THE OLD PALACES

In the Renaissance courtly celebrations were an important part of cultural life, which was also ascribed the function of legitimizing sovereignty and supporting the state. In accordance with this, splendid tournaments, processions and banquets were put on. At the wedding of Duke Ludwig von Württemberg to Ursula Dorothea von Baden in 1575 a fantastic table decoration of wax, resin, chalk, sugar and lead was built as a pate in the shape of a lion, a "garden with hunters, hounds and stags", a forest with Adam and Eve, the birth of Christ with the shepherd and the procession of kings, a mountain with a fountain of wine in the middle, a sow-and-hound hunt and live birds below it.

The famous Venetian once visited Stuttgart and also attended the royal opera of Duke Carl Eugen von Württemberg. A memorable event is said to have taken place there. "(...) When an aria sung by a famous castrate pleased me greatly, I clapped. A minute later a gentleman came to me and spoke insistently to me in German in an impolite tone. I replied with only the four words which mean: Ich verstehe kein deutsch (I do not understand German). He left and another came to tell me in French that it is not permitted to clap when His Grace is present in the theater. Casanova replied, "Very well. Then I will come when His Grace is not here, for when I like an aria, I cannot help but clap." Shortly thereafter the Duke wished to speak to Casanova and permitted him to clap.
By the way, during the next aria the Duke clapped, however Monsieur Casanova did not...

"Hohenheim, 26 Sept., Tuesday, 1780
Heide wahr man die mereste Zeidt im Dörfle, ich kochde ein Zwetschgen geseltz in meiner Kleinen Küch(...)." (Today we were in the little village most of the time, I cooked a plum marmalade in my little kitchen ...")

"Friday, 8 (June 1781)
(...) der herzog gaben audientz u. sonsten geng nichts sonderliches vor, auch säde ich im Dörfle Salad u. der Herzog rechneden in hinein." (... the Duke gave an audience and otherwise nothing in particular occurred. I also planted lettuce in the little village and the Duke raked it in).

"It lies about one and a half little hours from Stuttgart. When the quarrels with the provincial diet began, the Duke was also seized by an anger against the city of Stuttgart and did not go there again. This also gave occasion to this new building. The Duke already had the large forest located there, the one on the peak of the mountain, chopped down and leveled. As a result the new palace was round, and wonderfully laid out like the Pantheon. Although it is not very large, it is built with very good taste."

Philipp Wilhelm Gercken, around 1780

"The city is well-built and is inhabited by a handsome and strong breed of people. (...) The wealth of the earthly kingdom and the ease of finding amusement at court or in the country are the reason that one lives very well here. What we serve for 12 persons is hardly enough for six here. Therefore, the resident of Stuttgart is so comfortable at home that he becomes homesick at a distance of 6 to 8 miles.

Johann Caspar Riesbeck, Letter of 14 April 1780

"Solitude, on one of the most severe heights of the forested area between Stuttgart and Leonberg, which had appealed to him (Duke Carl Eugen) due to its beautiful, far-reaching view, now became a main place of joy. Like Ludwigsburg this palace was built on foreign ground; it belonged to a neighboring village. Lakes were dug on mountains, lined with clay and filled with water as corvée service by thousands of farmers. The forests were illuminated: Entire armies of fawns and satyrs sprang out of artificial grottos in the middle of them and danced ballet at the midnight hour."

Carl Eduard Vehse, The Courts of Württemberg, 1853

From the "Provisions of His Royal Majesty" on the use of "the royal complex behind the royal residential palace":

1. It is forbidden to smoke tobacco. Whoever is caught doing so shall be expelled after confiscation of the tobacco pipe and fined 1 fl.
2. Whoever takes a dog into the gardens shall also be fined 1 fl.
3. Whoever drives or rides outside the broad roadways shall be fined 4 fl.
4. Children are not to be admitted without their parents or an overseer"

 
Schwäbische Kronik, 11/6/1808

The Palace Square (Schloßplatz) before the New Palace (Neues Schloß) has been adorned with an anniversary column since 1841, the 25th anniversary of the reign of King Wilhelm I.

During a visit to the Württemberg residence in 1855, the later Chancellor of the German Reich, Otto von Bismarck, received an invitation from King Wilhelm I to visit Wilhelma Palace, the "Villa". Only a select few enjoyed this privilege, and Bismarck expressed his appreciation of the "quite surprising originality". However, it would be "difficult to find "a collection of "female nudities" comparable to those here and in nearby Rosenstein Palace.



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