Palace terrace Rastatt Castle Open spaces and redesign of the Fontainenbrunnen fountain

Since May 2014, the palace terrace of Rastatt Palace has been open to the public again. The water features of the two circular fountains lend new splendour to the garden front of the Residence Palace. On the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the "Rastatt Peace", the newly designed palace terrace was also festively played on in 2014.

History and design

While the Rastatt Castle, built by the architect Domenico Egidio Rossi around 1700, has been preserved in its original substance, the castle garden impressively documents the history of the site, particularly through its multiple changes:
Plans from the Baroque period show two smaller water basins as a prelude to the parterre.
The castle garden, which was used in the meantime as a parade ground, was designed by Max Laeuger during the 1920s to become a people's park. He also envisaged two water basins.
Position, shape and dimension of the basins changed with the respective designs.
So this motif was also reinterpreted by Gunnar Martinsson during the 1980s.

Located in the listed ensemble of the Rastatt Residence Palace and its open spaces, the Palace Terrace also represents an important urban cross connection. The aim of the project was to give the palace terrace more quality of stay again, to integrate it better into the urban space and to renovate the fountain pools, which had been shut down for several years, while taking into account the structures inherited from three major design phases (basic structures from the 18th century, 1920s:
Max Laeuger, 1980s: Gunnar Martinsson).
In the first instance, a project study was prepared in 2012. In this study, statements were made about the genesis of the facility and the integration of the palace terrace into the urban space, and conceptual proposals were made. On this basis, the proposal for an extension of the fountain basins was elaborated in close coordination with Vermögen und Bau as the client, the State Palaces and Gardens of Baden-Württemberg as the user, the city of Rastatt as well as the responsible monument authorities.

Realisation

Since May 2014, the Palace Terrace at Rastatt Palace has been open to the public again. The water features of the two circular fountains add new splendor to the garden front of the Residenzschloss. The palace terrace is now more openly designed, as an essential part of the spatial sequence from the palace to the lawn parterre as well as an important urban cross-connection. The extended fountain basins, the open transition to the tree carrés and the steps to the lawn parterre lend it generosity. The moving water surface of the two fountain basins was extended in each case with a surrounding calm water level. A steel edge serves as a calming ring and makes the extension readable.

In the course of the construction work, the fountain technology as well as the entire water-bound surface and the surface drainage were comprehensively renewed. Through the installation of a Rigole with upstream sedimentation section, the precipitation water is brought to infiltration. The castle terrace is now appropriately illuminated so that it also appears as an inviting public space at night. The fountains are illuminated in the evening hours, as are the two lateral tree carrés.