I started my day with a late-morning esoteric massage with the wonderful Judith Andras - just what I and my body needed, so it felt wonderful.
Bruhl is approximately 20km southwest of the Cologne centre, and is easily accessible by train in about 10 minutes from my nearest station (Cologne South). Once there, within a couple of hundred metres of the train station is the Augustusburg Palace; also in this complex is the Falkanlust Palace. The Augustusburg and Falkenlust palaces were listed as a UNESCO cultural World Heritage Site (again, where in Europe hasn't been?) in 1984; the two palaces are connected by the spacious gardens and trees of the Schlosspark (Palace Park). The palaces were built at the beginning of the 18th century by the Archbishop-Elector of Cologne, Clemens August of Bavaria of the Wittelsbach family (who we saw in Bavaria and Heidelberg). |
The main block Augustusburg Palace is a U-shaped building with three main storeys and two levels of attics; there is a magnificent rococo staircase in the centre of the building, with a fantastic ceiling fresco.
In the aftermath of the French Revolution the Electorate of Cologne ceased to exist. The palace was taken by French troops who pillaged all of the remaining furniture and when Napoleon saw the palace in 1804 he is supposed to have regretted the fact that it had no wheels. He gave it to his Marshal Davoust, who neglected it in a way that it fell into dilapidation.
In 1815 the palace passed into Prussian owner-ship. The palace was seriously damaged in World War II. In 1944 a bomb hit the North wing and in 1945 the main wing was hit by an artillery barrage.
For 9 euros, you can get a combi-ticket for both palaces. I arrived just in time to join a guided tour (the only way to see the inside of the palace); as the tour was in German, I paid the additional 1 euro (very reasonable) for the audio tour - and given that the main group were often waiting for those of us with the audio guides, I'm pretty sure that we were finally getting a good deal on the information. The tour is quite thorough, but it only goes through a couple of floors out of the four, and stays in the main building, without entering the many supporting buildings; however, overall a good tour.
Unfortunately, no photos are allowed inside, so I can only give you a shot from the outside.
And thanks to the wonders of the internet - here are a couple of the staircase:
lodge in the park of Nymphenburg Palace (Munich - I saw that when I was there; also part of the Wittelsbach family lodgings).
Falkenlust is a 2.5km walk from the Augustusburg Palace, past the gardens, through a woodland, and along a long tree-lined pedestrian avenue, although at one point you have to go under a rail line and over a road - later additions to the landscape! Where Augustusburg was the show-piece, Falkenlust was the private getaway for the Archbishop, where he could indulge in his passions for falconry and women.
Like Augustusburg, no touching and no photos allowed inside, so here's the outside:
And that wraps up the day, and Cologne - tomorrow morning it's off to Berlin, for my last stop in Germany.