Thursday, July 05, 2007
Coping with Schloss (Nymphenburg)
Today, the Schiller Center organized a field trip to Schloss Nymphenberg, the palatial summer getaway of Munich's Wittelsbach dynasty. Beginning as a small hunting lodge granted by the Elector Ferdinand Maria to his consort, the edifice steadily expanded under the watchful eye of Europe's finest artists and architects, becoming a splendid example of Baroque and Rococo architecture.
The picture above gives a sense of the building's scale, but doesn't even include the gardens and statues within the castle's rear courtyard or the other structures that make up the palace compound. It also does little to indicate how terribly rainy the weather suddenly became shortly after I took this picture. And since I had foolishly not yet replaced the umbrella I purchased at a local drug store, my time in the gardens was brief and damp. Thankfully, the majority of the tour would be conducted in doors.
Unfortunately, there were some delays getting people inside due to the castle's staff's concern that our backpacks and tote bags might accidentally bump into some of the palace fixtures and damage them. So, off we went through the rain to a set of storage lockers, paying a 1€ deposit to secure our possessions before heading inside. Thankfully, they did allow cameras, so I was able to take these pictures of the entrance hall:
As you can see from the picture above and might have guessed from their palace's name, the Wittelsbachs were clearly deeply interested in Greek mythology. And it wasn't just on ceilings, either. This picture is of a doorframe leading into the palace interior. Hopefully the image is clear enough to make the choice of mythological episode evident, as I think it is an appropriate one.
Unfortunately, after the first two rooms, the lead tour guide for the palace got very upset with our group for what seemed to be a perceived slight. He yelled at us, in English but with a stern German accent, for our LACK OF RESPECT FOR THE PALACE, accusing us of touching/scuffing the furniture on display and ignoring warnings to turn off the flashes on our cameras. And, he noted, if we failed to SHOW THE PROPER RESPECT, he would throw out the entire tour group. I admit, that I had not turned off the flash on my camera, but I missed hearing any warning, presumably because I was busy trying to follow his orders earlier and put my belongings into the aforementioned storage lockers.
Needless to say though, I decided to hold off on taking any further photos in the palace proper, especially given that either the main tour guide or one of his loyal subordinates was giving us the evil eye for the remainder of our time there.
I still got a few nice shots, however, of the rear gardens...despite the rain.
And here's a nice view of the Amalienburg hunting lodge. Apparently the nobles would perch on the roof and shoot game that servants flushed out on to the paths below.
And just like Versailles, there had to be a hall of mirrors.
All in all, it was an interesting time, although I wish it hadn't been raining during our walk to the hunting lodge so that I could take some pictures of the gardens. Things only cleared up slightly as we were leaving, allowing me to take some up close and personal shots of the only permanent residents currently staying at Schloss Nymphenburg.
Personally, I thought they added a lot more to the experience than any number of tour guides screaming about the need to RESPECT THE CASTLE!
Today, the Schiller Center organized a field trip to Schloss Nymphenberg, the palatial summer getaway of Munich's Wittelsbach dynasty. Beginning as a small hunting lodge granted by the Elector Ferdinand Maria to his consort, the edifice steadily expanded under the watchful eye of Europe's finest artists and architects, becoming a splendid example of Baroque and Rococo architecture.
The picture above gives a sense of the building's scale, but doesn't even include the gardens and statues within the castle's rear courtyard or the other structures that make up the palace compound. It also does little to indicate how terribly rainy the weather suddenly became shortly after I took this picture. And since I had foolishly not yet replaced the umbrella I purchased at a local drug store, my time in the gardens was brief and damp. Thankfully, the majority of the tour would be conducted in doors.
Unfortunately, there were some delays getting people inside due to the castle's staff's concern that our backpacks and tote bags might accidentally bump into some of the palace fixtures and damage them. So, off we went through the rain to a set of storage lockers, paying a 1€ deposit to secure our possessions before heading inside. Thankfully, they did allow cameras, so I was able to take these pictures of the entrance hall:
As you can see from the picture above and might have guessed from their palace's name, the Wittelsbachs were clearly deeply interested in Greek mythology. And it wasn't just on ceilings, either. This picture is of a doorframe leading into the palace interior. Hopefully the image is clear enough to make the choice of mythological episode evident, as I think it is an appropriate one.
Unfortunately, after the first two rooms, the lead tour guide for the palace got very upset with our group for what seemed to be a perceived slight. He yelled at us, in English but with a stern German accent, for our LACK OF RESPECT FOR THE PALACE, accusing us of touching/scuffing the furniture on display and ignoring warnings to turn off the flashes on our cameras. And, he noted, if we failed to SHOW THE PROPER RESPECT, he would throw out the entire tour group. I admit, that I had not turned off the flash on my camera, but I missed hearing any warning, presumably because I was busy trying to follow his orders earlier and put my belongings into the aforementioned storage lockers.
Needless to say though, I decided to hold off on taking any further photos in the palace proper, especially given that either the main tour guide or one of his loyal subordinates was giving us the evil eye for the remainder of our time there.
I still got a few nice shots, however, of the rear gardens...despite the rain.
And here's a nice view of the Amalienburg hunting lodge. Apparently the nobles would perch on the roof and shoot game that servants flushed out on to the paths below.
And just like Versailles, there had to be a hall of mirrors.
All in all, it was an interesting time, although I wish it hadn't been raining during our walk to the hunting lodge so that I could take some pictures of the gardens. Things only cleared up slightly as we were leaving, allowing me to take some up close and personal shots of the only permanent residents currently staying at Schloss Nymphenburg.
Personally, I thought they added a lot more to the experience than any number of tour guides screaming about the need to RESPECT THE CASTLE!
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