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The Grand Duke of Baden Friedrich I and his wife Luise of Prussia had this romantic mausoleum built in 1889, hidden in the larch avenue of the Hardtwald, on the edge of the pheasant garden. From 1889, Grand Duke Friedrich I of Baden and his wife Luise of Prussia had this romantic mausoleum built, hidden in the larch avenue of the Hardtwald at the edge of the Pheasant Garden. The occasion was the early death of their youngest son. The parents wished to be able to commemorate him away from the noise of the city "in the seclusion of the deep peace of the forest". Until then, the rulers of Baden had been buried in Pforzheim Castle Church or in the crypt of Karlsruhe City Church - places that the Grand Duke and Duchess could not visit without causing a public stir. The desire for a separate family burial place away from the traditional burial sites was not an isolated wish on the part of the rulers of Baden, but rather manifested a generally increasing tendency at this time to separate the public and private spheres and the desire for family seclusion. In 1810, for example, a mausoleum was erected in the park of Charlottenburg Palace for the grandmother of the Grand Duchess of Baden, Queen Luise of Prussia. King Wilhelm I of Württemberg also created a burial chapel on Württemberg Hill in 1820 in memory of his deceased wife Katharina. The tomb as a symbol of dynastic continuity thus increasingly lost its significance. When the contract for the construction of the Karlsruhe burial chapel was put out to tender, the archiepiscopal building inspector Franz Baer from Freiburg initially came out on top. Due to illness, however, he had to be replaced shortly afterwards by the court building director Friedrich Hemberger. He was supported from the outset by his son Hermann, who had a reputation for being particularly familiar with medieval styles. Hermann Hemberger gradually took over the planning and execution of the building, so that today the burial chapel is regarded as his first work. The Grand Ducal Funerary Chapel is one of the state's own monuments and is looked after by the State Palaces and Gardens of Baden-Württemberg. The Grand Ducal Funerary Chapel Karlsruhe can be visited as part of special guided tours.
Source: DZT Knowledge Graph
