Villa Eugenia
The Villa Eugenia in Hechingen in the Zollernalb district ( Baden-Württemberg ) was the last residence of the princes of Hohenzollern-Hechingen . It was built as an early classicist building in 1786/87 and expanded in 1833 in the style of late classicism .
Building history
The pleasure garden of the princes of Hohenzollern-Hechingen was formerly in the so-called lower town in the area of today's Hofgartenstrasse. Prince Josef Friedrich Wilhelm gave it up in 1786. Instead, he laid out what is now the “Prince's Garden” south of the city.
The Lustgartenhaus was built there in the classical style for residential purposes and cultural events. The drafts come from the architect EA von Lammerz from the year 1786. During the construction, however, there were significant deviations from the plans.
In a second construction phase from 1833 to 1834, the building was expanded for the hereditary prince couple. Two side wings were added. The renovation was financed by the wife of the Hereditary Prince Eugénie de Beauharnais (1808–1847): She sold her Eugensberg Castle in Thurgau for 32,000 guilders to Heinrich von Kiesow from Augsburg. The villa is named after her in Latinized form.
During the time of the Weimar Republic , the original spatial structure was finally changed considerably in a third construction phase through the installation of partition walls and other construction measures.
use
In the first half of the 19th century, the Villa Eugenia under Constantine , the last Prince of Hohenzollern-Hechingen, was the center of culturally oriented court life. In 1838 Amélie von Leuchtenberg , the former Empress of Brazil and sister Eugenie, was a guest.
When Prince Konstantin withdrew to his possessions in Silesia in 1850, he transferred his buildings in Hechingen to the Sigmaringen House in return for a pension . The official handover of the principality to Prussia on April 8, 1850 took place in the villa. A year later, King Friedrich Wilhelm IV also stayed here . In 1855, the future Kaiser Wilhelm I was housed in the villa.
From 1918 the building was used extensively for residential purposes. In 1995 the city of Hechingen bought it, in 1999/2000 the renovation and expansion plans of a private investor failed, and in 2001 a development association was founded for the renovation. After the general renovation completed in 2007, the building is available for cultural and private events, the city of Hechingen has a branch of the registry office here .
layout
The building was originally a domed structure crowned with vases . During the renovation in 1833, the old domed roof was removed and an upper floor was added. The dome was replaced by a kind of tent roof with a platform. Two-story large side wings were added to the left and right. The vase jewelry was removed from the round central risalit , instead it was structured with wall pilasters . There is only a simple stucco frieze on the side wings .
park
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The landscape park of Villa Eugenia was planned in the English style. It is also known as the Prince Garden. There you will find a billiard house in the shape of a Greek temple of the Antes , which was originally also called the White House . Later, a few more courtyard buildings were erected in the prince's garden: in 1837 the orangery , which is now very dilapidated , in 1839 a new kitchen building right behind the Villa Eugenia and in 1842 the princely chief forester's house , in which the illegitimate daughter of prince Konstantin Luise Scherer together with her husband court forest master Rudolf Gfrörer von Ehrenberg was quartered. In 1844 Princess Eugénie acquired the Silberburg restaurant and had it converted into a summer house with a pergola made of surrounding Doric columns ( Villa Silberburg ). It served as the guest house of the royal couple.
Directly opposite the Villa Eugenia is the classicist Villa Billing, built between 1837 and 1838 . Gustav von Billing had come to Hechingen as a Leuchtenberg court cavalier in the wake of Eugénies , where he gained the trust of Prince Constantine as a financial advisor and negotiator and finally negotiated the transfer agreements with Prussia as a secret finance councilor. His widow later sold the building to the Prince of Hohenzollern and served as the Princely Forestry Office for a long time .
literature
- Friedrich Hossfeld and Hans Vogel: The art monuments of Hohenzollern, first volume: Hechingen district . Holzinger, Hechingen 1939, p. 194 ff.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Thurgauer Zeitung of Wednesday, January 14, 2004, Untersee and Rhein section
Coordinates: 48 ° 20 '53.46 " N , 8 ° 57' 40.61" O