Belvedere Castle and Park

Castle

Duke Ernst August of Saxony-Weimar and Eisenach built the Baroque summer residence between 1724 and 1748. Situated on a wooded hill just south of Weimar, the residence comprises the castle, an orangery, pleasure garden and labyrinth. The castle ensemble is one of the more prestigious projects designed by the master builder Gottfried Heinrich Krohne, who also built a number of other ducal pleasure palaces, of which only few exist today. Originally used as a hunting lodge with a menagerie, Belvedere Castle was later converted into a summer residence modelled after the French maison de plaisance with pavilions, a clock house, cavalier houses and a landscaped park.

Until 1904 Belvedere was a favourite summer residence of the ducal family, especially of Duchess Anna Amalia and Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna. After the abdication of the last grand duke Wilhelm Ernst, ownership of the estate fell to the new Free State of Thuringia. In 1923 the castle was incorporated into the newly established Weimar State Art Collections and turned into a museum for 18^th-century arts and crafts, highlighting courtly life during the late Baroque and Rococo periods.

Discover the park with the interactive park model in the western pavilion at Belvedere Castle.