The visit to the castles Augustusburg and Falkenlust in Brühl is best started by train. At a time when the railway was considered a technical marvel, the "railway" was taken into account when designing the castle park. Not only were the racing trains included as a staging element in the park design since the opening of the route between Cologne and Bonn in 1844: Those who step out of the train at Brühl station are almost in the castle park and enjoy the panoramic view of the Rococo jewel. In 1984, it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List, and it was long since ennobled by the government in the nearby federal capital Bonn, which used it as a decorative backdrop for state receptions. Perhaps only the (by the way, three-time) visit of British Queen Elizabeth II was appropriate for the extravagant splendor with which the builder, Elector and Archbishop Clemens August of Cologne, wanted to overwhelm his guests from the very first step out of the carriage in the open staircase.
This task is still accomplished by the building within seconds. With their heads held high, more than 100,000 annual visitors try to grasp the stucco and marble splendor while still managing to ascend step by step in a somewhat decorous manner. This masterpiece of elegance and playful clarity was created by the significant southern German Baroque architect Balthasar Neumann in the years 1740-60. It is perhaps the only staircase that classical virtuosos enter to give concerts in. Anyone who has the opportunity to visit one should definitely take it; the Haydn Festival in August offers the best opportunity for that.
The state apartment and the other halls and rooms are not quite as elaborately designed. They also show why Clemens August is still known more as a prince of splendor than as a politically decisive figure today. Nevertheless, his choice of stylistic elements was groundbreaking: The yellow apartment, his "private" living quarters, features the earliest decorative forms of Rococo style in Germany from 1725. By the completion of the palace in 1768, the early Rococo buds literally grow into mature vines – the new style is established.
Schloss Augustusburg – also known as Schloss Brühl – is astonishing and holds one or two surprises. For example, a dining room that is completely adorned with Dutch faience tiles. It appears cold in this way – and rightly so, it is the summer apartment for warm days in the "summer residence" of the Cologne electors. Another surprise awaits in the hunting lodge Falkenlust, a pleasure palace par excellence. Here, the visitor today finds themselves in a Bavarian enclave. The approximately 10,000 faience tiles bear the white-blue lozenge, the emblem of the Wittelsbach family, from which Clemens August originated. We mainly know it today from the flag of the Free State.
The entire complex is unique due to its coherence. The small castle Falkenlust and the baroque palace park are inseparably linked, and the original preservation was one reason for its designation as a World Heritage site. Located between the major cities of Cologne and Bonn, the daydreams on the castle grounds transport one to another time – the 18th century, of course, and the Bonn Republic, when Pope John Paul II and Presidents Carter, Reagan, Mandela, and Gorbachev were guests. The thundering express trains that cross the park tear one out of the daydream. Then a visit to the Max Ernst Museum or the cozy town center of Brühl is recommended to the guest. Both are just a few meters away from the dream castle.
