Dachau Palace

Dachau Palace stands on Schlossberg, a hill above the town of Dachau in southern Germany. It began as a medieval castle built around 1100 by a branch of the Wittelsbach family. The original fortress was replaced in the late 14th century, and in the 16th century William IV and his son Albert V commissioned a Renaissance palace with four wings and a formal garden. The design was led by Heinrich Schöttl, and the work lasted from 1546 until 1577. The palace became a favoured residence of Bavarian rulers and was later transformed into a Baroque showpiece. In 1715 Elector Maximilian II Emanuel asked Joseph Effner to redesign the building and its gardens. Antoine Motté created sixty wrought-iron parapet grilles in six patterns between 1724 and 1725, adding the final flourish to the facades. Only the south-west wing survives today, the other three wings having been removed in the early 19th century after damage by Napoleonic troops. Visitors enter a Régence-style stairwell and west facade before reaching the grand banqueting hall. Its Renaissance ceiling, designed by Hans Wisreutter between 1564 and 1566, was restored in 1977 and remains the palace’s chief attraction. From the top of Schlossberg the view stretches over Munich to the Bavarian Alps. The Baroque court garden once featured terraced hanging gardens and lime-tree balconies, while later an English landscape garden was laid out in 1765. Three pavilions from the original Renaissance garden still stand among the overgrown lower terraces.