Neues Palais, Palace in Darmstadt, Germany
The Neues Palais was a grand ducal city residence in Darmstadt with a 64-meter-wide facade combining Venetian and Roman palace motifs with Baroque and Classical elements. The multi-story building extended over several wings and contained generous reception rooms as well as private chambers for the occupants.
The palace was built between 1864 and 1865 as the final urban residence of the House of Hesse for Grand Duke Ludwig IV and his wife Princess Alice of England. A Royal Air Force bomb destroyed the building completely in September 1944, and its ruins were removed in 1955.
The residence carried its name to distinguish it from the older city castle and later became a meeting place for artists from across Europe. Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig transformed parts of the rooms into workshops for Art Nouveau designers, who created new furniture and wall decorations there.
Today the site holds the Georg-Büchner-Platz, where pedestrians move through and an underground car park lies beneath the surface. The Darmstadt State Theater borders directly on the former palace grounds and serves as a landmark in the city center.
Between 1940 and 1944 the Gestapo used the building as headquarters, before bombs reduced it completely to rubble. The city theater was later erected at exactly the same spot where the palace rooms once stood.
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