Donaustauf Palace

Schloss Donaustauf stands on a rise above the Danube in the Upper Palatinate region of Bavaria. The site once held a monastery before Karl Alexander, the fifth Prince of Thurn und Taxis, turned it into a summer palace between 1817 and 1819. Under his successor Maximilian Karl, who married Princess Mathilde Sophie of Oettingen, the palace became a family favourite. Seven of their twelve children were born there, drawn by the Danube valley’s romantic scenery. By the 1840s the palace had grown to 112 rooms, with stables and a riding hall added nearby. A planned neo-Gothic rebuild in 1843 never happened, leaving only architect Ludwig Voltz’s designs. The palace was destroyed by fire in March 1880, and never rebuilt. Princess Mathilde moved her summer household to Schloss Neueglofsheim instead. Today only the gardens remain, still belonging to the Thurn und Taxis family. A Chinese teahouse built in 1842 sits among the terraces, its curved roofs a reminder of the prince’s travels. The forestry office now occupies part of the former grounds. The family’s historic title, Duke of Wörth and Donaustauf, still recalls the estate. Visitors walk through the landscaped gardens with their teahouse and shaded paths. Views stretch across the Danube valley towards the Walhalla memorial. The quiet grounds contrast with the palace’s vanished grandeur. Informal paths lead through the wooded slopes above the river. The teahouse’s delicate architecture offers a glimpse of 19th-century chinoiserie taste. The site is small but holds layers of princely history and landscape design.