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Palace

Margravial Palace Erlangen

Germany · 17th century

Founded
1700
Style
Baroque architecture
Architect
Gottfried von Gedeler, Antonio della Porta
Heritage status
architectural heritage monument in Bavaria
Location
Erlangen
Coordinates
49.5979°, 11.0045°
Open on the map →Wikipedia ↗
Margravial Palace Erlangen in Germany
Photo: Janericloebe · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Description

The Schloss Erlangen is a residence in Erlangen, built between 1700 and 1704 by George William, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth. Work was initially led by Antonio della Porta and after his death in 1702 by Gottfried von Gedeler. It was the first baroque building built from scratch in Franconia.

Christian Ernst moved his third wife Margravine Elisabeth Sophie of Brandenburg into the Schloss in 1703 when it was still incomplete, giving it its initial name, the Elisabethenburg. Behind it was a 280 metre wide and 550 metre long garden with an orangery (completed in 1706), the Konkordienkirche (completed in 1706, now the Geological Institute), the Hugenottenbrunnen fountain, an equestrian statue and a now-lost Sylvan theater.

After a short time as a princely residence, the castle served as a widow's residence until the early 19th century. It suffered several fires in the 18th century and on 14 January 1814 a final serious fire broke out in a roof space filled with rubbish - it could not be extinguished since the temperature was -25 °C and the water froze in the hoses and even once the water had been heated the syringes could not pump it high enough. The castle was completely destroyed and only its furniture was saved.

It was only rebuilt between 1821 and 1825, to plans by the university architect Friedrich Wilhelm Örtel with much flatter roofs than the original structure, and used to house the library of the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität. It was used as a reserve hospital during the First and Second World Wars and after 1945 it has only been used by the university.

Text adapted from “Schloss Erlangen” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

In the rankings

Margravial Palace Erlangen ranks #6,260 of 9,040 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #553 of the 714 mapped in Germany. Founded 1700, it is older than 21% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 710 atlas entries founded in the 17th century. 10 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how Germany compares in the castle statistics.

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