Villa Ludwigshöhe is a former summer residence of

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 ...

overlooking

Edenkoben Edenkoben () is a municipality in the Südliche Weinstraße district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It lies approximately halfway between Landau and Neustadt an der Weinstraße. Edenkoben is one of the towns situated along the German Wine R ...

and

Rhodt unter Rietburg Rhodt unter Rietburg () is a municipality in Südliche Weinstraße district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and ...

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

, Germany.

Geography

Villa Ludwigshöhe is located at the eastern edge of the

Palatinate Forest The Palatinate Forest (; ), sometimes also called the Palatine Forest, is a List of landscapes in Rhineland-Palatinate, low-mountain region in southwestern Germany, located in the Palatinate (region), Palatinate in the state of Rhineland-Palatina ...

, west of the small-town of

and the municipality

in the Southern Palatinate. Next to the Villa is the lower station of the "Rietburgbahn" chairlift, by which the

Rietburg The Rietburg is a ruined hillside castle on the edge of the Palatinate Forest above the village of Rhodt in the county of Südliche Weinstrasse in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The remains of this castle are located on the side of ...

can be reached; it is also accessible by road.

Architectural history

In 1843 King

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

decided to build a summer villa. At that time the Palatinate (from which his father Maximilian I came) belonged to Bavaria. It was to be constructed on the edge of the Haardt hills. In 1845 the necessary parcels of land were bought from the municipalities Edenkoben and Rhodt. The foundation stone was laid in 1846. The Villa was built by Joseph Hoffmann (Ludwigshafen/Rhine) according to plans from architect Friedrich Wilhelm von Gärtner. In 1847 the architect died and Leo von Klenze took care of the site management. The building was finished in 1852. Ludwig I lived in the Villa every two years during July and August, and also celebrated his birthday there. His last visit to the Villa was in 1866.

Building

The main building consists of four rectangular two-storey buildings, grouped around an atrium. The style is classical.

Geography

Architectural history

Building

References

Further reading