Benrath Palace

Benrath Palace was built between 1755 and 1770 as a pleasure palace for Elector Carl Theodor of the Palatinate on the southern edge of Düsseldorf. The symmetrical pink ensemble consists of a central corps de logis flanked by two semicircular wings, with the whole complex reflected in a canal that feeds into the Rhine plain, creating the classic water palace effect. The architect Nicolas de Pigage designed the palace as a unified Rococo composition where the architecture, the interior decoration, and the surrounding water and park are treated as a single work of art. The interior is a complete Rococo experience, with the hunting room displaying painted hunting scenes and stucco hunting trophies, the music room with gilded woodwork and mirror panels, the electors apartments with original silk wallcoverings and carved furniture, and the central domed hall with its ceiling fresco of Aurora by Joseph Ignatz Appiani. The palace park, designed by Pigage in collaboration with gardener Johann Peter von Gollen, combines French parterre gardens with English landscape sections and a natural-history museum housed in the east wing. Benrath is reachable by Düsseldorf tram line 701.