Electoral Palace, Renaissance palace with Rococo elements in Trier, Germany.

The Electoral Palace in Trier consists of a Renaissance Hochschloss and a Rococo south wing, built into and around the Roman Basilica of Constantine. The south wing, rebuilt from 1756 by Johannes Seiz, has a pink facade with a central projecting bay, white stone trim, a curved pediment with relief sculpture, and a grey hipped roof with dormers. The adjacent brick basilica contrasts with the Rococo ornament.

Construction began in 1615 under Lothar von Metternich on the site of Constantine's Roman palace, and the residence was named St. Petersburg after the city's patron saint. Work stalled when Philipp Christoph von Sötern was held captive from 1635 to 1645 during the Thirty Years' War, and the electors moved to Koblenz in 1629. From 1756 Johann Philipp von Walderdorff had Johannes Seiz rebuild the south wing in Rococo style. French troops confiscated the palace in 1794 and used it as barracks.

The palace was long known as St. Petersburg, after Trier's patron saint Peter, and a chapel dedicated to Saint Lawrence stood at its south-west corner. Today the Rococo south wing and courtyard host classical music concerts, while part of the north wing serves Trier's Evangelical-Lutheran congregation, which holds services in the adjacent Basilica of Constantine.

The former palace garden south of the palace has been open to the public as a park since the early 20th century. Look for the garden statues carved by Ferdinand Tietz; some are frivolous in tone. The site of the demolished Niederschloss wings is now Willy-Brandt-Platz, with the Wasseruhrbrunnen fountain designed by Karl-Jakob Schwalbach in 1984.

The Wasseruhrbrunnen on Willy-Brandt-Platz, where the demolished Niederschloss wings once stood, was designed by Frankfurt artist Karl-Jakob Schwalbach in 1984. The Red Tower beside it, finished in 1647, lost its roof for decades and only regained one in 1968, when it became a bell tower for the Basilica of Constantine.