Nymphenburg Palace

It took ten years before Elector Ferdinand Maria and his wife Henriette Adelaide were blessed with a son and heir to the throne. To celebrate the happy event, the Bavarian ruling couple commissioned Agostino Barelli in 1664 with the building of a summer residence. The original Nymphenburg Palace has been enlarged several times, and together with the park it forms a harmonious work of art. The tour begins in the central ballroom, one of Bavaria’s most beautiful rococo spaces, with opulent stucco and a ceiling fresco by Francois Cuvilliés and Johann Baptist Zimmermann. Another highlight is the Schönheitengalerie, the “gallery of beauties”, for which King Ludwig I had portraits painted of 36 Munich ladies, among them the dancer and royal mistress, Lola Montez.