TWO DAYS OF PALACES: Day One -- Schloss Schleissheim

TWO DAYS OF PALACES: Day One -- Schloss Schleissheim
April 10, 2012



Michael arrived in Munich with his girlfriend, Christine, on Easter Sunday after a long flight with a layover in Frankfurt. Rachel and Jeremy were here two weeks ago and this was Michael's turn to come see our new "house" and a bit of the countryside, as well. Unfortunately, he was feeling a bit under the weather the very first day, but I had planned a nice meal and kept him well fed -- Butterfladen, cream of asparagus soup, salad, quiche, carrot cake, a couple of Easter bunnies, and plenty of tea.  


The next morning was spent at the Residenz Museum, but Michael's condition was worsening, so we sped through, got some Bavarian food for lunch, and headed home. Poor Mike, he never gets sick. We realized he wouldn't be able to leave the house on Tuesday, either, so Christy and I planned a visit to Schloss Schleissheim, just 14km north of downtown Munich. 


The ride on the U-bahn was fairly quick and the bus we were to take was at the station when we got off the train. We hopped on, but didn't take note of its direction. When the bus driver made a U-turn and headed back toward the train station, I realized I had made some kind of mistake. He saw our bewilderment and came to help out, in German of course. This didn't present much of a problem, though, since most foreigners have just one thing in mind when visiting the little town of Oberschleissheim -- the palace. Soon enough, the very same bus was headed in the direction of the palace and we got off right outside the palace grounds. 


There are actually three stately palace buildings along a very long axis with beautiful gardens and fountains linking them together. If you click on this link, http://schloesser-schleissheim.com/, you will get a panoramic 360° degree tour of the old and new palaces with the planted gardens between them. If you want the full tour, you will see the palace interiors, as well.


The old palace, Altes Schloss Schleissheim, was an existing structure when it was purchased by Wilhelm V, Herzog von Bayern (William V, Duke of Bavaria) in 1598. Wilhelm had abdicated his title the previous year. The building was transformed over many years, but was heavily damaged during  the War. I do not know how much of the building was restored or preserved as we did not visit it on this day, but I do know that it contains a museum focusing on Prussian history. 


A Brief History (I won't be offended if you skip this paragraph)
The time period when Wilhelm V was ruler of the duchy of Bavaria was a very turbulent one for Germany. The Protestant Reformation had its beginnings here when Martin Luther became angered over the Catholic church's sale of indulgences. The Council of Trent in the mid 1500s brought about some reforms, but the Protestants had gained a foothold in Germany, and the country was split in two. War and violence were erupting all over the country. During Wilhem's reign (1579 to 1597), all non-Catholics were ousted from Bavaria.


On a lighter note, 1598 was also the year Wilhelm founded the Hofbrauhaus, Munich's now-famous beer hall. 

Deborah in front of Altes Schloss Schleissheim

The two other structures on the palace grounds were both built under Elector Max Emmanuel, short for Maximillian II Emmanuel. His 350th birthday is being celebrated this year and the grounds-keepers were already hard at work edging the gardens and turning the soil. They are planning gondola rides on the canal and concerts during the month of July. 


Lustheim Palace is magnificently situated at the end of a long garden vista with a canal running straight toward it. Today, it houses a Meissen porcelain collection that Mark and I will surely visit in the future. Here it is at the end of a very long canal.

Schloss Lustheim 

Christy sitting on the lawn with Lustheim in the background.

In the middle of the long axis sits the new palace, Neues Schloss Schleissheim, the object of today's visit. In the next picture, Christy is standing out front before going inside. We spent a little while just admiring the grandeur of the building. Work on the palace began in 1701. Max Emmanuel was intending this palace to replace the Residenz in Munich as his primary residence. He was also hoping one day to become King of Bavaria. This never came to pass, however.

Neues Schloss Schleissheim

The ceiling fresco in the Great Hall (next photo) was the largest in the world at the time it was painted. (I wish I could tell you the name of the artist, but I can't remember who it was.) This was a truly magnificent room. The incredible height and beautiful stucco ornamentation are really astounding. The projection of the stucco work at the top of the room gives the ceiling painting great depth. When you visit these palaces, they should really issue you a period dress so you can swoosh around these rooms in style. 

Next, I will simply show you a series of photos with some explanatory captions. The website I included earlier has panoramas of many of these interior rooms. 

The ceiling frescoes in the main rooms
celebrate Max Emmanuel's military victories.

This room was designed as a picture gallery and
today houses a collection of Baroque art,
mostly religious paintings from the 1600s and 1700s.
These are not the paintings that hung here originally,
but are a representation of what this room would have
displayed and are hung similarly,as well.

The bedroom in the Electress's apartment.
She must have requested a yellow bedroom
because the walls are covered in a vivid
yellow damask, most of it still original,
with silver instead of gold leaf embroidery.

The ceiling frescoes in the apartments of the Elector
and Electress were painted by Jacopo Amigoni.

A detail of the ceiling fresco depicting an allegory
on the delights of summer.

Continuing on our tour of the palace, we simply wanted to take in the beauty of the rooms and, so, took a break from snapping photos. Besides, I was not carrying the good camera which would have provided more vibrant colors.

The stairway you see next is very grand and has a fresco inside a round vault at the very top of the stairwell. By now, I was wondering how these people managed so much craning of their necks. You had to keep looking up to appreciate the grandeur and the scale of the workmanship invested in this palace. 

As awesome as the ceiling paintings were, the tapestries were the Elector's most valuable possessions. They originally covered all the walls of a particular room. These were found mostly in the apartments of the palace, rather than in the main rooms, as far as I can gather. I did not take any pictures because they never really impress me. But obviously, the work to make just one of these tapestries must have been enormous. 

Not knowing the German language can be a bit of a stumbling block. You want to learn about the history and the design, but all the signs are in German. Sometimes there is an English translation, but the facts are seldom as detailed. It seems you must always take the audio guide with you. This can help, but it can also hinder you from viewing everything you want to see. So if you really want the history, more than one visit is necessary. Plus a little research.

After a quick tour of the grounds, Christy and I headed back home to see how Michael was faring. Luckily, he was feeling better and we all planned to head into town that evening so Michael could finally feel like he was really in Munich. Staying indoors for the first two days of his vacation had not been much fun. Mark will tell you all about our visit to the Hofbrauhaus later that night. 

This is the first entry of our "Two Days of Palaces." The next one will give you the details of our visit to Nymphenburg Palace.