Bouchefort Castle
The Bouchefort castle was built from 1694 by the French architect Germain Boffrand near Brussels built. The Bavarian Elector Maximilian II Emanuel , then living as governor of the Spanish Netherlands , had this pleasure palace built for himself and his mistress Agnes Le Louchier .
location
It was located in the important hunting area of the Forêt de Soignes / Zoniënwoud in the southeast of what is now Brussels : the Watermael-Boitsfort / Watermaal-Bosvoorde district. The importance of deer hunting can still be seen today in the city's coat of arms.
(The sound of the word Bouchefort, reminiscent of the French "bouche = mouth", refers to the Flemish "Bos / Bosch / Boits" in the sense of "bush / forest".)
The "dense forest" was part of the original coal forest and is identical to today's Soignes forest. The palace was laid out as the center of a baroque hunting star (with a dog kennel, kitchens, horse stables, shed for the vehicle fleet), the entire complex already indicates the electoral hunting area of Forstenried Park with Fürstenried Palace near Munich . The forest was cut through by wide aisles, which enabled the hunting party to perform major turning maneuvers and driveways with a large retinue.
Building design
The floor plan, which was only published in 1745, shows a regular octagonal central building, which is accessed by cross-shaped staircases with a portico . The domed central salon is ring-shaped by the couple's living rooms.
The section of the castle shows a dome with a lantern that serves as a lookout tower. This could be reached by a spiral staircase .
The building, which no longer exists today, was only expanded on the ground floor. The floor plan seems to anticipate Joseph Effner's Pagodenburg in the Nymphenburg Palace Park and also refers to the central pavilion of Clemenswerth , which was built between 1736 and 1746 according to plans by Johann Conrad Schlaun . The sculpture in the middle salon shows references to the Viktoriensaal of Schleissheim Palace .
Marly , the menagerie of Versailles , Vaux-le-Vicomte and the Villa Rotonda can be named as role models .
literature
- Wolfgang Braunfels : Francois Cuvilliés. The builder of the gallant architecture of the Rococo. Munich 1986, ISBN 3-7991-6257-7 .
- Ludwig Hüttl: Max Emanuel, the Blue Elector, 1679–1726. A political biography . Munich 1976, ISBN 3-7991-5863-4 .
- Max Hauttmann: The Bavarian court architect Joseph Effner , Starnberg 1913.
- Max Tillmann: A French alliance of art. Elector Max Emanuel as client and collector , Berlin / Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-422-06869-8 .
- Jean-Francois Bovy: "Le pavillon de chasse de Maximilien-Emmanuel de Bavière à Boitsfort par Germain Boffrand". Brussels 1998.
- Michel Gallet, Jörg Garms: Germain Boffrand , Paris 1986.
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 49 ′ 0 ″ N , 4 ° 24 ′ 0 ″ E