The Blooming Baroque
Thirty hectares of gardens, lakes and a maze.
Carsten Steger — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Mussklprozz — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ghareeb.falazi — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ghareeb.falazi — CC BY-SA 4.0
Ludwigsburg is among the largest baroque palaces in Europe surviving in original condition: eighteen buildings and over four hundred and fifty rooms around three courtyards. Duke Eberhard Ludwig of Württemberg began it in 1704 and it expanded across decades until it was effectively a city in itself — indeed the town of Ludwigsburg grew up to serve it. What sets it apart from more famous European palaces is that it was never destroyed and never rebuilt: it came through every war, so the rooms, furniture and decoration are original rather than reproduced. It contains four museums: court fashion, ceramics, the baroque, and the royal apartments themselves. It also holds a court theatre of 1758, counted among the oldest surviving baroque theatres with its original machinery. The gardens around it cover thirty hectares and are known as the Blooming Baroque: formal gardens, lakes, a maze and a Japanese garden, along with a fairy-tale garden for children with scenes from the Brothers Grimm. The journey from Stuttgart is about fifteen minutes by suburban train.
Thirty hectares of gardens, lakes and a maze.
Grimm scenes staged for children.
Schlossstrasse 30, 71634 Ludwigsburg
At least half a day, and a full day for the gardens and palace together. The palace tour alone runs an hour and a half, and the thirty hectares of gardens need two hours to walk. With children, allow extra for the fairy-tale garden. Best to arrive in the morning and book an English tour in advance, as they are fewer than the German ones.