State

Rooms

The detailed 1737 travelogue compiled by the architect Johann JacobKüchel provides us with information on how the State Rooms at theSchönborn Garden Palace were originally arranged. Küchel took hisnearly four- month journey at the behest of Count Friedrich Karl vonSchönborn, by then Prince- Bishop of Bamberg and Würzburg. The

The magnificentstuccoed ceilingwith its finelyswung goldenstrapwork was quitein keeping withearly 18th- centuryfashions

architect had entered Schönborn's service in 1735and was responsible for the Count's Bambergconstruction activities, and his study tour tookhim from Bamberg to Munich and on to Vienna.Alongside military and ecclesiastical structures,he was interested above all in the secular archi-tecture of rural and urban palaces and gardens.

Küchel's report on the Schönborn GardenPalace provides a detailed description concern-ing the arrangement of its rooms. The GrandStaircase, which is still present today, led fromthe vestibule to the bel étage via both of its two sides. Arrived at thetop, one entered the centrally positioned Great Hall. There was thena sequence of rooms to the west consisting of two antechambers, theFamily Chamber with 16 portraits, and a smaller additional room.The second antechamber also provided access to the green AudienceChamber, from which one could continue to the Study next to thePainting Gallery, which was called the" Dutch Gallery" at the time. Themagnificent stuccoed ceiling with its finely swung golden strapwork( referred to as Bandlwerk) was quite in keeping with early 18th- centuryfashions. And the walls here, which were covered in fine fabrics,were used by Count Schönborn to present his collection of paintings.Works by Dutch and German masters such as Brueghel and Dürerwere hung in a very dense arrangement typical of the baroque era.

Next to the Painting Gallery was the shelf- lined Library. Onewall of books featured a magnificent built- in, double- door cabinetcontaining a baroque home altar. When the double- doors were

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