Pillnitz Castle
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Pillnitz Castle (German: Schloss Pillnitz) is a restored Baroque castle at the eastern end of the city of Dresden in the German state of Saxony. It is located on the bank of the River Elbe in the former village of Pillnitz. Pillnitz Castle was the summer residence of many electors and kings of Saxony; it is also known for the Declaration of Pillnitz in 1791.
Artificial ruins
In 1765, Elector Frederick Augustus I of Saxony, a greatgrandson of Augustus the Strong, made Pillnitz his summer residence. At the time, an English garden with an English Pavilion, a Chinese garden with a Chinese Pavilion and an artificial ruin were added. When the Countess' palace at Pillnitz Castle burnt down in 1818, Frederick Augustus asked his architect, Christian Friedrich Schuricht, to design a new palace at the same location.
As was fashionable in German interpretations of Baroque and English gardens, in 1785, an artificial ruin was built on a hilltop, north of the castle. Its Gothic Revival architecture was meant to contrast with the Baroque style of the castle, its expression of the fleeting vanity of life with the pleasurable nature of the castle gardens.
