Schwetzingen

Schwetzingen is a German city lying in the northwest of Baden-Württemberg, around 10 km southwest of Heidelberg and 15 km southeast of Mannheim.

History

Schwetzingen was mentioned as "suezzingen" for the first time in 766 in the Lorscher Codex but there are already traces of settlement from the Stone Age.

Related Topics:
766 - Lorscher Codex - Stone Age

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Originally it consisted of two settlements, Ober- and Unterschwetzingen, that grew together in the course of the 17th and 18th century. Originally the town belonged to the diocese of Worms, but fell under the reign of the counts of the Palatinate in the 12th century.

Related Topics:
Worms - Palatinate

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The moated castle of Schwetzingen is mentioned for the first time in 1350. It was destroyed in the Thirty Years' War and in the following War of the Palatinate Succession; it was rebuilt by count Johann Wilhelm and his predecessor. From 1720 on it served temporarily as the residence of the Prince Elector Karl Philip after he moved away from Heidelberg. Later on it served as a summer residence of the electorate.

Related Topics:
1350 - Thirty Years' War - 1720 - Prince Elector - Karl Philip - Heidelberg - Electorate

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The Schwetzingen Castle began as a simple aristocratic fishing retreat (much like Versailles began as a hunting retreat) and had an eventful architectural history, in several phases of construction, especially during the reigns of the Electors Palatine Karl Philip (1716-1742) and Karl IV Theodor (1742-1799) who, as their answer to Versailles, embellished the castle gardens with some of the finest and most elaborate formal water parterres in Germany gardens.

Related Topics:
Versailles - Electors Palatine - Karl Philip - Karl IV Theodor - Parterre - Gardens

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As it evolved, the high central Baroque block of the Castle was extended to either side (from 1747 onwards) in matching curved ranges of glazed arcades that were punctuated by pavilions which followed the arc of the vast garden circle. They partly enclose the circle bisected by a wide gravel axis flanked by parterres which centers on a spring-fed water-basin inspired by the bassin of Diana at Versailles, but here expressing the more appropriately water-centered Greek myth of the poet Arion and the dolphins.

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On the other side at the entrance, a mulberry-tree allée stretched from the center of the Castle to the city of Heidelberg, 10km away on the horizon, truly a remarkable feat of autocratic landscaping.

Related Topics:
Allée - Heidelberg

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The curving outbuildings of Schwetzingen inspired the smaller Rococo perfections of Schloss Benrath, with its quarter arcs of matching corps de logis embracing a formal sheet of water, built for Carl Theodor near Düsseldorf, 1756 - 1770.

Related Topics:
Schloss Benrath - Düsseldorf

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In 1759 Schwetzingen received permission to host markets and was developed into a baroque city through the 18th century.1803 With the complete Palatine electorate east of the Rhine, Schwetzingen fell into the hands of the grand duchy of Baden and was made the official residence. In 1833 Schwetzingen was given city status by Grand Duke Leopold of Baden. The beginning of industrialization in Schwetzingen in the year 1850 made the city an important seat of cigar factories and canneries. Also, the cultivation of asparagus gained importance and has remained one of Schwetzingen's claim to fame.

Related Topics:
1759 - Baroque - 1803 - Rhine - Grand duchy - Baden - 1833 - Leopold - Industrialization - 1850

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For more information (in German) visit: www.schwetzingen.de

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Population development

These figures are estimations, official census results (¹) or statistics of the resident´s registration office.

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