Elector Friedrich IV (1592 - 1619) had a new, splendid palace erected on the foundation walls of a predecessor building between the Hall-of-Mirrors Building and the Ladies Building: the Friedrich Building. The Strasbourg architect, Johannes Schoch (approx. 1550 - 1631), executed it within just a few years (1601 - 1607); he decorated the two magnificent facades together with Sebastian Götz from Graubünden. In 1893 the Friedrich Building (completely destroyed by the major fire of 1764) was reconstructed and rebuilt by order of the Baden State Government by the Karlsruhe architect Carl Schäfer. The photograph shows the façade facing the courtyard (southern side) of the Friedrich Building with its idealistic Gallery of Ancestral Portraits which legitimates the sovereign's rule in its current state.
Landesmedienzentrum Baden-Württemberg
Rotenbergstr. 111
70190 Stuttgart