Castle Augustusburg in Brühl – The Versailles of the archbishop
In France the famous Sun King Louis XIV had set standards with the building of his residential Castle of Versailles. All other european sovereigns also wanted such representative magnificent buildings from that moment on, even if they (the castles) or the monarchies were so small. The Archbishop, who was at the same time secular ruler, reigned over Cologne (or not, as he had already been kicked out the city centuries before).
During the first half of the XVIIIth century this was the Wittelsbacher Clemens August, who although he was residing in Bonn, now also wanted his own Versailles. His choice fell right between Bonn and Cologne on the provincial town of Brühl. The residence Augustusburg on the one hand and the smaller hunting lodge on the other hand were built at each ends of a rambling, wonderful rococo park. The most renowned architects of their time contributed to the constructions works, Balthasar Neumann among others, who conceived the stairway. Since 1984 all the facilities, castles and gardens, are part of the UNESCO's World heritage list and are even comfortably reachable with the S-Bahn from Cologne. www.schlossbruehl.de/Home
