstill.

  • Sculptures

  • Pan

  • Dionysus

The connection between architecture and the surrounding nature

Benrath Castle from the south with the mirror pond

The structure of the ground floor level is also reflected in the division of the park into two parts: The central axis, consisting of a vestibule and a domed hall, is continued in the form of the south-facing mirror pond, to which various garden areas are connected. On the side of the Elector (west) is the hunting park, which was laid out in the 17th century and, according to the understanding of the time, was dedicated to a decidedly male activity, hunting. On the side of the Electress (east) there are still fruit, vegetable and herb gardens, i.e. the fertile and profitable parts of the garden.

Decoration and furnishings of the Corps de Logis

The decoration and equipment of the corps de logis (main castle) signals the electoral rank of the client, namely with the coat of arms gable above the main portal and the insignia such as the alliance coat of arms and electoral hat. The decoration of the entire building illustrates its purpose as a place of retreat, which is surrounded by artistically designed gardens in the park, where rural festivals were held, the pleasure of hunting and leisure found for the care of private interests.

The decorations of the castle therefore mainly take up motifs from nature as a theme. In the vestibule , for example, the four elements (earth, fire, water, air) and the four seasons are depicted in the overhangs. In many rooms there are not only flowers, garlands of fruit and tendrils of leaves, but also allegorical depictions of the hunt, the dawn or the fine arts, putti with tools for horticulture and agriculture are set in the stucco decorations - all activities shown are closely related to nature and agriculture. Bucolic scenes as an expression of a longing for an informal life in nature are also frequently discussed.

Furnishing

Benrath Palace, garden hall

Since the castle was only slightly damaged during the war (only the Electress's cabinet was affected), the wooden parquet floors are in excellent condition, as are the paintings and stucco decorations . Some of the paintings on the ceiling are by gallery director Lambert Krahe . The decoration was created by Italian plasterers under the direction of the master Albuzio based on designs by the sculptor Peter Anton von Verschaffelt . The wall coverings made of brocaded silk have been partially renewed, as have most of the armchair coverings. However, old templates were used here, and it was even possible to restore the original patterns on the upper floor. Parts of the original furniture from the 18th century, the extent of which is difficult to reconstruct due to summary, very general documentation, were removed from the castle at the beginning of the 19th century. The remaining pieces were sold with 19th century furniture at an auction at the beginning of the 20th century when the Prussian administration decided to give up the building. After the Second World War, authentic furniture - mostly of French origin - was purchased from art dealers in accordance with the time and place in order to reconstruct the furnishings of the 18th century.

Porcelain and clock collection

The Benrath Palace and Park Foundation has a considerable collection of Frankenthal porcelain . Porcelains , which were coveted treasures in the 18th century, serve as a mirror of court life and provide insight into current fashions and tendencies of the time. In 2006, an extensive porcelain cabinet was set up in the basement of the Corps de Logis, which documents the diverse range of topics. Allegories, contents of ancient mythology, gallant scenes, shepherd idylls, hunting motifs and chinoiseries are presented using selected examples. Special themed tours regularly offer the opportunity to see the exhibition with an expert guide. A further selection of dishes from the Frankenthal manufactory can be viewed on the upper floor.

In addition to the extensive porcelain collection, the castle is equipped with a large collection of historical clocks . These clocks - mostly of French origin - enrich the baroque room decoration. In addition to the table and mantel clocks customary for the time, two large cartel clocks have been preserved, one of which is personally owned by Electress Elisabeth Auguste von Pfalz-Sulzbach and is decorated with her monogram. There is also a table clock with a flute and fortepiano mechanism, which can play 7 different melodies every hour. Two so-called Supraporte nuhren are present in the lintels for the domed hall or vestibule. The supply of these clockworks is hidden through a hidden servant corridor, which - led over the door lintel - connects the eastern and western wing of the castle. Another showpiece of the collection is a large so-called "Pendule au char" by the famous French bronzer Pierre-Philippe Thomire, which allegorically depicts Diana's hunt. Diana as the goddess of the hunt sits on a carriage pulled by deer. All the decorations on this watch relate to the hunt, so that this watch fits perfectly into the interior of the Benrath pleasure and hunting palace. Since almost all clocks are in operation, the sound of the many clocks can be heard clearly in all rooms of the castle and delights the castle visitors.

Benrath Palace Park

Benrath Palace Park

The spacious park (61.2 hectares ) extends on the south side of the castle . This consists of several garden areas that were created at different times. The oldest part of the park dates back to the 17th century, when the old castle was built. The 470 meter long mirror pond forms the main axis and corresponds to the central axis in the building with the vestibule and domed hall. The pond is lined with strips of lawn and tall trees. To the east of the pond you get to the orangery ; which together with the gate building on Urdenbacher Allee are the last relics of the original Benrath hunting lodge. An extensive hunting park extends to the west of the Spiegelweiher and leads to the Rhine . In 1992 this 44.26 hectare area was declared a nature reserve ( nature reserve Schlosspark Benrath ). A canal system runs across the entire park area, supplying various bodies of water in the park. The hunting park is traversed by a star-shaped network of paths that come together at a central point ( hunting star ) .

The private gardens are located on both sides of the main building: in the east an axially symmetrical French Baroque garden, in the west an English section that was laid out at the beginning of the 19th century. Originally there was also a French-style garden with a rectangular water basin in the center.

The Benrath Palace Park is thus both artistically of high quality and of great cultural and natural historical importance for the history of garden art. The Benrath Palace Park derives its special significance from its dual need for protection as a monument and a nature reserve. This combination and its function as a metropolitan recreation area are largely unique. The composition of the historic garden, its redesign and the reconstruction of the historic garden are inextricably linked with the architecture of the Maison de plaisance and form a total work of art. Combined with one another in an overarching design idea, the park and its gardens bear witness to the significant cultural and natural history of the region. More than 80 species of birds and more than 300 species of beetles live in the park. Rare North American trees and shrubs characterize the so-called Elector's Garden, which was created by outstanding gardeners such as Maximilian Friedrich Weyhe and Peter Joseph Lenné in the 19th century.

French garden

French garden

The French Garden , east of the main building, was reserved for Electress Elisabeth Auguste as a private area. The facility was restored between 1989 and 1993. The name of the garden comes from the French baroque garden art, which follows strict geometric principles. In the east there is a cascade of several water basins. The water features with six small fountains were installed in 1955/56. In the west there is a lower-lying flower parterre, which is planted in the spring and summer according to a park maintenance work in the baroque pattern.

English game

Corps de Logis seen from the English garden

The private garden of Elector Carl Theodor west of the palace was redesigned by Maximilian Friedrich Weyhe and Peter Joseph Lenné. A garden plan from 1807 is kept in the North Rhine-Westphalian main state archive in Düsseldorf. The eastern part preserved Pigages' complex with a rectangular, lower-lying water basin until around 1840. This part was later transformed by cousin Weyhes Peter Joseph Lenné into a pond with a curved shape and natural bank vegetation. A small bridge leads over the pond. At the end of the 19th century, exotic trees and perennials such as ginko and sequoia were planted near the main building in the English part . With evergreen foliage, conifers and rhododendrons ensure the beauty of the garden even in the autumn and winter months.

In 2002 the Schlosspark Benrath was part of EUROGA 2002plus and was extensively restored on the occasion. Two years later it was accepted as an outstanding example in the street of garden art on the Rhine and Maas .

Reception in literature and painting

Mural of Benrath Palace in the Salon Murat of the Elysee Palace , Paris
View of the mural of Benrath Palace in the Salon Murat of the Elysee Palace , Paris
Spring day, painting by Edmund Massau
Painting by Walter Ophey , Park at Benrath Castle
W. Cooke, after a drawing by Johann Willhelm Krafft
North portal of the castle with the coat of arms of Karl Theodor
View from the south
Sculpture decoration in the gable with hunting scenes (garden side)

A decisive scene from Thomas Mann's story Die Betrogene takes place in Benrath Palace, which here bears the name Holterhof . This is preceded by a detailed description of the castle (based on Emil Barth's description in Der Wandelstern , Hamburg 1939, p. 161 ff.): “... in front of the outside staircase of the slightly curved building, the considerable dimensions of which seemed dissolved in delicacy and its pink facade Admittedly, some people were standing there, waiting for the eleven o'clock tour to pass the time, the figures of the heraldic gable, the time-forgotten clock worn by an angel above, the stone flower threads above the tall white doors with the information from their manuals to compare. Our friends joined them and looked up at the charmingly decorated feudal architecture to the oval Œils-de-bœf in the slate-colored attic. Mythologically slightly cropped figures, Pan and his nymphs stood on plinths on the sides of the deep windows, weathered like the four sandstone lions, which, sullen of expression, their paws crossed, flanked the staircase and driveway. "

Benrath Castle is mentioned in the tourist guide “ Palais de l'Élysée ”. In the “Salon Murat”, today's cabinet room of the French government, hangs a large mural of Schloss Benrath, which the previous owner of the palace, Grand Duke Joachim I. Murat von Berg und Kleve , had Antoine Charles Horace Vernet painted around 1806 and installed there . The painting is there in a cycle of pictures.

Walter Ophey painted a picture of the park at Benrath Castle.

The Swiss painter Caspar Wolf painted the old Benrath Palace from the south and north in 1781 after a painting by Jan van Nikkelen .

Museum of European Garden Art

On April 19, 2002, on the occasion of EUROGA 2002plus, the Museum of European Garden Art was opened in the east wing of Benrath Palace . It was built on the basis of the concept of the later founding director Gabriele Uerscheln. The museum is thematically unique because it is dedicated to European garden art in all its facets. In addition to an overview of the 2,500-year history of European gardening, various aspects of gardening are discussed: flower fashions, sculptures in the park, garden plans, pruning, the garden as a pharmacy or the hunt for rare plants. Benrath Palace with its extensive gardens is presented as well as Düsseldorf as a garden city with an exemplary view of current garden design trends.

Paintings, sculptures, porcelain, graphics, devices and bibliophile books are combined on an exhibition area of ​​around 2000 m² in 41 rooms with media such as models, films and listening stations to present the artistic design of old and new gardens and at the same time offer an insight into the cultural history of the gardens from antiquity to the present.

Thanks to its location between individual garden areas and the castle pond, as well as the largely reconstructed room program with numerous historical building elements such as chimneys, lighting systems, doors and wall paneling, the former guest, servant and utility wing offers a setting for a journey through the centuries of European gardening and Benraths Castle history.

The atmosphere of the inner courtyard with its unusual floor plan, its long open arcades supported by high wooden pillars and the collection of historic citrus trees, which refers to the three hundred year old Benrath orangery tradition, invites you to linger, especially during the summer months.

Museum of Natural Science

The Natural History Museum , today the Natural History Museum , has been located in the west wing of the castle since 1929 . It is dedicated to the natural history of the Lower Rhine Bay and the Niederbergisches Land. The collection of animal sculptures by Josef Pallenberg is a specialty .

On an exhibition area of ​​around 800 m², topics such as the changes in the course of the Rhine over the centuries, Rhine fishing, moor and heath, fauna and flora of the region, the trees in the Benrath Palace Park or the Neandertal near Düsseldorf are presented. A colony of bees in the observation hive and the Benrath bird clock with the morning song of the breeding birds in the castle park at the simulated dawn introduce you to the animals of the region.

In the permanent exhibition "Rivers and their floodplains with special consideration of the Rhine", the diversity of the habitat of Central Europe richest in animal and plant species is presented. The exhibition unit provides information on river dynamics, river morphology, flood problems, dike relocation and thus the renaturation of floodplain landscapes.

In the regional exhibition unit, the visitor discovers the terraced landscape formed by the river uphill from the river Rhine, is familiarized with the fauna and flora and informed about ecological relationships, the formation of habitats and their changes. With its regional exhibition aspects, the Natural History Museum, in addition to the art and cultural history content of the Museums for European Garden Art and Corps de Logis, completes the holistic communication claim of the museums of the Benrath Palace and Park Foundation.

Benrath Palace and Park Foundation

Benrath Palace Park during a concert

In March 2000, the “Benrath Palace and Park Foundation”, a foundation under private law based in the state capital Düsseldorf, was established. In addition to the state capital Düsseldorf, the founding donors include Henkel AG, the patron Udo van Meeteren, the Stadtsparkasse Düsseldorf and the association “Rettet Torhaus und Ostflügel von Schloss Benrath e. V. "(today" Association of Friends of Palace and Park Benrath eV "). So far, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Siemens AG and the Rhineland Regional Council have contributed.

The primary goal of the foundation is to preserve the palace and park as a total work of art, to use them in a manner appropriate to historical monuments, to make them accessible to the public and to highlight them as a cultural attraction. All three goals are achieved through the operation and use of the buildings with the three museums and the park, the diversity of which offers visitors a wide range of exhibitions, collections, lectures, guided tours, seminars and events.

In summer concerts are held in the park in the evenings. This event gives rise to excursions and an evening picnic . In addition, tables with candlesticks and champagne bottles are often lined up. The concert concerts in the castle (Corps de Logis) are also a musical tradition.

See also

literature

- Alphabetical -

  • Karl Matthias Berg, Gabriele Uerscheln, Benrath Palace and Park Foundation (ed.): Museum for European Garden Art . Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern-Ruit 2005, ISBN 3-7757-1610-6 .
  • Joachim de Bürger, Michaela Kalusok, Nicolas de Pigage, Stadtmuseum Düsseldorf (ed.): Benrath Palace and its master builder Nicolas de Pigage 1723–1796 . On the occasion of the retrospective Nicolas de Pigage (1723–1796) on the 200th anniversary of his death, builder of Benrath Palace, architect of Elector Carl Theodor von der Pfalz; Exhibition by the Düsseldorf City Museum in Benrath Palace, September 1 to November 3, 1996; Museum of Art, City and Theater History in the Reiss Museum Mannheim , November 25 to February 23, 1997. Wienand, Cologne 1996, ISBN 3-87909-502-7 .
  • Gabriele Ewenz (Ed.): Schloss Benrath: a vision becomes reality (=  Benrath writings - library on 18th century palace architecture and European garden art . Volume 1 ). Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft , Worms 2006, ISBN 3-88462-237-4 .
  • Wilfried Hansmann: The garden projects in Jacques-François Blondel's “Cours d'architecture” and Benrath Palace in Düsseldorf . In: Die Gartenkunst  25 (2/2013), pp. 259–292.
  • Rainer Hoffmann: Under the sign of the cornucopia: Benrath Palace and its putti . Klartext-Verlag, Essen 2011, ISBN 978-3-8375-0664-8 .
  • Adalbert Klein: Benrath Castle - The old castles and the new hunting lodge. Rheinische Bücherei Aloys Henn Verlag, Ratingen 1952
  • Walter Klein, Nadja Putzert, Benrath Palace and Park Foundation (ed.): Courtly treasures from the Frankenthal porcelain manufacture in the Benrath Palace collection . Stekovics, Wettin OT Dößel 2010, ISBN 978-3-89923-235-6 .
  • Irene Markowitz : The Fächeralleen in Benrath Castle Park . In: Die Gartenkunst 1 (2/1989), pp. 183–192.
  • Irene Markowitz, Michael Jeiter: Benrath Castle . Ed .: Michael Jeiter. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich / Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-422-00132-8 .
  • Edmund Renard: Das Neue Schloß zu Benrath (=  series of publications German Association for Art History . Volume 1913 ). Insel-Verlag, Leipzig 1913, DNB  362137722 .
  • Stefan Schweizer , Eva-Maria Gruben, Benrath Palace and Park Foundation (ed.): "SehensWert" - The planning and construction history of the Benrath palaces . Catalog for the exhibition of the Benrath Palace and Park Foundation, September 6 to November 22, 2015. 1st edition. Grupello, Düsseldorf 2015, ISBN 978-3-89978-243-1 ( beginning of the book, [PDF]).
  • Inge Zacher, Rhenish Association for Monument Preservation and Landscape Protection : Benrath Palace and Park in Düsseldorf. (= Rheinische Kunststätten. No. 14). 2nd, revised edition. Neusser Druck und Verlag, Neuss 1998, ISBN 3-88094-23-2 .

Web links

Commons : Schloss Benrath  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Johann Georg von Viebahn : Statistics and topography of the government district of Düsseldorf. First Part , 1836, p. 284, limited preview in Google book search.
  2. ↑ Entry in the monument list of the state capital Düsseldorf at the Institute for Monument Protection and Preservation
  3. ^ Karl Leopold Strauven , Wilhelm Cricelius: Historical news about Benrath , 1890, p. 59, online , digitized version of the ULB Düsseldorf .
  4. ^ Bernhard Endrulat : An imperial festival in the "Malkasten" in Düsseldorf. In: ULB Düsseldorf , Digitalisat , Düsseldorf 1878, p. 84, accessed on September 21, 2019.
  5. ↑ Birgit Wanninger: Series 725 years Düsseldorf: Julius Melies, the savior of Benrath Palace. ( Memento of August 21, 2013 in the Internet Archive ). In: Rheinische Post , August 17, 2013.
  6. ↑ a b Festschrift: 100 Years of the Benrath Castle Gymnasium. In: schloss-gymnasium.de , (PDF; 6.7 MB).
  7. ^ Foundation Schloss und Park Benrath - schloss-benrath.de
  8. ↑ Birgit Wanninger: Emperors and kings as guests in the castle. In: Rheinische Post , local editorial office Düsseldorf, September 27, 2014.
      Manfred Agethen: Visit of the GDR State Council Chairman Erich Honecker to the Federal Republic. In: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung , ( old version. )
  9. ↑ Simona Meier: Benrath: The lock clock strikes in time again. In: Rheinische Post , June 3, 2017.
  10. ^ Heinz Peters, Das alten Düsseldorf , Düsseldorf 1960, DNB 457794887 , building no.78 .
  11. ^ Heinz Peters, Das alte Düsseldorf , Düsseldorf 1960, DNB 457794887 , building no.76 .
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on January 26, 2008 .

Coordinates: 51 ° 9 ′ 39 ″  N , 6 ° 52 ′ 12 ″  E