Fulda City Palace

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Main entrance of the city palace
View from the south tower of the Fulda Cathedral

The baroque Fulda City Palace was built from 1706 to 1714 by Johann Dientzenhofer as the residence of the Fulda prince abbots and later the prince-bishops .

Building history

The first predecessor of the Fulda City Palace was an abbey castle, which was built at the beginning of the 14th century. After that, the castle was rebuilt and expanded as a palace complex at the beginning of the 17th century and as a renaissance palace in the last quarter of the century . Johann Dientzenhofer rebuilt the facility in the baroque style at the beginning of the 18th century . When it was rebuilt as an electoral prince's residence at the beginning of the 19th century, the palace was partially redesigned in a late Classicist style .

Abtsburg

Heertor on the city side of the City Palace, made him a man went on the Abtsburg over, out of the city to the "high road" Frankfurt-Leipzig to come

The first predecessor of the Fulda City Palace was a city ​​castle , which was first mentioned as the "new castle" at the end of the term of office of Prince Abbot Heinrich V von Weilnau . The exact construction time of the castle is not known, and there are only a few records that allow conclusions to be drawn about its floor plan.

Heinrich V probably took a dispute with his convent about the distribution of the monastery income as an opportunity to rebuild his residence outside the monastery. The monastery dean , who had already taken over many of the abbot's tasks within the monastery, moved to the former abbot's apartment in the monastery on the site of today's cathedral mechanic . Henry V chose a strategically good location for the castle between the monastery and the city. He also paid attention to a location on a hill to be able to defend the new castle more easily. The castle represented the increased power of the abbots, it served for representation and better defense.

After excavations between 1979 and 1982 in today's courtyard and in the ground below today's central building, it is known that the southwestern part of the rectangular castle complex was on today's courtyard. One found there moat retaining walls, the basement of a southern round tower (probably the keep ) and fragments of the battlements and the moat bridge. According to the sources, the castle was a bastion, which also served the city defense, as its circular wall in the north also formed the city ​​wall . The castle was secured against the city with the curtain wall, the tower and a moat.

At the latest in the 16th century, the castle was secured in the southwest against the city out with three fortifications, as additional defenses served a bailey . The castle had a second gate in the city wall (Heertor) in the northwest, through which access to the castle was secured without having to enter the city. The only known pictorial representation of this castle, a woodcut from 1550, shows the eastern vedute of the city, and the northeastern flank of the castle complex can also be seen.

Castle buildings

First lock

Garden front of the city palace. The square base of the castle tower still comes from the Abtsburg, the octagonal upper part from the Renaissance castle.

The abbot's increase in power and the increased need for representation was probably the reason for the conversion of the residence into a castle at the beginning of the 17th century .

Between 1607 and 1612 the castle was rebuilt into a four-wing castle, including some of the buildings of the old castle. The palace of the Abtsburg with its foundation walls is still included in the middle risalit of today's palace. The appearance of the castle built by Winter can only be determined from three drawings (from 1669, 1704 and 1705) and the excavations mentioned above. Thereafter, the four three-story unequal wings formed an irregularly rectangular inner courtyard. Two round stair towers formed the transition from the side wing to the main wing, the roof of which was higher than the roofs of the other wings. The building was kept architecturally simple. The gable decorations on the narrow sides and the outer facade of the main wing were an exception. It was flanked by two towers and in the middle was a terrace-like porch with a gate passage. The chancel of the castle chapel was probably located in the two-story risalit above the gateway. It had gables as in profane buildings, but two pointed-arched tracery windows were built into each side, as was customary in sacred buildings.

Renaissance castle

Engraving of the renaissance castle

When Abbot Bernhard Gustav von Baden-Durlach took office in 1671, he was already planning the expansion of the residence a year later. He began building a new two-story wing on the west side of the four-wing complex. However, this wing was only completed between 1681 and 1683, when Abbot Placidus von Droste completed the construction with his own plans.

The presumable goal was to build a closed facade against the zoo and pleasure garden. According to a drawing from 1705, this side wing in the direction of the garden was subordinate to the four-wing complex. The western tower was now arranged in the middle of this facade.

Baroque castle

Fürstensaal, today the meeting room of the city council
Orangery

A further expansion began in 1706 under Prince Abbot Adalbert I von Schleifras , who commissioned Johann Dientzenhofer with the planning of the new palace. According to sources, Dientzenhofer thus designed his first secular building. The foundation stone was laid on March 26th, 1708. Another new wing was added to the four-wing complex, facing the city. This is how the court of honor was created. He also rebuilt the rest of the palace in the Baroque style. Since Dientzenhofer returned to Bamberg in 1711, it can be assumed that the work was largely finished by that time. The renovation work on the central wing and in the north wing had been completed by 1713. The interior work continued until the late 1714. This included, above all, the work on the main staircase and the outside stairs in the courtyard, which were built by Hans Georg Mainwolff, the former foreman of Dientzenhofer. The abbot's death in 1714 meant that construction was interrupted for four years. The work was completed in 1719, as many artists were already present for the interior of the castle in 1720.

The complex now consisted of the three-story main wing or transverse wing with its two side wings set to the east and lower in the roof area. These were joined by the somewhat narrower two-story buildings of the Marstall, which closed off the inner courtyard from the outside. In the north wing, the tower from the Renaissance castle remained. The main wing spanned the entire width of the complex and dominated the castle architecturally with its steep and high hipped roof and the little protruding central projection.

In the west, two two-story side wings attached to the main wing formed the courtyard, which was closed off from the Tuesday market by pillars and bars. In the middle, the pillars and the grilles to the entrance gate were arched inwards. The facades were kept simple, the windows had narrow, profiled frames. They were cranked twice in the upper corners and ended with trapezoidal keystones on the lintel.

Prince Electoral Residence

The baroque building remained largely intact. When Elector Wilhelm I of Hesse took over the principality, he had the wings on the Residenzgarten rebuilt in the late classicist style in 1817 and 1818 . He commissioned the master builder Johann Conrad Bromeis to do this . The castle became the residence of the electoral prince.

Todays use

The Hall of Mirrors of the Fulda City Palace.

Today parts of the city palace serve as the seat of the city ​​administration .

Many of the historical rooms can be visited and are almost in their original condition. There is also a large number of works of art on display (including paintings , stucco work , porcelain ). A special room is the mirror hall (also called mirror cabinet). The former dressing room of the abbot is equipped with hundreds of small and large mirrors.

literature

  • Franziskus Büll / Friedhelm Jürgensmeier (ed.): Germania Benedictina, Bd.7 Hessen . EOS Verlag, Ottobeuren 2004, p. 367ff.
  • Rolf Müller (Ed.): Palaces, castles, old walls. Published by the Hessendienst der Staatskanzlei, Wiesbaden 1990, ISBN 3-89214-017-0 , pp. 130f.

Web links

Commons : Fuldaer Stadtschloss  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 50 ° 33 ′ 14 "  N , 9 ° 40 ′ 32"  E