Eichstätt Residence

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South wing of the residence

The Eichstätt Residence , the former seat of the Eichstätt prince-bishops on Residenzplatz in Eichstätt , is a three-wing palace from the Baroque period . Particularly noteworthy are the representative staircase with an artistically forged iron banister and a ceiling fresco by Johann Michael Franz , which shows the fall of Phaethon , as well as the mirror hall, which also adorns mythological scenes as a ceiling picture in glue paint by the hand of the same artist.

Building history

Coat of arms of Prince-Bishop Johann Martin von Eyb above the residence portal
View from Marienbrunnen to the south wing of the residence
Fall of the Phaeton, ceiling painting by Johann Michael Franz
Staircase in the residence

In the 11th century, under Bishop Heribert, an episcopal court, the so-called Old Court , was built to the south next to the Romanesque Willibald's Cathedral, which had recently been built. Until the first half of the 14th century this was the episcopal residence in the city. After it was relocated to Willibaldsburg high above the city, the building served the cathedral chapter as well as the seat of the administration of the Eichstätt bishopric .

During the two devastating city fires on December 17, 1633 and February 12, 1634, with which Swedish troops attempted to completely destroy the city of Eichstätt in the Thirty Years' War , the Old Court was also destroyed. After the end of the war, a provisional reconstruction took place until 1684.

At the instigation of Prince Bishop Johann Martin von Eyb , Hofbaudirektor Jakob Engel began building a new residential building on the site of the Old Court around 1700 . The west wing was completed around 1702. The east wing followed. The successor of Jakob Engels Gabriel de Gabrieli, who died in 1714, completed the south wing and the entire palace complex . At the same time, he laid out today's Residenzplatz in front of the south wing of the palace.

The third important Eichstätt court architect Maurizio Pedetti under Prince-Bishop Raymund Anton Graf von Strasoldo was responsible for the Rococo interior furnishings of the residence, which are still partially preserved today . This finally gave the Residenzplatz its present shape with its Marian column , which forms the center of a fountain surrounded by putti. Prince-Bishop Johann Anton III. Baron von Zehmen had his official residence here, carried out an enlightened reform program and expanded the courtyard garden.

After the Napoleonic era, which meant the end of the Eichstätt bishopric and its annexation to the Kingdom of Bavaria , the residence served Eugène de Beauharnais , Duke of Leuchtenberg , stepson of Napoleon and son-in-law of the Bavarian King Max I Joseph with his family as from 1817 to 1833 Place of residence (see Principality of Eichstätt ).

Since 1976 is there, the district office of the district Eichstätt . Some of the rooms have been restored and can be viewed together with a small gallery of works by the painter Carl Otto Müller .

literature

  • The renewal of the former prince-bishop's residence in Eichstätt in 1976/77. Collective sheet of the Historical Association Eichstätt 70 (1977).
  • Karl Zecherle (editor): Castles and palaces . Eichstätt district in the Altmühltal nature park. Ed .: District of Eichstätt. 2nd unchanged edition. Hercynia-Verlag, Kipfenberg 1987, DNB  944206697 , p. 14-15 .

Web links

Commons : Residenz (Eichstätt)  - Collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Hofgarten in Eichstätt in the Altmühltal Nature Park. In: Eichstätt - Sights. Bernhard Steibl, accessed on July 20, 2015 (private website).

Coordinates: 48 ° 53 '29 "  N , 11 ° 10' 58.8"  E