Turkish Pavilion at Schwetzingen

 Located in the gardens of the Schwetzingen Palace complex (along with the Bathing Pavilion and the Temple of Apollo of which I've blogged) is an unusual structure referred to as the Turkish Pavilion.

Designed by French architect Nicolas de Pigage in 1779, the Pavilion was completed two years later and has recently been totally restored and opened to the public.

Designed primarily as a backdrop to the gardens where concerts were held, the building was later sometimes used by the Islamic community as a Mosque.

A large walled loggia surrounds the concert lawn with interesting Turkish inspired detailing.

The building is strictly European with many sort of "Turkish" bits glued on and the end result is totally of its' time. Think of this as Turkish Chinoiserie; not quite a copy but a European version of the original.

 The details such as the arches look almost Gothic in parts.

 The gardens are in the beautiful English style.

 Notice the brick floor patterns of the loggia.

 The Pavilion does have a small interior and again no detail was over looked.

 Beautiful carved stone is classically European with nods to the Turkish style.

The centerpiece is a large room rising up through the room with a gorgeous domed ceiling allowing light to flood inside.

 The polychromed work is playful without being too over the top.

 Many thanks as always to Neil for providing these luscious photographs to inspire us!

Schwetzingen bathhouse -a private Italian Villa

The Schloss Schwetzingen which I mentioned last week (the Temple of Apollo) was essentially a very public space, even in the 18th century before becoming the even more public museum it is today. The elector, in order to get away from 'court life' and from the general public which were allowed into the grounds, built the Badehaus (bathhouse) as a private refuge from what was essentially his 'work'.  Imagine having to live at your office!

Built in the style of an Italian Villa the bathhouse featured not only a small sauna area but also a bedroom & sitting room - a sort of Petit Trianon at Schwetzingen!

While strictly classical I love the sense of playfulness found throughout the details. The round entrance hall is stunning.

Directly off the entry hall is the bath -thats what the building is for afterall!  You may recognize the spaces as they were featured in the May 2009 issue of World of Interiors Magazine (one of my favorites).

You also will catch a rare glimpse of my Australian Penpal in the mirrored door who is kind enough to always share his travel pictures with us here on ArchitectDesign!

Rather than a large palatial room the bedroom is quite residential, even featuring a now out-dated twin sized bed. Seriously - when was the last time you slept in a twin bed? Even kids seem to have bigger beds these days!

Don't miss the chamber pot pulled out of its' little closet with a porthole window for ventilation. Also the Wedgwood vases are unusual to spot in Germany rather than Meissen or another German porcelain.

The room above features a more typical German porcelain chandelier (Dresden or Meissen perhaps?) along with a number of very German looking figurines on the mantelpiece. I hope you enjoyed this very private look at the Schwetzingen Badehaus!

Temple of Apollo, Schwetzingen

The gardens of Schloss Schwetzingen, in Schwetzingen, Germany, are world renowned, even more so than the palace, as they are preserved from the mid 18th century and feature a number of unique areas. The first of these is the Temple of Apollo.

The gardens are a mixture of Italian and English styles, popular at the time, and the temple is set atop terraced walls. Set inside the garden folly is a statue of the Greek god Apollo, the god of the Arts and of light.

They look down to an Italianate fountain which ends at a rounded lawn, perfect as an outdoor amphitheater.

 The guardrails have a beautiful verdigris finish with gilded suns set at the posts. The details of even such a small corner of the gardens are astounding!

Next week I'll bring some special structures from the Garden at Schwetzingen. I hope this leaves you with a taste of whats to come!