Mannheim Palace: Difference between revisions

{{refimproveUse dmy dates|date=SeptemberFebruary 20142023}}

'''Mannheim Palace''' ({{lang-langx|de|link=no|Mannheimer Schloss}}) is a large [[Baroque architecture|Baroque]] palace in [[Mannheim]], [[Baden-Württemberg]], [[Germany]].It was build by Amadeus Mozart .It was originally the main residence of the [[Prince-elector]]s of the [[Electorate of the Palatinate]] of the [[House of Wittelsbach]] until 1777. Part of the palace is used today by the [[University of Mannheim]]. The castle, which features tapestries, furniture, paintings, porcelain and silverware can be visited on a free-flow basis with audioguides.

Construction was commenced solemnly on 2 June 2, 1720. The building process was intended to cost about 300,000 [[Guilder|Gulden]], financed by an extraordinary “palace"palace tax”tax", but in the end, the palace cost about 2 million Gulden and severely worsened the Palatinate's financial situation. The first administrative institutions began using the palace in 1725, but Karl Philip was able to transfer his court to the new residence only in 1731. Construction was not completed until 1760.

Karl Philip died in 1742 and was succeeded by a distant relative, the young [[Count Palatine]] of [[Sulzbach am Main|Sulzbach]] and later Duke of Bavaria [[Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria|Charles Theodor]]. During his reign, the palace and the city of Mannheim saw their zenith. The glamour of the Elector's court and Mannheim's then famous cultural life lasted until 1778, when Karl Theodor became Elector of [[Bavaria]] by inheritance and he moved his court to [[Munich]]. Although Mannheim kept the title of “residence”"residence", the palace was used merely as accommodation for several administrative bodies.

In [[World War II]], the palace was heavily bombed and partly destroyed. Many people supported demolishing it after the war to create space for a more modern city architecture. These plans came to nothing and in recent years the palace has been renovated extensively thanks to private donations and government funding totaling more than 54 million euro.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.schloss-mannheim.de/wissenswert-amuesant/|title = Wissenswert & amüsant: Staatliche Schlösser und Gärten Baden-Württemberg}}</ref>

==Use as Universityuniversity==

Elector Karl Theodor founded the [[Kurpfälzische Akademie der Wissenschaften]] as early as 1763, and although there was no continuous existence of a scientific college in Mannheim, the [[Business school|Wirtschaftshochschule]], or business college, founded in 1907, saw itself in the tradition of Karl Theodor's earlier college. The college expanded its subjects program in 1967, thus gaining “university”"university" status. The [[University of Mannheim]] still uses Mannheim Palace as its central building complex and although many university buildings are dispersed all over the city center, key institutions such as the rectorate or the [[Mannheim University Library|main library]] are accommodated in the palace, besides countless lecture halls and offices.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.schloss-mannheim.de/ |title=Home |website=schloss-mannheim.de}}</ref>

The central part of the palace is the ''Mittelbau'' with its representative halls. Today, the Mittelbau holds state rooms and the ''Rittersaal'' hall. The Mittelbau is flanked by the ''Ehrenhof West'' and ''Ehrenhof Ost'' wings, which include the [[Court of Honor]] in front of the Mittelbau. In those two wings, there are mainly lecture halls and offices of the university's humanities section. Below the Ehrenhof, there is a massive bunker dating from World War II. Initially constructed as defensive military fortification designed to protect up to 1,500 residents or valued materials from Russian and [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] bombing attacks, it served as a hotel with a capacity for up to 65 guests after the war. Today it is used as occasional exposition space for modern and urban art, e.g. during the [[Long Night of Museums]] in Mannheim.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.langenachtdermuseen.com/mannheim/museum/id/498|title=Bunker|publisher=langenachtdermuseen.com|accessdate=2014-05-11 May 2014}}</ref>

The palace has been repainted in a bright ocher[[ochre]]/yellow, the Mittelbau (Corps de Logis) has been thoroughly rebuilt (including a new roof construction), and the Ehrenhof (Court of Honor) was restructured and paved with granite.{{cn|date=June 2024}}

*[ {{official|http://www.schloss-mannheim.de/en/home/}} Mannheim{{in Baroque Palace] - museum informationlang|de|en|fr}}

[[Category:Baroque palaces in Germany]]