Prince-Abbots' Palace and Gardens

Baroque palace, orangery, and formal gardens north of the cathedral — Fulda's ceremonial showpiece

The Prince-Abbots' Palace (Stadtschloss) sits immediately north of the cathedral precinct, a restrained Baroque composition by Johann Dientzenhofer that now houses the Fulda municipal museum and regional historical collections. The adjoining Orangery — built to the same design as the palace — and the geometric flower gardens stretching in front of them give the city its characteristic southern European formality, transplanted unexpectedly into the Hessian landscape.

The formal gardens are free to walk through and are at their best in summer when the geometric planting patterns are in full colour. The museum inside the palace covers local and regional history and includes period-furnished rooms from the Prince-Abbots' era. Entry to the museum is by ticket; the gardens are open year-round during daylight hours. The Orangery hosts concerts and events throughout the year.

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A story
The palace was built for the Prince-Abbots of Fulda, who were ecclesiastical rulers of both a monastery and a secular principality — a combination of roles that gave them both the spiritual authority to order elaborate funerary monuments and the worldly income to pay for a palace with a formal French garden. The architect Johann Dientzenhofer designed it in the early 18th century to complement the new cathedral; the two buildings together were intended to announce that Fulda was a serious European court, not a provincial backwater.