Monrepos lake castle

Monrepos Castle seen from the south

Monrepos ( French for "my peace" , "my recovery" ) is a lake castle in the northwest of Ludwigsburg . The small castle is connected by avenues to the Ludwigsburg residential palace and the Favorite pleasure palace .

history

The Dukes of Württemberg have enjoyed hunting at Lake Eglosheim since the 16th century . In 1714, Duke Eberhard Ludwig had an octagonal pavilion, the little lake house , built on the northern bank .

Under Duke Carl Eugen , the entire area was designed in baroque forms. Since 1755 a rectangular lake with straight banks was created. A few years later, the Duke commissioned his architect Philippe de La Guêpière to plan a baroque summer residence. Construction work began in 1760, but came to a standstill after four years. In the meantime, Duke Carl Eugen was more interested in his other palace building projects. The half-finished system fell into a deep slumber.

Remodeling under King Friedrich

Chapel ruins

It was not until Duke Friedrich I (elector since 1803, king since 1806) interested again in the half-ruined palace. Master builder Nikolaus Friedrich von Thouret planned a redesign in the classical style and had the lake garden redesigned in the English landscape style. The rectangular shape was abandoned, artificial islands were raised in the lake and various buildings were built on them. So the Hohenheim chapel was moved to one of the islands, while an amort temple stood on the other. At the same time, the palace was built according to Thouret's plans in 1804. The Seeschloss included a dairy, i.e. an agricultural property, and a large zoo. According to the order of the elector, the lake palace was named Monrepos in 1804. For political reasons , Friedrich had to sell his Monrepos estate near Vyborg in 1788 to Ludwig Heinrich von Nicolay . The king often came to Monrepos with a small retinue to retreat and hunt.

Opposite the castle, a permanent building with a theater was built, then the theater was moved from Schloss Grafeneck on the Swabian Alb and both buildings were connected by a corridor. So you could celebrate larger festivities, such as the Queen's birthday in September, here. In 1815 the Tsar of Russia and the Emperor of Austria met in Ludwigsburg. On this occasion, a performance of the opera Cortez took place in the Monrepos Theater, during which the rear stage wall suddenly opened, behind which soldiers from Württemberg staged the tumult of the opera scene.

The back of the castle

After King Friedrich's death in 1816

After the death of King Friedrich in 1816, Queen Charlotte Mathilde received Monrepos Castle with her widow's pension, but probably only rarely visited it. She had the festival building and the theater demolished; the location of both buildings can be recognized by a pile of earth opposite the castle.

King Wilhelm I gave up the zoo and mainly used the domain for sheep and cattle breeding. After the death of Queen Charlotte Mathilde, he had the palace and the estate purchased for the Hofdomänenkammer (1829) and renamed it Seegut a short time later . The castle was released for inspection. Shortly after taking office , King Karl ordered the domain to be called Monrepos again .

The Monrepos domain had been leased since 1870 and a public economy was established in 1890. Gradually, Monrepos developed into a local recreation area for the Ludwigsburg area. During the Second World War, the chapel on the island was bombed.

Since 1945

The castle and the lake

Castle Hotel

Every year the Monrepos auto show takes place on the meadow in front of the castle

The Schlosshotel Monrepos was built in the immediate vicinity of the castle lake between 1967 and 1969 and expanded in 1975. In 1981 the court chamber of the House of Württemberg moved the court chamber office in Stuttgart and the winery to a newly constructed building; in 2003 the court camera office was integrated into the real estate division in Ostfildern-Scharnhausen. The nine-hole golf course, which opened in 1993, was built on a part of the former domain. It was later expanded to 18 holes today. A public 6-hole golf course was also built. Two of the domain's former granaries have been converted into office buildings.

At the beginning of the 1990s, the court chamber of the House of Württemberg carried out a true-to-original reconstruction of the English garden from the time of King Friedrich as part of the Monrepos park maintenance work , which of course could not be fully carried out for reasons of nature conservation. According to the old plans, the avenues around the lake were rebuilt.

Since 1995 the classic open air & fireworks of the Ludwigsburg Castle Festival have been held every year on the Festinwiese in front of the Monrepos lake castle .

Today the Seegarten serves as a recreational area for the greater Ludwigsburg area, while the castle itself is rented out and cannot be visited.

literature

Monrepos Castle, watercolor by General Eduard von Kallee around 1850

• Architectural studies. Published by the Architects' Association. Kgl. Polytechnic in Stuttgart 1870 / approx. 1874, No. 3, Sheet 4, No. 35, Sheet 1–2.
• Hans Eugen: Monrepos. Stuttgart 1933.
• Richard Schmidt: Monrepos Castle near Ludwigsburg. Munich / Berlin 1965.
• Klaus Merten: Monrepos Castle near Ludwigsburg. DKV art guide 174/9.
• Birgit Hlawatsch: Monrepos. 400 years of Württemberg history. In: Ludwigsburg history sheets . 45/1991, pp. 39-69.
• Norbert Stein: On the history of the festival and theater building at Monrepos Castle. In: Ludwigsburg history sheets. 45/1991, pp. 71-86.
• Eberhard Fritz: From “Seehaus” to “Monrepos”. Studies on the function of the lake castle at the beginning of the 19th century. In: Ludwigsburg history sheets. 49/1995, pp. 67-92.
• Eberhard Fritz: Monrepos Zoo - Domain Seegut. Hunting and cattle breeding under the kings Friedrich and Wilhelm I of Württemberg. In: Ludwigsburger Geschichtsblätter 64/2010. Pp. 81-112.
• Daniel Schulz: The reconstruction of "my rest". The Monrepos Castle in the 19th century . In: Ludwigsburg history sheets 66/2012. Pp. 95-148.

Web links

Commons : Monrepos Castle  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Description of the castle at burgen-web.de

Individual evidence

1. ^ Chronicle - Ludwigsburg Castle Festival. In: www.schlossfestspiele.de. Retrieved November 29, 2016 . 

Coordinates: 48 ° 55 ′ 11 ″  N , 9 ° 10 ′ 10 ″  E