Schaezlerpalais, Baroque palace on Maximilianstrasse, Augsburg, Germany

Schaezlerpalais is a Rococo palace on Maximilianstrasse in Augsburg, built from 1765 to 1770 to plans by Karl Albert von Lespilliez. Its street facade is 19 metres wide, while the wing along Katharinengasse runs 107 metres. Inside, the two-storey ballroom has carved panelling by Placidus Verhelst, stucco by Franz Xaver Feichtmayr the Younger and a ceiling painting of Mercury and World Trade by Gregorio Guglielmi. The palace now holds the Deutsche Barockgalerie and the Haberstock Foundation.

A wealthy merchant commissioned a respected architect in the mid-1700s to build this house reflecting the artistic ideals of the era. After its original owners, the building passed through different hands and eventually became a repository for art collections.

The palace reflects the wealth and power that prosperous merchants held in Augsburg at that time, using ornate spaces and fine art as signs of their status. The rooms show how the city's trading elite expressed their importance through beauty and carefully selected collections.

The palace sits in an easy-to-reach location with walkable streets and is straightforward to find on foot. Plan to spend several hours exploring the rooms and galleries at a leisurely pace to take in the details.

The two-storey ballroom's carved panelling is by Placidus Verhelst and its stucco by Franz Xaver Feichtmayr the Younger; Gregorio Guglielmi painted the ceiling with Mercury and World Trade in 1767. Legend says Marie-Antoinette, aged 14 and travelling to Versailles for her wedding, danced a pair of red shoes through it at the opening on 28 April 1770.