Schönbusch is a historic park and ''

Schloss ''Schloss'' (; pl. ''Schlösser''), formerly written ''Schloß'', is the German term for a building similar to a château, palace, or manor house. Related terms appear in several Germanic languages. In the Scandinavian languages, the cogn ...

'' near the town of

Aschaffenburg Aschaffenburg (; Hessian: ''Aschebersch'', ) is a town in northwest Bavaria, Germany. The town of Aschaffenburg, despite being its administrative seat, is not part of the district of Aschaffenburg. Aschaffenburg belonged to the Archbishopric ...

in the

Franconia Franconia ( ; ; ) is a geographical region of Germany, characterised by its culture and East Franconian dialect (). Franconia is made up of the three (governmental districts) of Lower Franconia, Lower, Middle Franconia, Middle and Upper Franco ...

region of

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The park was designed in the late 18th century as an

English landscape garden The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (, , , , ), is a style of "landscape" garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal ...

for an

Archbishop of Mainz The Elector of Mainz was one of the seven Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire. As both the Archbishop of Mainz and the ruling prince of the Electorate of Mainz, the Elector of Mainz held a powerful position during the Middle Ages. The Archb ...

. Various Neoclassical buildings, including the ''Schloss'' are scattered across the park. It is open to the public.

Geography

Schönbusch lies in a loop of the river

Main Main may refer to: Geography *Main River (disambiguation), multiple rivers with the same name *Ma'in, an ancient kingdom in modern-day Yemen * Main, Iran, a village in Fars Province *Spanish Main, the Caribbean coasts of mainland Spanish territ ...

, south-west of the town centre of Aschaffenburg in the ''

Regierungsbezirk A ' (, 'governmental district') is a type of administrative division in Germany. Currently, four of sixteen ' (states of Germany) are split into '. Beneath these are rural and urban districts ' (plural, ) serve as regional mid-level local gov ...

'' of

Lower Franconia Lower Franconia (, ) is one of seven districts of Bavaria, Germany. The districts of Lower, Middle and Upper Franconia make up the region of Franconia. It consists of nine districts and 308 municipalities (including three cities). History After ...

. The park's area is around 160 hectares. It is bordered in the north by the Bundesstrasse 26, across which is the ''Stadtteil'' (borough) of Aschaffenburg- and the port of Aschaffenburg. To the west lies

Stockstadt am Main Stockstadt am Main (officially: ) is a market community in the Aschaffenburg (district), Aschaffenburg district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany. The settlement was established by the Roman Em ...

. To the east and south, Schönbusch borders , another borough of Aschaffenburg.

History

The area making up today's park was previously a deer park of the

Archbishops of Mainz The Elector of Mainz was one of the seven Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire. As both the Archbishop of Mainz and the ruling prince of the Electorate of Mainz, the Elector of Mainz held a powerful position during the Middle Ages. The Archb ...

, whose secondary residence was at Aschaffenburg. In 1775, work began on transforming the deer park into an

, based on the ideas of Wilhelm von Sickingen, minister to Archbishop

Friedrich Karl Joseph von Erthal Friedrich Karl Joseph Reichsfreiherr von Erthal (3 January 1719 – 25 July 1802) was prince-elector and Archbishopric of Mainz, archbishop of Mainz from 18 July 1774 to 4 July 1802, shortly before the end of the archbishopric in the ''Reichsdepu ...

. It was thus one of the earliest examples of this style of park in southern Germany. A document from 1776 refers to the area as ''Schönbusch'' for the first time. It was formerly known as ''Nilkheimer Wäldchen''. In the 1780s, Friedrich Ludwig von Sckell, court gardener at

Schwetzingen Schwetzingen (; ) is a German town in northwest Baden-Württemberg, around southwest of Heidelberg and southeast of Mannheim. Schwetzingen is one of the five biggest cities of the Rhein-Neckar-Kreis district and a medium-sized centre between ...

and a leading garden designer of his time, was appointed to complete the garden. The ''Schloss'', originally known as ''Kurfürstlicher Pavillon'' ("electoral pavilion"), was built in Neoclassic style from 1778 to 1782 following plans by court architect . It was placed to be aligned along a visual axis to ''

Schloss Johannisburg Schloss Johannisburg is a schloss in the town of Aschaffenburg, in Franconia, in the state of Bavaria, Germany. It was erected between 1605 and 1614 by the architect for Johann Schweikhard von Kronberg, Prince Bishop of Mainz. Until German m ...

''. The palace features ten state rooms with Louis-XVI-style furniture. Other features were added to the park in the 1780s. Among them are the "Red Bridge", the "Philosopher's House", the "Temple of Friendship", shepherds' houses and a small village, a dining pavillon as well as artificial hills with a viewing tower and the "Devil's Bridge". As early as 1783, a set of regulations (''Parkordnung'') allowed public access to the park (save for a small private garden reserved for the Archbishop). When the Archbishop was not in residence even the Schloss was open to visits. In 1789, the ''Rote Brücke'' ("Red Bridge") was built to allow the road from Aschaffenburg to

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the ...

(today's Bundesstrasse 26) to pass over an artificial creek (in 1934, the bridge was moved to its current location just inside the park). In 1792/93, the French occupied Mainz and forced the Archbishop to flee to his secondary residence in Aschaffenburg. In 1796, French troops reached the town for the first time. It was occupied several times over the course of the next few years. During this period, Schönbusch suffered from neglect, no further extensions took place. When von Erthal died in 1802, his successor as Archbishop of Mainz was

Karl Theodor Anton Maria von Dalberg Karl Theodor Anton Maria von Dalberg (8 February 1744 – 10 February 1817) was a Catholic German bishop and statesman. In various capacities, he served as Archbishop of Mainz, Prince of Regensburg, Arch-Chancellor of the Holy Roman Empire, Bi ...

. He ruled the short-lived

Principality of Aschaffenburg The Principality of Aschaffenburg () was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire created in 1803 and, following the dissolution of the Empire in 1806, of the Confederation of the Rhine, which existed from 1806 to 1810. Its capital was Aschaffenb ...

and

Grand Duchy of Frankfurt The Grand Duchy of Frankfurt was a German satellite state of Napoleonic creation. It came into existence in 1810 through the combination of the former territories of the Archbishopric of Mainz along with the Free City of Frankfurt itself. Histo ...

. , apprentice gardener at Schönbusch, was sent by von Dahlberg to

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

to oversee the conversion of the city's bastions into parks in 1806 and again after the French destroyed them in 1813. In 1814, Aschaffenburg passed to the

Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria ( ; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1806 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German Empire in 1871, the kingd ...

. Schönbusch thus became a royal park. After 1816, the crown prince and later king

Ludwig I of Bavaria Ludwig I or Louis I (; 25 August 1786 – 29 February 1868) was King of Bavaria from 1825 until the German revolutions of 1848–49, 1848 revolutions in the German states. When he was crown prince, he was involved in the Napoleonic Wars. As ki ...

often summered in Aschaffenburg, living with his family at ''Schloss Johannisburg'' and Schönbusch. The maze was added in the 19th century (before 1829), as were some other buildings in the park like the stables. A first beer garden opened around 1900 and was replaced with a newer building in 1933. Restoration work of the structures took place in 1930-32 and again after 1950. The Schloss was renovated in 1964-9 and 1981–91.

Today

Today, park and palace are administered by the '' Bayerische Verwaltung der staatlichen Schlösser, Gärten und Seen''. Access to the ''Schloss'' is possible by guided tours. The former kitchen building now houses an exhibition called ''Alles scheint Natur'' on the history of the park. There are also two restaurants.

Geography

History

Today

References

Further reading