Neues Schloss (Eremitage)

The Neues Schloss stands in the Eremitage park east of Bayreuth’s Sankt Johannis district. It forms part of a larger ensemble created first as a hunting ground in 1664 and later as a summer retreat for Margrave Georg Wilhelm. His successor, Margrave Friedrich, gave the estate to his wife Wilhelmine in 1735. Between 1749 and 1753 the present building was erected as an orangerie, designed by Joseph Saint-Pierre with funds advanced by the Marquis de Montperny. The three-part structure—two curved side wings and a central rotunda—was soon converted into a residence for Wilhelmine. The walls of the Neues Schloss are covered with quartz, carnelian and coloured glass arranged in mosaic patterns. The stones came from local quarries and glassworks in Warmensteinach, Bischofsgrün and Kupferberg, their crystals reflecting sunlight across the facades. Inside, the central rotunda, known as the Sonnentempel, originally held a gilded quadriga driven by an Apollo figure. The east wing served as Wilhelmine’s private apartments, while the west wing became the Herrenflügel for her husband. After wartime damage in 1945, only the exterior was rebuilt; the interiors remain unrestored. Visitors walk through the landscaped park to reach the Sonnentempel’s octagonal exterior, its eight oval dormers and gilded quadriga. The east wing now houses a café, while the west wing shows the original curved layout. The Upper Grotto basin with its water features and trellis frames lies before the building. Around the rotunda, the glittering stone walls catch the light, echoing designs first seen in Roman nymphaea. The contrast between the surviving shell and the lost interiors gives the site a quiet, reflective atmosphere.