Jernie's Hub

We had been to the Mannheim Palace (home to the Elector Prince Karl Phillip in 17th century) during the first week of my parents' stay here in Germany. The castle which served as their summer residence is located in Schwetzingen. It is popularly known as the Schwetzingen Castle. This is one of the most interesting site in our region, Baden-Württemberg.

Schwetzingen is an old city ,mentioned in the year 766. It has been said that there were traces of settlement in this town since the Stone Age. It is approximately 10 km southwest of Heidelberg and 15 km southeast of Mannheim.

The castle was built in the 13th century. It began as a simple aristocratic fishing retreat and had an eventful architectural history, in several phases of construction, especially during the reigns of the Electors Palatine Karl Philip (1716-1742) and Karl IV Theodor (1742-1799). The gardenhas a French and an English part. It consists of waterworks and fountains, statues and sculptures, temples and pavilions, bridges, an orangerie and a mosque.


We visited the castle during the week because it is normally crowded during the weekend. In the morning it was cloudy and had rain showers but later on the weather was better.

As we got into the garden, it reminded me of the palace in Versailles, France. Though, this is much smaller than the Versailles Palace. The museum was quite small. We spent most of our time in the vast garden. Instead of taking a guide, we bought a map of the castle and the garden and went around the place.