Mühlauschlösschen

The Mühlauer Schlösschen was a small rococo building on the former Mühlau island in today’s commercial port, about 1,500 metres downstream of Mannheim Castle. The site had been bought in 1727 by the Palatine minister Baron von Kageneck for 24,000 gulden. Before that it had been leased to the heirs of Lemle Moses, but the court reclaimed the land shortly before the sale. The most likely year of construction is 1730, though the architect remains unknown. Stylistic links to Schloss Louisenthal and the garden hall at Zweibrücken Palace suggest the designer may have worked at that court, possibly with a hand from the Bibiena family. The sculptor Paul Egell created the decorative stonework. Kurfürst Carl Philipp later used a buy-back clause to reclaim the property for 50,000 gulden in 1732. When the ten-year-old Carl Theodor arrived in Mannheim in 1734 to be educated for his future role, he lived in the little palace until he became ruler in 1742. Under Carl Philipp the building had occasionally hosted celebrations, but Carl Theodor never returned after Schwetzing Palace offered a far grander summer residence. By the 19th century the modest structure, together with its gardens, was still a popular outing for Mannheim’s citizens despite growing decay. The entire complex was demolished in late 1893 to make way for the port expansion, after earlier losing its gardens to industrial needs. Only one of Egell’s keystones survived for a time, kept in the Mannheim Castle museum, but it was lost when the castle burnt in 1945. Today nothing of the building remains above ground, yet the site lies close to the riverbank where visitors can picture the vanished rococo pavilion framed by the working harbour.