The main palace at Schloss Nymphenburg

Schloss Nymphenburg

While touring palaces has never been high on my list of things to do when I travel, much of that reluctance has been because there haven’t been that many palaces to see in the places that I’ve visited.  So, the list of royal residences that I’ve visited has been pretty small (Holyroodhouse, Sandringham, Edinburgh Castle, Tower of London, Linlithgow, and Scone).  Thus, I made it a goal of mine to add to my “palaces visited” list on this trip.  I figured that I’d have ample opportunity to meet this goal, because Germany (thanks to the country being a collection of kingdoms until 1870) contains a lot of palaces.  While it ended up that I didn’t see as many palaces as I had hoped, I think I ended up seeing one of the best:  Schloss Nymphenburg.

Construction started on Schloss Nymphenburg in 1664.  The palace was intended to be a summer residence (and gift for producing a male heir) for Henrietta Adelaide, wife of the Elector of Bavaria.  Construction continued over the next 150 years, as various Electors and Kings expanded the palace and grounds until a small villa turned into a huge, several winged mansion with a few hundred acres of gardens.  By the time construction ended, the palace was one of the largest in Europe. 

We drove up from Garmisch and entered Munich’s urban sprawl.  My map of Munich wasn’t the best, so I wasn’t entirely sure how we were going to get to the Schloss.  However, once we passed under the Laim train station, it turned out that the path to the Schloss was well signposted.  We still had to make several strange twists and turns on the path.  But, eventually we did find the East Canal that led to the palace’s main building.

We followed the canal until it opened into a half circle of houses surrounding a small lake.  On the other shore of the lake (and where the half circle of houses ended) was the palace itself.  As the palace came into view, Kelly exclaimed, “Wow!!  That’s bigger than Versailles.”  I’ve never been to Versailles, so I’ll have to take Kelly’s word for it.  But, I was also impressed with the size of the complex.

We parked the car, got out, and started walking to the main palace.  On either side of us were pavilions (other wings of the palace) which were larger than the main building itself.  After glancing at my watch and noticing that it was 1:30 p.m., I thought to myself “How are we ever going to see this entire palace before closing time?”

We walked to the main building.  On the ground floor was a bookstore and ticket office.  At the door was a sign listing the ticket prices, which varied depending on how much one wanted to see.  Feeling bold, I bought five all access tickets (which included “outbuildings” that I wasn’t aware existed).  The cost was €10/ticket.

We went up the stairs to the Grand Hall of the main building.  Here, we ran across some of that famous German obedience.  A sign in front of the door to the Grand Hall said “No backpacks.”  To make sure no one entered with a backpack, there were three people at a desk at the door to temporarily confiscate the backpacks.  Kelly had brought a variation of such a pack, with the hope of housing Julia inside of it.  But, to the guards, it looked like a backpack, which made it verboten.  Kelly mildly protested that it would be easier to control Julia if she were in such a pack.  The guards stood their ground, telling Kelly that he could control her by holding her hand.  Kelly had obviously been down this road before, because he turned over the backpack and took Julia by the hand.

After our brief encounter with the guard, we entered the Great Hall.  It was clear from the decoration that this room was meant to impress and overwhelm…goals which it easily achieved.  From the gold leaf encrusted stucco on the walls to the magnificent fresco on the ceiling, everything screamed money, power, and taste.  In my mind’s eye, I easily imagined the room filled with royalty and nobility dancing the night away at some ball.  The Great Hall was certainly an auspicious start to the tour.

Unfortunately, the rest of the palace was not as impressive as the Great Hall.  There just wasn’t much variety to the other rooms beyond the paint color chosen for a given room. After a while, all the stucco and gold leaf begins to run together.  The fact that we were allowed into only 20 of the palace’s rooms (when it was clear that there were more than 100 in the building) also made the place seem repetitive.  Finally, the décor in the other rooms seemed a bit…dingy.  I realize that when something is a couple of hundred years old, it’s not going to look like it did when it’s brand new.  Still, since many of the rooms had been reconstructed since World War II, I expected to see them a bit…sharper.  I guess the whole complex needed a new coat of paint and a bit of touchup to make things look better.

The only distinguishing room (other than the Great Hall) in the main palace was in the south wing.  This room contained 24 portraits made by Joseph Stieler between 1827 and 1850 of women that King Ludwig I thought were the most beautiful.  The portraits were good enough to earn the right to be displayed.  But, I couldn’t help but wonder what Ludwig’s queen thought of the display, especially considering that her portrait wasn’t included in the set.  I imagined long nights of fighting between the King and Queen over these portraits.

After finishing our tour of the main building, Kelly had reached his limit of touring with a small child.  While Julia was generally well behaved, she did attempt to get a closer look at some items (which led to a rebuke from either Mom or Dad and then a temper tantrum from Julia).  Kelly wanted to stay outside, so that she’d have plenty of room to play without fear of breaking anything.  He told Dianne and I to continue touring until we were had our money’s worth.

Everyone set out for the west gardens.  Along the way, I noticed a sign with pointed to the Palace Chapel.  It sounded like something I might like to see, so I wandered over to it.  I was glad I did.  Inside was a beautiful, gold leaf altar and ambo.  The whitewashed walls were the perfect compliment to a stunning fresco depicting Mary Magdalene.  There was no one else in the room, which meant that I was able to enjoy the art and architecture’s full emotional effect.  I was so impressed that I told Dianne, Kelly, and Denise that they needed to see it.

After everyone had spent a bit of time in the Palace Chapel, we continued the short trek to the west gardens.  Upon passing through the west gardens’ gate, we made a bee line for the staircase that graced the west façade of the main building (the staircase’s balcony also led to the Great Hall).  From this staircase, it was easy to see why Nymphenberg’s gardens have a reputation for brilliance.  First off, the gardens looked like they went on forever.  Those portions that one could see were beautifully landscaped and manicured.  Bisecting the scene was the West Grand Canal, which also appeared to go on to the horizon.  It was a sight fit for a king.

Kelly and Denise wandered off to a corner to play with Julia, while Dianne and I set off to explore.  We strolled through the landscaped garden, all the while admiring the statues and flowers.  We stumbled across a newly married couple, who were having their wedding photos taken in the Schloss’ gardens.  We watched them for a while, until I noticed my watch.  It was already 3 p.m., so I needed to hurry if I wanted to see other sights in the Schloss’ grounds.

As if the main palace wasn’t enough, there are four “minor palaces” sprinkled around Schloss Nymphenburg’s west gardens.  These buildings were designed to be retreats for the nobility when the stress of the main palace (which, I remind you, was just a vacation home) became too great.  After about a 10 minute walk, I found the first of these “minor palaces”:  the Amelienburg.  The Amelienburg is the youngest of these small palaces (built from 1734 to 1739); but, is considered the finest of the group because of its stunning interior decoration.  As we approached, we saw some repairmen working on the exterior (and, as I was later to find out, one of the interior rooms).  The unfinished repairs gave the Amelienburg the same slightly run down feel as existed at the main palace.  But, that feeling went away shortly after we entered the building.  After getting our tickets stamped, we went into the Hundekammer, or Dog Room.  What was so striking about this room was that it was decorated in a series of panels that were delicately painted blue and white.  The painting on the panels gave the illusion that the room was covered in Dutch tiles.  It was one of the most interesting (and beautiful) room décors I had seen.  But, it was to be topped by the magnificent Hall of Mirrors.  As one might expect from the name, this circular room had its walls lined with mirrors.  But, what one wouldn’t expect was the light blue-grey that decorated the ceiling and the plethora of silver stucco gracing the ceiling and the areas around the mirrors.  It was also quite clever how the placement of a few windows in key locations generated enough light (after being magnified by the mirrors) to easily light the entire room.  The whole scene conveyed a playful sense.  I remember thinking how this room would be perfect for a ball (which, I later found out, was exactly for what the room was used).  I could have stayed in the Hall of Mirrors for another hour, but there was more of the Amelienburg to see.  I thought the following rooms would be equal to the Hall of Mirrors.  But, some of them were undergoing restoration work, and were, thus, in a bit of disarray.  However, the final room in the structure, the kitchen, was not suffering through a restoration.  The kitchen was complete in all its glory.  Every kitchen wall was covered from ceiling to floor in Dutch tile.  The delicate blues and whites of the tile matched the paintings in the Hunndekammer.  It made for a nice counterpoint to the first room we visited.  It also reminded us how important symmetry was to architects in the Enlightenment Age. 

Having found that the reality matched the reputation in the Amelienburg, we were anxious to see the next “minor palace” in the gardens:  the Badenburg.  The Badenburg, constructed between 1718 and 1721, served as a bath house for the royals.  Of course, this wasn’t just one room with a bathtub.  This building contained a bedroom, a changing room, and a large hall called the Banqueting Hall.  The Banqueting Hall was the second room we visited after entering.  Again, we had our breaths taken away by some amazing stucco work on the walls.  But, it was the ceiling fresco that really impressed us.  With its motif of elemental nymphs at play, it seemed like a cousin to the fresco in the Great Hall.  Because they shared this theme, the Badenburg felt like an extension of the main palace (as opposed to the Amalienburg, which stood on its own).  We didn’t expect another room to top the Banqueting Hall.  So, we were surprised to find that the bathing room itself was more incredible than the Banqueting Hall.  This two story room not only had ceiling frescos and wall stucco statues, but also had magnificent marble-like stucco panels on the walls and a Dutch tile line bath (we’d call it a swimming pool).  One could easily put twenty people in the bath with little problem.  It truly was a bath fit for a king.

After finishing our tour of the Badenburg, we had some choices to make.  It was already 4:30 p.m.  We knew that Kelly and Denise would want to be leaving soon, if for no other reason than to get Julia some dinner.  But, we still had two minor palaces to see:  the Pagodenberg and the Magdalenenklause.  Unfortunately, the distance between the Badenburg and these other palaces was quite large.  It had taken about 15 minutes to cover the mile between the Amalienburg and the Badenburg.  It was even further to the other minor palaces.  So, we considered just going back to the main palace to rendezvous with our friends.  But, I really wanted to see the Pagodenberg.  After a bit of discussion, Dianne and I decided to try to see the Pagodenberg and then call it a day.

We began walking toward the Pagodenberg.  Our trip took us past the Monopteros (a pseudo-Greek temple on the shores of a lake) and the East Great Canal.  As I crossed the bridge spanning the canal, I noticed that a reflection of the main palace shimmered on the canal’s surface.  Even though I was in a hurry to get to the Pagodenberg, I couldn’t help but stop and take a picture.

After a 20 minute walk that was over a mile long, we made it to a lake.  The Pagodenberg stood on the opposite shore from us.  However, there was no path that led directly around the lake.  The quickest way was to walk west for about a half mile past the lake, and then loop north for about a half mile before circling back to the Pagodenberg.  An eastern trail was even longer.  Since it was already almost 5 p.m, I knew there would be no way to make it around the lake and see the Pagodenberg without putting a severe imposition on Kelly and Denise.  So, we reluctantly headed back to the main palace.  After a 10 minute walk, we arrived at our destination.  We found Kelly and Denise, who were watching Julia play in the guard houses and run up and down the external stairs.  After gathering her up, we headed back to Garmisch.

Above:

1)  The Badenberg

2)  The ceiling to the Great Hall

3)  The Monopteros

4)  Schloss Nymphenburg's West Gardens

5)  The Pagodenberg

6)  The Palace Chapel's main altar

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