Ludwigsburg palace and gardens

Last Updated on 19/04/2023

Ludwigsburg palace and gardens are not so well known. However, apart from Wilhelma, this is the most interesting place in the region. It is a must-see if you are staying in Stuttgart. In this post we see Ludwigsburg palace, gardens around, Favorit park up to Monrepos palace. I tell also about Ludwigsburg pumpkin festival.

Be sure to check if there are any extra activities. The city hosts a street music festival, while the park hosts musical fireworks and a great pumpkin festival.

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Ludwigsburg palace. How to get

It’s easy to get there: the train from Stuttgart runs frequently. But you need to walk to the park for 20-30 minutes.
In most cases, there are no problems with the car either. Only on holidays it can be difficult to park.

This time, a slightly longer historical background.

History

The region is not only now so densely populated. It was in demand even in the 6th millennium BC. Numerous finds have recorded here both the Romans and the Celts and the Allemans.

But all these millennia, it remained a handful of villages that never grew into a city. Until at the beginning of the 18th century, a certain Eberhard Ludwig, who was also the Duke of Württemberg, decided that there was enough money to reproduce Versailles. And why is he, in fact, worse than others. Especially since the duke wanted to be promoted in his career to the post of Kurfürst. And everyone knows that first you need to buy a BMW and buy the right suit, and then, you see, they will be appointed to the chiefs.

Stuttgart was already built up. The ecology, apparently, was not very good in those years as today. Therefore, looking around, he chose the future Ludwigsburg and built a garden city there. More precisely, the palace-garden and the city to serve with it. There was already a small hunting lodge at this place. Over time, it was turned into the largest baroque palace in Germany.

The palace and the city were built in the same style by the Italian Donato Giuseppe Frisoni.

To populate the new city, the duke arranged an attraction of unprecedented generosity. He promised new residents tax exemptions, free land and building materials, not to mention freedom of religion. If you think that all the rabble has run into him, then you are mistaken. The Duke set up face control – no less than 1000 thalers and no farmers. He relocated his officials from Stuttgart forcibly, moving the capital to Ludwigsburg. However, the workers of the palace and construction sites also settled in the city. So that a separate paradise for rich people did not happen.

The descendants of Eberhard Ludwig moved their court back and forth from Ludwigsburg to Stuttgart and vice versa. And at first the inhabitants of the city followed them. But then the capital still became Stuttgart, and Ludwigsburg became a summer residence. Dukes were promoted to kings. And the city developed and increased due to various manufactures (for example, porcelain and weaving), the presence of a garrison.

Ludwigsburg Palace

The city itself is not so interesting. The main thing to see here is the palace and the park with it. In fact, this is a lot – enough for the whole day. There are also two more palaces and parks here.

The palace is huge: 450 rooms, two churches and one theater. Of course, only part of the rooms had and retained the ceremonial furnishings. But what has survived is a very large amount. Therefore, they show the palace with excursions along different routes.

Tickets have a fixed time. Two main routes for adults + a route for children, which does not match any of the adults. There are guided tours in English, but much less often than in German.

The palace is quite curious. But you must understand that all baroque palaces are similar to each other. And if you have seen dozen of these palaces, then this one can be skipped. I cannot say that there is something special here, like a mirror room in Würzburg, a theater and some rooms in the Munich residence, a gallery of beauties in Nymphenburg, etc.

Personally, I liked the most (and we were on a children’s excursion that combined parts of both adults) – the exhibition “How to wash in the palace”. Exceptionally educational.

In addition to the main part – the apartments – there is also a fashion museum, a baroque art gallery, a ceramics museum and a Kinderreich children’s museum.

Ludwigsburg palace garden Blühendes Barock

The park can be visited separately from the palace. It consists of two parts: a park for walking and a fairy tale park (Märchengarten).

The part for walking is good in autumn and spring: old trees, a Chinese house with a Chinese garden and an exhibition of bonsai, a pond, an aviary, which you can walk through and from there through a tunnel to the other side of the park.

The pumpkin festival in the park, which lasts for several weeks, deserves special mention – more about it below.

But if you are with children, you will get the most out of your visit.

The Märchengarten is the best I’ve seen. And almost everything is already included in the entrance ticket to the park. It is interesting that every time we found something that we had not yet seen. And only many years later we can say that we finally know every coner. For example, the Rapunzel tower schould be looked at inside too, and in the labyrinth there is a pond with stones shooting water.

To ride a small train you need to pay 1.5 euros. But riding on a water river is completely free. Do not forget to look at the part inside the water circle. There are real seven goatlings.

The water playground is open during the summer – you need a spare clothes for children.

Ludwigsburg pumpkin festival

The pumpkin exhibition is considered the largest in the world. Pumpkins fill the entire lower part of the park for several weeks each year. Pumpkin soup, pumpkin porridge, pumpkin seeds, pumpkin bread …

Sculptures are made from pumpkins – every year the theme is different. Sometimes it’s great, sometimes it’s rather boring.

On some weekends there is a pumpkin race in the pond, on others – weighed pumpkins and choose the largest. The winners are displayed on carts until the end of the holiday, when a piece of the field is fenced off and there men armed with large knives crumble the unfortunate pumpkins and hand them out to everyone.

Photos from different years.

Park and Palace Favorite

The park is a long, long alley with a slight widening at the beginning, where the Jagd- und Lustschloss Favorite is located.

Favorite was used for hunting, celebrations and solitude. The interiors can be viewed – if you are attracted by the strict colors and simple lines of classicism.

Most of the park is given over to deer and mouflons. The territory is a natural protected area. People can only walk along paths.

Monrepos

The alley passing through the Favorite park leads eventually to the last of the Ludwigsburg palaces – Monrepos.

The place has attracted Württemberg rulers since the 16th century. But the modern building and the English park were created in the early 19th century. Then the kings lost interest in it, the building and the territory were rented out, used for agriculture. In our time, a hotel and a golf course were built nearby.

Now the palace is rented out, the territory is used for various events and holidays and recreation.

Apart from the palace, which looks good against the background of the pond, the most interesting point is the island with the ruins of the chapel.

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