Hunting lodge FALKENLUST in Brühl, Germany | German Rococo interiors | Schloss Falkenlust near Cologne

Hunting lodge FALKENLUST in Brühl, Germany

Hunting lodge FALKENLUST in Brühl

German Rococo interiors 
Schloss Falkenlust near Cologne

A blogentry from this site:

https://www.patrickdamiaens.info

Already for many years I occasionally go with a few students ornamental woodcarving on a fieldtrip. Château Versailles is one of the places where they are looking the most forward to, but this time I have chosen for some beautiful German destinations. 

End of June (2016), it seemed to be a good idea to visit the castles of Brühl, 'Augustusburg Palace and Falkenlust hunting lodge'. Two fine examples of German Rococo with breathtaking Rococo interiors. These two castles are located not so  far from the Belgian border near Cologne. From my hometown Maaseik (in Belgium) it is 1:15h by car.

Hunting lodge Falkenlust

The Prince Elector and Archbishop of Cologne, clemens August (1700-1761), a member of the Bavarian Wittelsbach dynasty, laid the foundation stone for 'Schloss Falkenlust' in 1729. The main reasons for his choice of the site were its beauty and its favourable position for falconry. 

The basic floor-plan and elevations of the main building, and its overall concept, can be attributet to François de Cuvilliés, and the interiors to Michael Leveilly. The hunting lodge was ready for use as early as 1733.

Falkenlust Castle, garden side

Hunting lodge FALKENLUST in Brühl, Germany

A walk trough Falkenlust

The entrance from the courtyard leads into the vestiule. In the niches are statues of nymphes and satyrs, probably by Kirchhoff and Dierix. The nymphs bear symbols of falconry, and the satyrs appear as guardians of the herons which are important for falconry as quarry. In the ceilling: The coat oa arms of Clemens August.

Proceed straight ahead into the salon. The wall covering consists of Dutch wall-tiles from Rotterdam. Above the fireplace is a painting of Clemens August in the uniform of a falconer. The other paintings on the walls show members of the Wittelsbach family.
To the right is the dining room. The wainscoting paintings: Biarelle, around 1745. The plasterwork decoration of the ceilling: Morsegno and Castelli, around 1733. Above the fireplace is a painting of Karl albrecht, the brother of Clemens August and Prince Elector of Bavaria (born in 1697 and crowned as Emperor Karl VII in 1742, died in 1745). The furniture includes two card-tables in coloured scagliola marble.

Falkenlust Brühl

German Rococo interiors |  Schloss Falkenlust near Cologne

To the left of the salon is the (guest's) bedroom, with a ceilling by Castelli and Morsegno, around 1733. Above the fireplace: a painting of Maria Arnalia, the wife of Karl Albrecht.
Return through the vestibule and walk to the right. 
The wardrobe has a wall-covering in leather and dates from 1745. On the side opposite the window, there is a toilet niche behind the right-hand door.


Continue straight ahead, and you will come to the Lacquer Cabinet, which has wooden wainscoting with a lacquer painting of Chinese motifs, sometimes reffered to as Indian. 
Above the fireplace is a portrait of Clemens August in aristocratic dresing gown ( Joseph Vivien, 1725). The ceilling decoration: Artario 1733.

Falkenlust Brühl, Lacquer Cabinet

Returning through the vestibule, you will arrive at the staircase. The walls are covered by more than 10000 dutch tiles from Rotterdam, specially produced for Schloss Falkenlust. They display the Bavarian coat of arms colours of white and blue with initials C.A. on falcon hoods and varous other motifs relating to falconry. The ceilling decoration: Castelli and Morsegno, around 1732, the ceilling painting Laurents de la Roque, 1736.

The upper Apartment

Upper vestibule: 

In the niches: angelic figures (Putti) with falcons and herons. The plinths on which the groups of figures stand show the four Elements (artists: Dierix and Le Clerc, following a model by van Helmont, around 1733). Above the doors are stucco bas-relief figures of a river god and two river goddesses. The ceilling painting shows Aurora and Diana personifying the morning and the evening.

Upper Vestibule, Falkenlust

To the right is the Grand upper Salon, stucco work by Morsegno, 1731/32.
On the right-hand side of the salon is the Cabinet Chinois pour le Café.
The ceiling decoration: Castelli and Morsegno, 1733. Above the fireplace: a portrait of Johann Theodor, Cardinal of Liège and brother of Clemens August, in the uniform of a falconer.
On the left-hand side of the Salon is the bedroom, with a ceiling decoration by Castelli and Morsegno, 1731. In the corners are respresentations of good and bad falconers with their birds. In the middle of the ceiling is a personification of night, in a star-spangled mantle and bat wings, accompanied by bats. A small putto shows the morning star.

German Rococo interiors |  Schloss Falkenlust near Cologne

The portrait above the fireplace is of Clemens August's brother Ferdinand Maria, Duke of Bavaria.
On the wall opposite the windows is a painting of Pope Clements by Georg Desmarées.
Return through the Vestibule, and turn to the right.
Wardrobe with a wall covering in waxcloth, around 1730-40. Continue straight ahead to the mirror Cabinet, mainly designed by Cuvillliés. 
The ceilling decoration is by Artario. This room is mainly furnished with Chinese porselain. The cabinet is given particular mention in the diary of the young Moart, who visited Schloss Falkenlust in 1763.

German rococo, Falkenlust |  The Mirror Cabinet

The Chapel is located outside in the park. It is built in the style of a grotto and took ten years to its completitaion. It was dedicated to Maria aegyptiaca in 1740. The interior is the work of Peter Laporterie.

Schloss Falkenlust, the Chapel

Falkenlust | The interior of the chapel, in the style of a grotto

https://www.patrickdamiaens.info

Our FB Page

The Palaces AUGUSTUSBURG and FALKENLUST | Augustusburg in BRÜHL | GERMAN ROCOCO INTERIORS

Palace Augustusburg in Brühl

Patrick Damiaens 

Ornamental Woodcarver

Visit of 

the Palace Augustusburg

UNESCO World Heritage Site

Palaces Augustusburg and Falkenlust

As Rococo masterpieces in their own right, the Palaces Augustusburg and Falkenlust and their gardens have been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1984.

Building work on the Palace Augustusburg, a favourite residence of Clemens August von Wittelsbach, Elector and Archbishop of Cologne (1700-1761), began in 1725. The initial architect was the Westphalian Johann Conrad Schlaun. From 1728 to 1768, François de Cuvilliés, the Electoral Bavarian court architect, oversaw its development into the outstanding residence of that time.

The core of the palace is the grand staircase built according to the plans of Balthasar Neumann. The baroque gardens were created in the French style by Dominique Girard.

 

Augustusburg Castle 

The first documentary reference to Brühl was recorded in the year 1180. 

This was when Archbishop Philipp von Heinsberg of Cologne founded a manor house to administer the local estates which quickly became a significant local seat. 

In 1285 Brühl received its city charter from Archbishop Siegfried von Westerburg and self-administering courts were established. In 1469 Brühl became the capital of the county and was also chosen as the residence of the Cologne Archbishops. For almost 150 years the Cologne Archbishops territory was ruled from Brühl.

In 1689 the castle was blown up by foreign troops and later most of the town was destroyed by fire. Brühl recovered from this catastrophe and in 1725 Elector Clemens August let the palace Augustusburg be built on the ruins of the old castle by Conrad Schlaun and later by Francois de Cuvillies. Its famous roccoco staircase was designed by Balthasar Neumann.

Clemens August had two reasons for choosing this site: because of its beautiful surroundings and its convenient situation for falconry, which was one of his passions. 

After the dismissal of Conrad Schlaun, Cuvillies developped a new general plan in 1728 for the alteration and improvement of the initial building only just completed by his predecessor. 

He changed the building´s original character as a moated castle into a modern residence.

The architect Balthasar Neumann first visited Brühl in 1740, in the following years he stayed for longer duration to plan the staircase. Later the completion was taken over by the court architect Michael Leveilly and his excellent team.

staircase in Palace Augustusburg

From 1747-1750 Carlo Carlone painted the ceiling, frescoes of the staircase, the ajoining rooms and in the Nepomuk chapel.

When Clemens August died in 1761 the work in the main rooms was still going on. His successor Elector Max Friedrich von Königsegg (1761-1784) completed these rooms according to the designs of his predecessor. In 1769 Augustusburg was completed after more than 40 years of building.

In the aftermath of the French Revolution the Electorate of Cologne ceased to exist. The palace was taken by French troops who pillaged all of the remaining furniture and when Napoleon saw the palace in 1804 he is supposed to have regretted the fact that it had no wheels. He gave it to his Marshal Davoust, who neglected it in a way that it fell into delapidation.

In 1815 the palace passed into Prussian owner-ship. Thanks to King Friedrich Wilhelm IV. the building was saved. He first stayed here in 1842 and then ordered that the rooms should be renovated. 

After being overhauled the palace Augustusburg was used again as a residence in 1876/77 when Emperor Wilhelm I. took part in the Autum manoeuvres in the Eifel. 

German Rococo Style Interiors

The palace was seriously damaged in World War II. In 1944 a bomb hit the North wing and in 1945 the main wing was hit by an artillery barrage. The most pressing repairs were begun in the same year, which were continued on a larger scale as a complete restoration of the building. 

Today the palace belongs to the government of North Rhine-Westfalia.

 WEBSITE: Palaces of Brühl

 PalaceAugustusburg on Youtube

 

https://www.patrickdamiaens.info