Bretzenheim Palace
The Palais Bretzenheim is a historic building in Mannheim . It is located in the A2 square directly opposite the Mannheim Palace and is one of the most important historical Mannheim noble houses. The palace was built from 1782 to 1788 according to plans by the court architect Peter Anton von Verschaffelt . In this building, the Elector Carl Theodor had his maitresse , the dancer Josepha Seyffert , who was elevated to Countess von Heydeck , and their four children, whom Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart gave piano lessons here. These children later formed the Bretzenheim family .
history
Josepha Seyffert, the daughter of a secretary and clerk and later figure Antin of the Opera Ballet was in 1765 at the age of 17 years the mistress of Elector Carl Theodor. The elector gave her house number 5 in square A1 as an apartment. In 1767 he gave her the nobility name of Haydeck (mostly written Heydeck). Her daughter Caroline, born in 1768, was immediately legitimized. In 1769 Carl Theodor raised mother and daughter to hereditary counts. As the family expanded, the elector acquired the neighboring houses facing the A3 square and the palace through a straw man in 1771 and had them converted into a three-story corner house by the architect Peter Anton von Verschaffelt . The mother of the four children they shared, however, died at the age of 23 as a result of puerperal fever after the birth of the last two children, the twins Eleonore and Friederike. The name of the palace comes from the fact that the elector's son, Karl August , was enfeoffed in 1774 with rule over his principality Bretzenheim an der Nahe and the town of Zwingenberg am Neckar.
The Bretzenheim heirs sold the palace to Konrad Rutsch in 1842. Due to family ties to Friedrich Hecker , the house was used at times as a meeting place for revolutionary-minded citizens. The Rheinische Hypothekenbank acquired the building in 1899 and moved into it in 1901.
The building was completely destroyed during the Second World War, but reconstructed in 1948 and 1949. It has been used by the Mannheim District Court since 2004 . During the last renovation work, the great hall could be restored in a simple form.
architecture
The building occupies the entire south side of the A 2 square. The broad front opposite the Mannheim Palace has 21 windows and three floors. The three central axes step slightly in front of the front and are provided with a continuous balcony. The middle window is adorned with a coat of arms of the von Heydeck-Bretzenheim family.
During the project planning period, Verschaffelt's artistic point of view changed from a late Renaissance style to Baroque and Classicism . The three-branched central building contained the entrance to the courtyard, above it the large hall and the staircase, which was intended to be the entrance to the large hall. To the right and left of the central building there were wings with nine windows each and their own stairwells, which continued on the side streets with further 10 and 11 window axes respectively.
Spaces
The palace has about 60 rooms and was divided as follows in 1790:
- The Bretzenheim administration was located on the ground floor of the right wing, with the office director's living room and study and work rooms for several assistants. The stairs to the main floor led to the bedrooms for unmarried clerks and court officials.
- The archive with offices for the archivist and secretary was located on the first floor of the left wing. This was followed by an elegant dining room and a stately " coffee room ". The stairs to the main floor led to the rooms for storing white goods, silver and porcelain as well as the living, sleeping and dining rooms of the caretakers. In addition, the stately " mouth-kitchen " was located here .
- On the main floor there was a chapel to the left of the large hall and originally the countesses' apartments with living rooms and bedrooms for the maids.
- The Count's apartment was originally on the second floor, but after his sisters married, he moved to the main floor. In his former apartment, collection rooms were set up and chamberlain housed.
- On the main floor of the right wing was the " large apartment ", which was furnished by Verschaffelt in the Louis-seize style and intended for the lady of the house.
- The second floor on the right contained rooms for servants and guests.
- The center of the palace was the " Great Hall ", which was furnished by Verschaffelt in the late Louis XVI style. Nine paintings hung here depicting the Emperor, Pope and Elector Carl Theodor with his legitimate wife. The latter seems strange today, since you were here in the house of the Elector's mistress.
Furnishing
The cost of the land, construction and interior decoration amounted to 219,663 guilders and 52 kroner. This corresponds to a high amount of millions in euros . Around 20 percent of the furnishings were done by craftsmen and retailers from Mannheim. After the palace, the Bretzenheim Palace was one of the most representative buildings in electoral Mannheim. In addition to Peter Anton von Verschaffelt , other important artists such as Ferdinand Kobell and Nicolas de Pigage also worked on its interior .
literature
- Friedrich Walter: Buildings of the Electoral Period in Mannheim , Mannheim 1928
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Volker Keller: Alt-Mannheim 100 Years Ago - A Cityscape in Transition , Wellhöfer Verlag, 2014, ISBN 978-3-95428-152-7
- ↑ MARCHIVUM : Chronicle star . September 17, 1901, accessed September 30, 2018 .
Coordinates: 49 ° 29 ′ 8 ″ N , 8 ° 27 ′ 44 ″ E