Castle Solitude: Encyclopedia - Castle Solitude

Castle Solitude

Castle Solitude in Germany was built as a hunting lodge between 1764 and 1769 under Duke Karl Eugen of Württemberg. It is not a true castle, but rather a rococo palace. Since 1956 the area has belonged to the urban district of Stuttgart, Germany. The castle lies on a long-drawn-out plain between the cities of Leonberg, Gerlingen and Stuttgart. The castle offers views to the north.

Castle Solitude - History

The construction period of the castle was characterized by political and financial difficulties. Karl Eugen had taken Württemburg into the Seven Years' War on the losing side against Prussia. Financially, the building exceeded the financial burden that the duchy of Württemberg could handle. In addition to the financial problems of the state, political conflicts of the duke with the influential Stuttgart land barons led to the Duke shifting his temporary residence from Stuttgart to Ludwigsburg. In the long run, the castle was prohibitively expensive to keep as just a residence. In 1770 a high school was created by Duke Eugen. In 1775, the high school was moved to Castle Solitude. It served as an academy of arts and as a military academy, and later still as a general university for the children of the elite. Eventually, the costs of maintaining the castle kept it empty after it was abandoned as a school after the Duke's death late in the 18th century. Between 1972 and 1983 the Federal Republic of Germany restored the castle.

Castle Solitude - Use of the Castle today

Since 1990, the annexed buildings (Officen-building and Kavaliers-building) house the academy of 'Castle Solitude', with a main function being the formation of art-endowed offspring. The Kavaliers-building incorporates living-quarters for students who live on campus.

Castle Solitude - Building Style

Castle Solitude was sketched by a kind of working group at the ducal court, under guidance of Philippe de La Guêpière and under energetic co-operation of the prince and some other masters. Its exterior is typical Rococo-style, whereas on the inside, one can distinguish the beginnings of the classicistic period: instead of the irregular, lively forms one finds in Rococo, the room- and wall distribution shows classical proportions.

Castle Solitude - Solitude Alley

The northern main gate of the castle marks the beginning of the dead-straight Solitudeallee. Duke Karl-Eugen let it being built from 1764-1768 as connecting axis to the residence castle in Ludwigsburg. It leads via Stuttgart-Weilimdorf and past at Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen, Stuttgart-Stammheim. As of today, it is still very much complete, partially as an asphalted dirt road. Only in Weilimdorf, where it intersects the main street, and in Ludwigsburg, where the railway territory comes into the traverse, are there small disalignments. According to a memorial-table inside the castle, the alley served as base-line for the Württemberg 1820 land survey, and is exactly 40,118.718 Paris feet or 13,032.14 meters long.

Castle Solitude - Race Track

Since 1903 the Castle Solitude was the finishing point of hillclimb races. In later years, the grounds of the castle served as driver camps, especially for closed-circuit races with different fastidious track variants in the hilly area, reminding of the Targa Florio. From 1935-1965, the 11.3 kilometers course south of the castle was used for World Championship motorcycle Grand Prix racing. From 1961 to 1965, a series of non-campionship Formula 1 races were held also at the same weekend. Pilots were, among others, John Surtees, Jim Clark, Dan Gurney, Jack Brabham. The Solitude races attracted crowds of 288,000 spectators per event in average, but were discontinued after 1966.

In 2003, a revival-competition in and around the castle-grounds took place, with former competitors and even world-champions like Giacomo Agostini being present, driving their famous machinery. A rally to commemorate the 50th birthday was held in 2004.

Castle Solitude - Suburb

The area of Castle Solitude belonged to Gerlingen until the 31st of March 1942, afterwards being integrated to Stuttgart and assigned to Botnang, and later Stuttgart-West.

Categories: Castles in Germany | Palaces in Germany | Stuttgart

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Castle Solitude", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki