Bärenschlössle

The Bärenschlössle stands in Stuttgart’s Rotwildpark, a forested district west of the city centre. It began as an 18th-century pleasure pavilion built for Duke Carl Eugen in a style described as ‘altrömisch’. The site overlooks the Bärensee, a man-made lake where gondolas once floated, brought back from Italy by the duke. The pavilion’s first floor held a painted hall and the upper storey a salon with a ceiling by Nicolas Guibal. After Carl Eugen’s death the building fell into disrepair and was demolished in 1817. King Wilhelm I replaced it the same year with a larger octagonal hunting lodge, decorated with trophies and panels by E. Kehrer. Two zinc bears by Albert Güldenstein flanked the entrance until the Second World War. Today’s Bärenschlössle is a 1997 reconstruction of the 1963 version, standing on the original terrace. The ground floor serves as a restaurant, the upper space as an open hall for events. Venetian lion figures mark the former landing stage on the lake, and bronze replicas of the old zinc bears flank the entrance. The surrounding Rotwildpark is a nature reserve where red and wild boar roam.