RESIDENCE CASTLE HEIDECKSBURG / Prince Johann Friedrich of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt / Part 1 / Documentary HD

Hello and welcome to my new video. Nice to have you all with me again. Today I visit the Heidegsburg in Rudolstadt, the most magnificent baroque castle of the 18th century in the Free City of Thuringia. I would like to introduce you to the rooms, the magnificent souls and the historical personalities in a little more detail. In the High Middle Ages, still owned by the Counts of Orlamünde, the Counts of Schwarzburg acquired the castle in 1340. From 1574 to 1918 it was the residence of the Counts and later princes of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. Only vaults and wall remains in the basement areas of the castle and the encirclement wall of the lower garden terrace It was part of a ring wall that surrounded the castle's defense yard. In 1571 Count Albrecht VII of Schwarzburg moved the castle as a permanent residence and chose Rudolstadt as his residence. He had the existing complex expanded and rebuilt. But on March 25, 1573, a fire destroyed parts of the existing residence. After that, Albrecht VII had a three-winged castle complex built. In the antechamber to the Red Hall, the Audienzsaal, the visitors who appeared to the audience once waited. Around 1795, Prince Ludwig Friedrich II had the room equipped in the then modern classicist style. Ludwig Friedrich II was born on August 9, 1767, as the son of the prince Friedrich Karl von Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and his first wife Friederike. At that time, his grandfather Ludwig Günther II ruled the principality. Ludwig Friedrich II had the white room designed according to a new artistic conception. The room was painted white and pastel blue in the fashion colors of the time. Prince Ludwig Friedrich was sustainably shaped by dealing with the families of Stein, Lengefeld and Beulwitz. At the foot of the Schlossberg, the spiritual life in the salons of Beulwitz and Lengenfeld pulsated at this time. Down in the city, Friedrich Schiller is now storming the salons with his new, exciting world of thought. The poet, the robber of Don Carlos, met Charlotte von Lengenfeld here on his first visit in December 1787. But the young poet is nothing more than a desirable son-in-law. Charlotte's mother, Luise von Lengenfeld, living as a nanny and court master in Heidexburg, can hardly believe the happiness between her daughter and the mediocre Schiller. Since 1789, the widowed Luise von Lengenfeld has lived on the court of Heidexburg and has become a trusted person of the prince's children. In the following years, Prince Ludwig Friedrich got to know so many interesting people. On May 29, 1788, he met Friedrich Schiller and on September 7, the same year, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The red hall designed for state affairs, completed in 1741 by Johann Christoph Knöfel in the raw material, should serve as an audience hall for the prince's state and government affairs and for smaller festivals. Here, the reigning prince Johann Friedrich von Schwarzburg-Rudolfstadt received important visitors, such as other princes. The chandelier sparkled as soon as the servant had lit the numerous 149 candles. The light reflected polished Bohemian glass. As a result, the room appeared much brighter. Large mirrors on the wall additionally enhanced this effect. Johann Friedrich was one of the regents of the princely city of Schwarzburg-Rudolfstadt, who influenced the spiritual life on the farm and in the countryside, the church and school life, science and art, as well as economic development in a sustainable way. After the unexpected death of his father Friedrich Anton, Johann Friedrich took over the government at the age of 23 in 1744. First, he tried to advance the works at Heideggsburg and to earn artisans and sculptors for the interior. The enormous costs of the construction, in addition to the already exorbitant financial expenditure for the farm, forced the prince's government to use all natural resources of the country, as well as to promote trade and commerce. For this reason, in 1760 he was awarded the privilege of a porcelain manufacturer, which he belonged to as a co-manager and which still exists today as the oldest Folkstätter porcelain manufacturer. Johann Friedrich died unexpectedly in 1767. Since he left behind only two daughters, his uncle followed him as a prince in the same year, Ludwig Günther II. in the government. His son, Prince Friedrich Karl, had already married Johann Friedrich's eldest daughter Friederike in 1763. Johann Gottfried Krone succeeded in establishing the planned strict interior. He was able to make a living from minor changes in architecture. He added an oven niche to the east wall. He had wall templates made of stucco marble designed on the two narrow walls. In 1744, the reigning prince Johann Friedrich von Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt asked the painter Lorenz Deisinger to paint a ceiling fresco with the allegory of the virgins. The ceiling painting refers to the function of the room, a symbol of the virgins of a ruler. In the four corners of the ceiling, sepia paintings appear, the four R-parts known at the time, as an expression of power. While the northern wall layout is emphasized by a console table, a fireplace is added to the southern wall layout. The decorative paintings with the Schäfer scenes, are placed on top of it. These and the oil paintings next to them, Frühling and Herbst, were created by Saxon court painter Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich. According to the model of the French royal court, in this room, the red corner cabinet, a morning reception can be found during the dressing and breakfast. The layout of the rooms is made clear by the ceilings and wall paintings. A woman with the moon symbol on her head, this is Luna, the moon goddess. Right next to her, Amor, the god of love. He meets Luna with his love arrow. And so she fell in love with the beautiful Endymion. The legend says, so that her beloved will remain faithful forever, she lured him into a cave and put him to eternal sleep. On the ceiling painting you can see, how Luna approaches the sleeping Endymion. Painted in 1745 by Leopold Deisinger. The walls continue to show the night and the morning, as well as Venus, who is listening to the sleeping Adonis. The carvings on the mirror frames, console tables and door fillings of the court model master Karl Adolf Kandler convey an impression of the form language of the Rococo. The frame of the painting is made of real gold, thinly applied, in a so-called leaf gold. The sign above the door frame is a decorative element. Letters are engraved on it. F connected with J and a B is interwoven with C and S. These initials stand for the ruling prince Johann Friedrich and his wife Bernhardine Christiane Sophie. A small room, an alcove, joins the prince's red cabinet. A bedroom with bed. The small room was originally separated by a round, arched glass door, which allowed a view into the dressing room and breakfast room. The floor designed by Krohne connects both rooms. This bedroom has always been a public place. The prince had a nobleman from the court society Anyone who was allowed to perform a service in the bedroom of the prince could be honored, because he was awarded a special favor. After another heavy fire in 1735, which destroyed the residence castle of Heydecksburg, parts of the castle were re-planned and built by the builders Johann Christoph Knöfel and Gottfried Heinrich Krohne. The first floor of the west wing took up the prince's dressing room, bedroom and audience rooms, as well as the ballroom. With this gallery on the court side, Knöfel created a convenient access from the front rooms to all rooms of the west wing. It is the main access to the ballroom and therefore had to receive an emphatically representative equipment. The gallery receives a festive note The gray-blue marble plates, which come from a quarry near Schwarzburg, were laid down in 1747. Johann Christian Heinze and Karl Christlieb Reintag were commissioned in 1750 to paint landscapes with inhabitants of all parts of the world. Standing behind armchairs, the depicted people turn in a typical country dress to the guests and invite them to a conversation about travel, foreign cultures and the discoveries of the 18th century. The ballroom, completed around 1750, is a masterpiece of the Weimar landowner Gottfried Heinrich Krohne. The ballroom stretches through two floors, 12 meters high. The floor plan of the room is wavy and sliding. The room's own and divisive movement, pronounced by wall swings, by blue, gray, yellow and reddish-brown shimmering stucco marble, and by the plastic works and paintings, make it a harmonious total work of art. This wavy and sliding movement is also performed on the musician's balcony, a balcony carried by Atlanteans over the main entrance, which was reserved for the court band. This magnificent hall is one of the most important interior architectures of Rococo in Germany today. In the lower arcades, on the one hand, closet chairs could be placed and on the other hand, access to the red and green hall Krohne ordered lounges for the court society above. Within four weeks, the painter Deisinger still created the huge ceiling fresco in 1744, which has the theme of the god's wheel collected in Olympus. In the decoration and design of his buildings, Krohne's mastery is evident. According to his designs, craftsmen, painters, carpenters, stucco artists, interior artisans create interior decoration. No corners and no empty corners the room knows. Everything is painterly movement, baroque in its highest perfection. Now I would like to say goodbye to you. You now have a very interesting insight into this beautiful baroque castle and into the history. Did you like this video? Then I would be very happy again about a thumbs up. And if you never want to miss a beautiful castle and castle video again, then subscribe to the channel right away. I'll say goodbye and see you again. Until next time. Bye!