Poppelsdorf Palace, Baroque palace in Poppelsdorf, Germany
Poppelsdorf Palace is a Baroque palace in Bonn's Poppelsdorf district, built from 1715 for Joseph Clemens of Cologne to plans by Robert de Cotte. Its pale yellow walls with white trim form a central block and two long wings, each ending in a grey domed pavilion; the central block carries a curved grey metal dome above an arched entrance and balcony. The wings have grey mansard roofs, and the left wing was under dense metal scaffolding.
Construction started in 1715 when Joseph Clemens, Archbishop-Elector of Cologne, hired French architect Robert de Cotte to design a replacement for an older castle on the site. The building became an important symbol of the prince-bishop's power during the Baroque period.
The palace was also called Lustschloss Clemensruhe after its builders, Joseph Clemens and Clemens August. In summer, the Poppelsdorf Palace Concerts take place every Saturday in the inner courtyard, performed by the Classical Philharmonic Bonn under Heribert Beissel. The north tower, undamaged in 1945, is where Gottfried and Johanna Kinkel lived and founded the Maikäferbund in 1840.
The palace stands at the end of the Poppelsdorfer Allee, the tree-lined axis that runs about 800 metres south from Bonn's former electoral palace. The Botanical Garden around it is open to visitors, and the arcaded courtyard hosts the Poppelsdorf Palace Concerts every Saturday in summer. The roof has been under repair since 2017, so scaffolding may cover parts of the wings.
The canal linking the palace to the Bonn Palace 800 metres north was never dug because of a lack of water; the Poppelsdorfer Allee was planted along that axis instead. The sightline continues the other way to the Baroque church on the Kreuzberg. The north tower survived 1945 intact; Gottfried and Johanna Kinkel lived there and founded the Maikäferbund in 1840.
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