Herrenchiemsee
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Herrenchiemsee is a complex of royal buildings on
Herreninsel Herreninsel (; old name: Herrenwörth) is a 238 hectare island in Bavaria's largest lake, Chiemsee. It is the biggest of three main islands, Fraueninsel and "Krautinsel" joining it to form the municipality of Chiemsee. Herreninsel is famous fo ...
, the largest island in the
Chiemsee Chiemsee () is a freshwater lake in Bavaria, Germany, near Rosenheim. It is often called "the Bavarian Sea". The rivers Tiroler Achen and Prien flow into the lake from the south, and the river Alz flows out towards the north. The Alz flows in ...
lake, in southern
Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
,
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. Together with the neighbouring isle of
Frauenchiemsee The island Frauenchiemsee, often called Fraueninsel (), is the second largest of the three islands in Chiemsee, Germany. It belongs to the municipality of Chiemsee in the Upper Bavarian district of Rosenheim, which is the smallest municipality in ...
and the uninhabited Krautinsel, it forms the municipality of
Chiemsee Chiemsee () is a freshwater lake in Bavaria, Germany, near Rosenheim. It is often called "the Bavarian Sea". The rivers Tiroler Achen and Prien flow into the lake from the south, and the river Alz flows out towards the north. The Alz flows in ...
, located about southeast of
Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
. The island, formerly the site of an
Augustinian Augustinian may refer to: *Augustinians, members of religious orders following the Rule of St Augustine *Augustinianism, the teachings of Augustine of Hippo and his intellectual heirs *Someone who follows Augustine of Hippo * Canons Regular of Sain ...
monastery, was purchased by King
Ludwig II of Bavaria Ludwig II (Ludwig Otto Friedrich Wilhelm; 25 August 1845 – 13 June 1886) was King of Bavaria from 1864 until his death in 1886. He is sometimes called the Swan King or ('the Fairy Tale King'). He also held the titles of Count Palatine of the ...
in 1873. The king had the premises converted into a residence, known as the Old Palace (''Altes Schloss''). From 1878 onwards, he had the New Herrenchiemsee Palace (''Neues Schloss'') erected, based on the model of
Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...
. It was the largest, but also the last of his building projects, and remained incomplete. Today maintained by the
Bavarian Administration of State-Owned Palaces, Gardens and Lakes The Bavarian Administration of State-Owned Palaces, Gardens and Lakes (german: Bayerische Verwaltung der staatlichen Schlösser, Gärten und Seen), also known as the Bavarian Palace Department (german: Bayerische Schlösserverwaltung), is a departm ...
, Herrenchiemsee is accessible to the public and a major tourist attraction.


Old Palace (Herrenchiemsee Abbey)

According to tradition, the
Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...
abbey of Herrenchiemsee was established about 765 AD by the
Agilolfing The Agilolfings were a noble family that ruled the Duchy of Bavaria on behalf of their Merovingian suzerains from about 550 until 788. A cadet branch of the Agilolfings also ruled the Kingdom of the Lombards intermittently from 616 to 712. T ...
duke
Tassilo III of Bavaria Tassilo III ( 741 – c. 796) was the duke of Bavaria from 748 to 788, the last of the house of the Agilolfings. The Son of Duke Odilo of Bavaria and Hitrud, the Daughter of Charles Martell. Tassilo, then still a child, began his rule as a Frankis ...
at the northern tip of the Herreninsel. New findings however indicate an even earlier foundation between 620 and 629 by the Burgundian missionary Saint
Eustace of Luxeuil Eustace of Luxeuil (c. 560 – c. 626), also known as Eustasius, was the second abbot of Luxeuil from 611. He succeeded his teacher Columbanus, to whom he had been a favorite disciple and monk. He had been the head of the monastic school. Life ...
, making it the oldest monastery in the
Duchy of Bavaria The Duchy of Bavaria (German: ''Herzogtum Bayern'') was a frontier region in the southeastern part of the Merovingian kingdom from the sixth through the eighth century. It was settled by Bavarian tribes and ruled by dukes (''duces'') under Fr ...
, established some 70 years earlier than St Peter's Abbey in
Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...
. In 969, Emperor
Otto I Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), traditionally known as Otto the Great (german: Otto der Große, it, Ottone il Grande), was East Frankish king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the oldest son of He ...
consigned the abbey to the Archbishops of Salzburg. Initially a
Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...
monastery, Herrenchiemsee about 1130 was re-established as a convent of
Canons regular Canons regular are priests who live in community under a rule ( and canon in greek) and are generally organised into religious orders, differing from both secular canons and other forms of religious life, such as clerics regular, designated by a ...
living under the Rule of St. Augustine. The construction of a new Romanesque basilica, dedicated to Sts Sixtus and Sebastian, was completed in 1158. In 1215, with the approval of
Pope Innocent III Pope Innocent III ( la, Innocentius III; 1160 or 1161 – 16 July 1216), born Lotario dei Conti di Segni (anglicized as Lothar of Segni), was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1198 to his death in 16 ...
, the Salzburg archbishop Eberhard von Regensburg made the monastery church the cathedral of a suffragan diocese in its own right, the
Bishopric of Chiemsee The Bishopric of Chiemsee was a Roman Catholic diocese. While based on the islands of the Chiemsee in Bavaria, Germany, most of its territory lay in the County of Tyrol, Austria. The bishopric ceased to be a residential see in 1808. and accordin ...
, including several parishes on the mainland and in
Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...
. The Augustinian convent acted as
cathedral chapter According to both Catholic and Anglican canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics ( chapter) formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese during the vacancy. In ...
, while the auxiliary bishops retained their seat at the ''Chiemseehof'' palace in Salzburg. The Herrenchiemsee chapter was headed by provosts who from 1218 also held the position of an
archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denominations, above that o ...
. They even obtained
pontifical vestments Pontifical vestments, also referred to as episcopal vestments or pontificals, are the liturgical vestments worn by bishops (and by concession some other prelates) in the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Anglican, and some Luthera ...
and the right of papal count palatines in the 15th century. The present-day
Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
monastery complex was erected between 1642 and 1731. In the course of the
German Mediatisation German mediatisation (; german: deutsche Mediatisierung) was the major territorial restructuring that took place between 1802 and 1814 in Germany and the surrounding region by means of the mass mediatisation and secularisation of a large number ...
, Herrenchiemsee Abbey was
secularised In sociology, secularization (or secularisation) is the transformation of a society from close identification with religious values and institutions toward non-religious values and secular institutions. The ''secularization thesis'' expresses the ...
in 1803, the cathedral
desecrated Desecration is the act of depriving something of its sacred character, or the disrespectful, contemptuous, or destructive treatment of that which is held to be sacred or holy by a group or individual. Detail Many consider acts of desecration to ...
in 1807, and the Chiemsee diocese finally dissolved in 1808. The island was then sold; various owners demolished the cathedral, sold the interior, and even turned the abbey into a brewery. King Ludwig II of Bavaria warded off plans for the complete deforestation of the island by a
Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Würt ...
timber trade company by acquiring it in 1873. He had the leftover buildings converted for his private use, the complex that later became known as the "Old Palace", where he stayed surveying the construction of the New Herrenchiemsee Palace. From 10 to 23 August 1948, the representatives of eleven German states of the Western Zones and
West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...
met at the Old Palace as the ''Verfassungskonvent'' (Constitutional Convention) to prepare the work for drafting the Basic Law (''Grundgesetz'') with a view to the founding of the
Federal Republic of Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...
.


New Palace


Construction

In 1867, the young king
Ludwig II Ludwig II (Ludwig Otto Friedrich Wilhelm; 25 August 1845 – 13 June 1886) was King of Bavaria from 1864 until his death in 1886. He is sometimes called the Swan King or ('the Fairy Tale King'). He also held the titles of Count Palatine of the ...
had traveled to France but had to return to
Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
when he heard of the death of his uncle
Otto Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', '' Odo'', ''Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded f ...
, without the opportunity to visit the
Palace of Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 19 ...
. He nevertheless was concerned with the residence of King
Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...
and had plans for a similar retreat drafted by his court architect Georg von Dollmann (1830–1895). A possible building site was chosen in the Graswang valley near
Ettal Ettal is a German municipality in the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in Bavaria. Geography Ettal is situated in the ''Oberland'' area in the ''Graswangtal'' between the ''Loisachtal'' and '' Ammertal'', approx. 10 km north of Garmisch-Pa ...
, the later site of
Linderhof Palace Linderhof Palace (german: Schloss Linderhof) is a Schloss in Germany, in southwest Bavaria near the village of Ettal. It is the smallest of the three palaces built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria and the only one which he lived to see completed. Deve ...
. After several revisions, Dollmann's designs for a former
pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings: * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...
resembling
Grand Trianon The Grand Trianon () is a French Baroque style château situated in the northwestern part of the Domain of Versailles in Versailles, France. It was built at the request of King Louis XIV of France as a retreat for himself and his '' maîtresse- ...
or the Château de Marly had grown to a large palace, including a copy of the Versailles
Hall of Mirrors The Hall of Mirrors (french: Grande Galerie, Galerie des Glaces, Galerie de Louis XIV) is a grand Baroque style gallery and one of the most emblematic rooms in the royal Palace of Versailles near Paris, France. The grandiose ensemble of the hal ...
. Construction was halted by the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. In the following years, Ludwig concentrated on construction of Linderhof. He resumed his former plans after finally visiting Versailles in summer 1874, being received with honors by the French government on his birthday on August 25. Herrenchiemsee became the designated site for the large New Palace around a central ''
corps de logis In architecture, a ''corps de logis'' () is the principal block of a large, (usually classical), mansion or palace. It contains the principal rooms, state apartments and an entry.Curl, James Stevens (2006). ''Oxford Dictionary of Architecture ...
'', designed by Dollmann,
Christian Jank Christian Jank (15 July 1833 – 25 November 1888) was a German scenic painter and stage designer. Jank was born in Munich, the Bavarian capital. Here he originally worked as a scenic painter. Among other things he was involved in the scenery f ...
, and
Franz von Seitz Franz von Seitz, born Franz Seitz (31 December 1817 – 13 April 1883) was a German painter, lithographer, engraver and costume designer as well as an art teacher and theatre director. Life Seitz was a native of Munich, Bavaria, son of Jo ...
. Construction started on 21 May 1878. Ludwig himself regularly supervised the building progress while he stayed at the Old Place nearby. Meant as a homage to the adored King Louis XIV and his divine right, Herrenchiemsee arose as a private, yet vast residence, which resembled Versailles but never was designed to host a thousand-headed royal household. Ludwig only had the opportunity to stay at the Palace for a few days in September 1885, with a handful of rooms richly decorated and the unfinished parts covered by colorful canvasses. After the king's death in the following year, all construction work discontinued. During the period between 1863 and 1886, 16,579,674 Marks were spent. Using a 0.2304
troy ounce Troy weight is a system of units of mass that originated in 15th-century England, and is primarily used in the precious metals industry. The troy weight units are the grain, the pennyweight (24 grains), the troy ounce (20 pennyweights), and th ...
(7.171 g) 1890 '20 Mark' gold coin as a benchmark, this equates to 190,998 oz of gold, which at October 2013 prices was worth approximately £154,000,000 (US$250,100,000), more than the totalled construction cost of Linderhof and
Neuschwanstein Castle Neuschwanstein Castle (german: Schloss Neuschwanstein, , Southern Bavarian: ''Schloss Neischwanstoa'') is a 19th-century historicist palace on a rugged hill above the village of Hohenschwangau near Füssen in southwest Bavaria, Germany. T ...
together. The expenses brought the royal finances to the verge of bankruptcy, though they had a strong stimulus on the local economy. Only a few weeks after Ludwig's death the building was opened for the public. In 1907 the unfinished North Wing was demolished, whilst the corresponding South Wing was never built. After the November Revolution, Crown Prince Rupprecht ceded Herrenchiemsee to the State of Bavaria in 1923.


Architecture

Unlike the medieval themed Neuschwanstein, begun in 1869, the Neo-Baroque New Palace stands as a monument to Ludwig's admiration of King Louis XIV of France. Its great Hall of Mirrors' ceiling is painted with 25 frescoes showing Louis XIV at his best. The palace was shaped in a 'W' with wings flanking the central edifice. Only 16 of the 70 rooms were on the ground floor. Though it was to have been an equivalent to the Palace of Versailles, only the central portion was built before the king died and construction was discontinued with 50 of the 70 rooms still incomplete. It was never intended to be a perfectly exact replica of the French royal palace. Like Versailles, the Hall of Mirrors has 17 arches, the Hall of Peace and the Hall of War on either side have six windows each. The window niches at Herrenchiemsee are slightly wider than those at Versailles, making its central façade a few metres wider. The dining room features an elevator table and the world's largest
Meissen porcelain Meissen porcelain or Meissen china was the first European hard-paste porcelain. Early experiments were done in 1708 by Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus. After his death that October, Johann Friedrich Böttger continued von Tschirnhaus's work an ...
chandelier. Technologically, the building also benefits from nearly two centuries of progress. The original Versailles palace lacked toilets, water, and central heating, while the New Palace has all of these, including a large heated bathtub. The palace had been built at a mostly inaccessible spot, in the middle of a forest, on a more or less remote lake island accessible by boat only – today via a system of small steamboats. This location, in defiance of both, an air of "enchantment" around it and the nearby chain of the
Chiemgau Alps The Chiemgau Alps (german: Chiemgauer Alpen) are a mountain range in the Northern Limestone Alps and therefore belong to the Eastern Alps. Their major part is situated in Bavaria, Germany and only a small section crosses the Austrian border into t ...
looming over and reflecting in the lake, may have been and may still be considered clearly less appealing than Neuschwanstein's more immediate, thus spectacularly impressive alpine backdrop near
Füssen Füssen is a town in Bavaria, Germany, in the district of Ostallgäu, situated one kilometre from the Austrian border. The town is known for violin manufacturing and as the closest transportation hub for the Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau ca ...
– not to speak of it having been perched right upon the blasted away tip of a steep rock and a quite intimidating gorge instead of a back yard. Not only the exterior, but also the interior at Herrenchiemsee were left even more unfinished than Neuschwanstein's. The latter's international popularisation, propelled by the inspiration
Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
drew from it – say: "
Cinderella Castle Cinderella Castle is Cinderella's home fairy tale castle and the icon at the center of two Disney theme parks: the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, and Tokyo Disneyland at the Tokyo Disney Resort. Both serve as the flagship attraction for ...
" – may only have added to the disproportional attention the two venues enjoy with tourists. Also, seen from Munich, Linderhof is located in the same direction as and not very far away from Neuschwanstein, towards
Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...
and
Swabia Swabia ; german: Schwaben , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany. The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of ...
, so tourists often choose to visit both places within a day trip. Chiemsee with its islands lies on the way to
Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...
, i.e. almost in an opposite direction.


Gardens

The
formal garden A formal garden is a garden with a clear structure, geometric shapes and in most cases a symmetrical layout. Its origin goes back to the gardens which are located in the desert areas of Western Asia and are protected by walls. The style of a forma ...
is filled with fountains, a copy of the Versailles
Latona Fountain The Latona Fountain in the Gardens of Versailles lies in the Latona Basin between the Chateau de Versailles and the Grand Canal. On the top tier, there is a statue of the goddess Latona, mother of the sun and moon gods. The fountain operates thr ...
, and statues in both the classical style typical of the
gardens of Versailles The Gardens of Versailles (french: Jardins du château de Versailles ) occupy part of what was once the ''Domaine royal de Versailles'', the royal demesne of the château of Versailles. Situated to the west of the palace, the gardens cover so ...
and the fantastic
Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
favored by King Ludwig. Statues reminiscent of antiquity are found throughout the gardens, overwrought in the grand style of
Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
's romantic operas.


Gallery

File:Aerial image of the New Palace Herrenchiemsee.jpg, New Palace from the west File:Schloss Herrenchiemsee Parkseite Westen.jpg, Formal garden with fountains to the west of the New Palace File:View from the palace Herrenchiemsee to the East (2010).JPG, View from the palace to the east File:Herrenchiemsee, Neues Schloss, Eingangshalle.jpg, The vestibule File:Schloss Herrenchiemsee 02.jpg, The court of honor File:Schloß Herrenchiemsee - panoramio.jpg, The central axis across the Latona fountain to Chiemsee mimics the Versailles view to the Grand Canal File:Neues Schloss Herrenchiemsee Arbeitszimmer.jpg, Ludwig's unused ''Arbeitzimmer'' reflects Louis XV's ''Cabinet de travail'' File:Sculpture in Chiemsee palace.jpg, Fountain work


See also

*
List of Baroque residences This is a list of Baroque architecture, Baroque palaces and Residenz, residences built in the late 17th and 18th centuries. Baroque architecture is a building style of the Baroque, Baroque era, begun in late 16th-century Italy and spread in Europe ...


References


External links

* Herrenchiemsee Page of Bavarian Palace Department (English)
Bayerische Schlösserverwaltung , Schloss und Park Herrenchiemsee , Aktuelles
* Herrenchiemsee Page of Bavarian Palace Department (German)

* Herrenchiemsee, the bavarian Versailles

{{Authority control Museums in Bavaria Palaces in Bavaria Royal residences in Bavaria Renaissance Revival architecture in Germany Castles in Bavaria Gardens in Bavaria Historic house museums in Germany Registered historic buildings and monuments in Bavaria Buildings and structures in Rosenheim (district) Ludwig II of Bavaria