Location:

Ludwigsburg is near Stuttgart, directly on the Neckar and on the Autobahn A81, 35 minutes by car from the Stuttgart Airport.

Local authority districts: Ludwigsburg Pflugfelden Eglosheim Hoheneck Oßweil Grünbühl Neckarweihingen Poppenweiler

Geographic position: 48°54' North 9°12' East Altitude above sea level: 300m Area: 4.333ha

History:

When Duke Eberhard Ludwig laid the cornerstone for a small hunting lodge above the Tälesbach on 7 May 1704, he had no idea that he was creating the core of the largest Baroque castle in Germany and of a city which would at one time play an important role in the politics, art, business, trade and industry of the state.
In 1718, the duke made Ludwigsburg a city and, at the same time, a residence. Under the rule of Duke Carl Eugen (1744 - 93), Ludwigsburg experienced its heyday. Elegant court festivals were held in the castle and the espousal celebration of the duke was one of the most glorious festivals in the history of the courts of that time with a unique firework display.
At first Duke Eberhard Ludwig only thought of having the hunting lodge, which had burnt down, reconstructed when building the residence castle, but when he died thirty years later, above the Neckar valley one of the most impressive German Baroque castles had come into being with extensive gardens and a new capital and residence city. The "Swabian Versailles" consists of a magnificent castle with eighteen buildings arranged around three courtyards and four hundred and fifty two rooms. In addition to the porcelain factory, the castle is also the main venue of the Ludwigsburg Castle Theater Festival.
Today the straight streets, the alleys, the castles and gardens as well as the bulky barracks characterize the unmistakable, special face of Ludwigsburg.

Economy:

With 85,000 residents, Ludwigsburg is a medium sized service center and cultural and media location in the Stuttgart region as well as a college and sports city. With the Film Academy Baden-Wuerttemberg and the film and media center a colorful bow is drawn from the new activities in the area of the media up to the diversified culture. It spans from the Ludwigsburg Castle Theater Festival, art associations, city museum, scene theater Scala through the culture projects in the art center Karlskaserne up to the inter-regionally known culture and congress center Forum am Schlosspark.

Sights:

Residence Castle Ludwigsburg
"Swabian Versailles" with 452 rooms in 18 buildings, residence of the kings and dukes of Wuerttemberg, today location of the porcelain factory. The Ludwigsburg Porcelain Factory is one of four factories in Germany and the only one in Baden-Wuerttemberg. On 5 April 1758, Duke Carl Eugen issued the founding decree for the "Porcelain Fabrique" in his residence city Ludwigsburg. In its heyday between 1760 and 1770, the company grew to become one of the most profiled porcelain factories in Europe.
Blooming Baroque
Traditional garden show with magnificent gardens from different art eras and with a fairy tale garden. Baroque flowerage, a sea of colors and the fantastic magical world of a fairy tale garden can be enjoyed with a tour on thirty hectares in the garden show "Blooming Baroque". Flower ornaments, arabesques, fountains, rose gardens, hedges - framed by chestnut alleys - alternate in the southern garden with exactly cut tree cones, lemon and orange trees. Another part of the park is presented as an English garden with exquisitely old trees and the romantic "fortress ruin". New attractions are the prize winning Sardinian Gardens and the orangery - in the style of the original famous ducal orangery with its orange and lemon trees and the historical playground equipment. Truly speaking like in a fairy tale, the lower eastern garden with a rhododendron valley, a dark late with waterfall, with the valley of the bird calls and a children's paradise presents the fairy tale garden.
Hunting and pleasure castle Favorite
from the 18th century, Baroque façade, interior design from the Imperial Age, in the middle of a large wildlife reserve. Romantic, laying in a large wildlife and nature reserve, the hunting and pleasure castle Favorite shows itself from its most beautiful side. Connected by a wide shadowy path, it is five minutes by foot from the residence castle. The lake castle Monrepos is away forty minutes by foot and can be reached through the Favorite Park and the connected castle alley. Monrepos, "My solitude", is the name of the small lake castle in the northwest of Ludwigsburg, the construction of which began in 1755. In the summer, romantic concerts ensure that tranquility gives way to the carefree joy of life. In addition the lake invites you to row and fish and in the winter it is the most beautiful ice skating rink near and far.
Lake castle Monrepos
Originating in the 18th century through the reconstruction of a hunting pavilion from 1714, Rococo masterpiece with interior design in the Imperial style. In the direct vicinity a castle hotel, lake as well as golf course and riding facilities.
Baroque city center
Market place with Baroque churches and home of Friedrich Schiller. A city and shopping stroll through the lively Baroque city center is very much worth your time. Attractive shops, boutiques, bistros and restaurants border the large pedestrian zone and the historical market square surrounded by arcades with its two Baroque churches - in the center a fountain with the statue of the city founder, Duke Eberhard Ludwig. Theodor Heuss once called it the most beautiful market square in Germany.

Museums & Galeries:

City Museum
In the culture center. Overview of the history and development of the city of Ludwugsburg, its great people and works. Alternating special exhibitions.

Penal system museum
Ludwigsburg had the first and for a long time only prison in the country. This is documented in a descriptive exhibition in the penal system museum Ludwigsburg.

Apartment Herzog Carl Eugen
Historical pieces - the furnishing of the princely rooms with the most valuable pieces of furniture.

Baroque gallery
More than 120 selected works of German and Italian painting of the 17th and 18th century.

Ceramics museum
The extensive porcelain, faience and ceramic collection of the Wuerttemberg State Museum Stuttgart is now permanently exhibited in the castle.

Fashion museum
The extensive costume collection of the Wuerttemberg State Museum Stuttgart.

Markets:

Three times a week, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday morning, a colorful weekly market takes place on the Market Square (from December to February only Tuesday and Saturday) and in the time before Christmas the weeks before Christmas become a winter dream through the unique concept of the Baroque Christmas market with 150 different Christmas stands and a daily stage program for big and small.
Every other year, respectively in September, the Market Square changes into a fantastic stage landscape for the Venetian Fair - a three-day festival of senses between Baroque and avant-garde.