Schloss Gottesaue

Schloss Gottesaue stands in Karlsruhe’s eastern district on ground once occupied by a Benedictine abbey. The present building is a Renaissance palace rebuilt after repeated fires, its five towers rising above the flat Rhine plain. It now houses the Karlsruhe University of Music. The palace’s long history begins with the abbey founded in 1094 by Count Berthold of Hohenberg. After plunder in 1525 and fires in 1689 and 1735, the structure was repeatedly altered. In 1989 the music college moved in, restoring the outer form to the 16th-century style while keeping surviving walls visible. The nearby Fuchsbau pavilion and former stables were also adapted for teaching. Visitors walk through arcaded courtyards framed by the palace’s towers. Inside, rehearsal rooms and a concert hall echo with student performances. The surrounding park, once the abbey’s precinct, offers long views across the city to the Black Forest.