Summer residence

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The New Schleissheim Palace was a summer residence
Imperial couple on a ride in the summer residence Schloss Wilhelmshöhe in the mountain park

A summer residence (or a summer palace or summer residence ) is understood to be a palace or a castle that was only temporarily inhabited - especially in summer - and that was often in relative proximity to the actual ancestral home of the builder. In a figurative sense, it also describes the location of a summer palace or some other temporarily used "summer residence" by rulers , such as a town, often a health resort , a region or an island. Such summer residences still exist today in monarchically ruled countries, but also in republics as the summer residence of the respective head of state - such as in Austria or the Czech Republic .

background

For historical reasons, many residences were located directly in the cities (for example the Hofburg in Vienna or the Munich Residenz ) and, as a grown ensemble of buildings, were only partially suitable for a splendid Baroque court. In order to achieve better heatability of the rooms, the apartments were often more modest. In addition, traditional residences were often located in narrowly built-up alleys and streets, which meant that many rooms had little daylight. In addition, after a long winter, the (old) chimneys had to be swept lavishly, a process that was better avoided. In contrast to this, summer castles were often more splendidly furnished than the actual residence. Many were also built on the outskirts of the cities and thus offered the space for a representative palace park that would not have found a place within the narrow city ​​walls . Due to the fact that functioning chimneys were hardly necessary in summer, it was not uncommon for huge state rooms to be set up that could not have been heated or only insufficiently heated in winter and were therefore missing in the actual main castle. The living spaces were also often larger. In many summer residences you could also get directly from the living rooms into the garden. Moving in and out every year often required a lot of planning. The summer and winter residences rarely had their own stocks of furniture, and so all the mobile works of art and furniture were often taken with them during the annual move. The Imperial Furniture Collection in Vienna is an example of a central furniture store in a noble house.

In southern Europe, the purpose of the summer palace was the opposite: while it was oppressively hot in the cities, the court withdrew to the cooler country residences, such as the Spanish Palacio Real in La Granja .

In Austria and the Czech Republic - both republics for a long time - there are now summer seats for the respective president, these are Schloss Mürzsteg and Schloss Lany .

Examples of summer residences

In Germany

In Austria

Other countries

Examples of location names

Picture gallery