New Castle (Baden-Baden)

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View of the New Palace from the southeast (2009)

The New Palace on the Florentinerberg in Baden-Baden was the seat of the Margraves of Baden from the late 15th to the end of the 17th century and, from 1535, the Margrave of Baden-Baden . It is a castle from the late Middle Ages been rebuilt and extended several times. Today the listed building is owned by Kuwaiti investors, who are currently converting the castle into a luxury hotel.

architecture

View from the market square to the New Castle

Significant parts of the building are the three-storey main castle, the coach house, the kitchen and the archive tower (all Renaissance buildings from the 16th century) as well as the cavalier's house in the castle courtyard (1709), which is entered through a gatehouse from the 15th century facing west . A palace garden with rare plants and trees delimits the New Palace to the east. From its 130 meter long viewing terrace (laid out in 1670) you can access terraced gardens with a variety of exotic plants. The park covers around 5.5 hectares.

history

Between 1388 and 1399, the creation of a palace complex on older walls above the market square of the city of Baden can be narrowed down. This was granted town charter in the second half of the 13th century. Around 1479, Margrave Christoph I converted the complex into a residence, which made it the successor to Hohenbaden Castle . Since 1529 the New Palace has housed the archives of the Margraves of Baden.

When the castle was destroyed by the troops of the French King Louis XIV in the War of the Palatinate Succession , Margrave Ludwig Wilhelm moved the seat of government to Rastatt and built a new residence with Rastatt Castle .

The New Castle in Baden-Baden was rebuilt in the early 18th century using the existing outer walls. In the 19th century it was used by the Grand Dukes as a summer residence. Grand Duke Leopold had the palace restored by Friedrich Theodor Fischer from 1843–47 . The representative rooms were designed in a historicist style in the Renaissance style.

In 1919, the New Palace was granted private ownership to the House of Baden. It took in the art treasures from the other castles that had been given to the former ruling house, including the holdings of the older Zähringer Museum .

Inner courtyard of the New Palace, photo from 1923
View of the inner courtyard 2009

In 1946, the (South) Baden Ministry of Culture in Freiburg, with the support of Berthold von Baden, set up a Baden Historical Museum in the New Palace, which was also called the Zähringer Museum (predecessor of the Rastatt Military History Museum). After the end of this joint project, the (new) Zähringer Museum was opened in 1960, which in fact existed until 1981. In 1995, Sotheby’s auctioned the family 's collections and large parts of the inventory with great media interest ( margrave auction ).

After the sale by the von Baden family in October 2003, the castle became the property of the Kuwaiti group of companies Al-Hassawi. The businesswoman Fawzia al-Hassawi, daughter of the company founder, developed plans for a new use - from a luxury hotel to a vacation home for her family.

In April 2010, the city of Baden-Baden approved the conversion of the New Palace into a luxury hotel with 130 rooms, which was originally due to open in 2013. The renovation work, which was estimated at around 90 million euros, began in summer 2010. Subsequently, there were repeated interruptions, among other things because of the construction of condominiums planned by the new operators in a new wing in the castle park and the relatively late presentation of one Operator, which the city administration had made a condition for a building permit for the additional building. At the end of 2012 it was announced that the American hotel group Hyatt would take over this role. In mid-2014, plans changed again to the public: the opening date was postponed to 2018, the targeted number of rooms increased to 146. The sale of the 16 condominiums is intended to refinance the hotel renovation.

literature

  • Ulrich Coenen: From Aquae to Baden-Baden - The building history of the city and its contribution to the development of spa architecture. Verlagshaus Mainz, Aachen, Mainz 2008, ISBN 978-3-8107-0023-0 , pp. 95–99, 161–172.
  • Art and cultural monuments in the Rastatt district and in Baden-Baden , published by the Rastatt district and the city of Baden-Baden. Konrad-Theiss Verlag GmbH, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-8062-1599-5 .

Web links

Commons : New Castle Baden-Baden  - Collection of images

proof

  1. ↑ Ulrich Coenen: From Aquae to Baden-Baden - The building history of the city and its contribution to the development of spa architecture. Verlagshaus Mainz, Aachen, Mainz 2008, ISBN 978-3-8107-0023-0 , p. 95 ff.
  2. ↑ Rastatt Residential Palace - Milestones. State Palaces and Gardens of Baden-Württemberg, accessed on July 31, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Baden Law on Domain Assets 1919
  4. ^ Sotheby's: About us , accessed March 28, 2013
  5. ↑ See sale of the Baden house. It all started with the New Palace ( memento from January 22, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) . In: Stuttgarter Zeitung online from October 18, 2007
  6. ↑ See Baden-Baden. The new lady of the castle . In: manager-magazin.de from April 19, 2007
  7. ^ City of Baden-Baden: Reconstruction plans for the New Palace approved ( Memento from May 1, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ^ Hyatt Hotel in the New Palace. In: Immobilien Zeitung. June 5, 2014, accessed September 14, 2016 (registration required.).

Coordinates: 48 ° 45 ′ 52 ″  N , 8 ° 14 ′ 30 ″  E