Palace Church and Palace

Now we’ve arrived at the palace church. You probably saw the two towers from far away. The palace church is the symbol of Friedrichshafen.

There used to be a convent where the church stands today. It was founded in the 11th Century and occupied by nuns. The nuns were actually managed by a larger convent in the town of Weingarten. As a bunch of grapes can be seen on the coat of arms of Weingarten, grapes were also either painted or sculpted onto the ceiling and walls of the church. Have a look around to see if you can spot them!
Due to numerous wars during the Middle Ages, the convent was unable to avoid any damage and the building was almost completely destroyed several times. The church in which you are currently standing is therefore not from the 10th Century, but was first built in 1702 with an extremely beautifully decorated ceiling. But even with such a beautiful new building the convent was unable to last, and the monks soon moved back to Weingarten.

The building should actually have fallen apart little by little and still just be a ruin today – but a little miracle happened. King Frederick of Württemberg chose Friedrichshafen, and more precisely the convent building, as his royal summer residence. So, there and then, the convent was transformed into a palace and from the catholic convent church an evangelical palace church was built. The King was evangelic, but apart from 13 other citizens, everyone else in Friedrichshafen was catholic! The King did not care about this and the church has been evangelical ever since.

It’s no surprise that the King of Württemberg chose to have his summer residence here 200 years ago. Everyone enjoys being on holiday by the lake, and for the royal family only the most beautiful spot was good enough. The King and Queen wanted to show off their palace and large garden and regularly invited prominent guests. The Tsars, for example – basically the Kings of Russia. Through this, Friedrichshafen got a very good reputation as a holiday paradise and the King often went hunting in the surrounding woods.

During a big air strike in the Second World War, the palace and the palace church were badly damaged. The building was still standing, but lots of it had been destroyed, including the beautifully decorated ceiling in the church. Since then the ceiling has largely been restored.

And the royal family of Württemberg? They have obviously since become dukes and no longer kings, but they are still around! Or to be more precise, their successors. Sometimes they live here in the palace, so it is closed to visitors. But if you have a look around the palace courtyard, you can see different artworks by the Duke. And when you look very carefully, you may even see the carousel! It is already more than 100 years old and provided much joy to many little princes and princesses.