Schloss Fantaisie, Baroque castle in Eckersdorf, Germany

Schloss Fantaisie is a castle five kilometres west of Bayreuth in Donndorf, part of Eckersdorf. Its sandstone-coloured facade has a taller central block of three storeys under a shallow hipped roof, flanked by lower wings with dark mansard roofs and dormer windows; a statue-group fountain stands before the entrance. Since July 2000 the building has housed Germany's first garden-art museum.

A plain Renaissance castle of the Lords of Lüchau stood here until Friedrich Ludwig von Lüchau died in 1757 and the property fell to Margrave Frederick of Brandenburg-Bayreuth. Inspired by the couple's Italian journey of 1754/55, building of the new summer residence began in 1758 but halted when Wilhelmine died that year; Frederick resumed it in 1761. Their daughter Friederike inherited it in 1763, gave it the name Fantaisie and had Johann Jakob Spindler complete it by 1765.

The name Fantaisie comes from Princess Friederike, the margraves' daughter, who inherited the estate in 1763. The park mixes Rococo, Empfindsamkeit, Romantic and Historicist elements; its south terraces facing the lake were replanted with vines, the labyrinth was laid out again, and the water cascades with sandstone shells and mythical creatures were restored.

The garden art museum opened in the palace in July 2000, the first of its kind in Germany. The park has been returned to its earlier state: the south terraces facing the lake are replanted with vines, the labyrinth is laid out again, and the water cascades with sandstone shells and mythical figures are repaired. The grounds lie about five kilometres west of Bayreuth in the Donndorf part of Eckersdorf.

The name Fantaisie comes from Princess Friederike, daughter of the margrave couple, who inherited the estate in 1763. Inside, the Spindler-Kabinett is a replica of an intarsia woodwork by the brothers Johann Friedrich and Heinrich Wilhelm Spindler; the original is kept in the Bavarian National Museum in Munich.