~ Benrath, 05.08.2022 ~

A local friend guided me through Benrath today when I came to visit its baroque palace.
The weather was bad, and I was out of practive—apologies for the poor quality of the photos.

Schloß Benrath is a Lutschloß/maison de plaisance built in the 18th century under a Prince-Elector of the Palatinate.
I wanted to see it because of it's very compact one-storey corps de logis and the adjacent park.

Next to the palace's gardens is its forest, along whose axes run long avenues. One of them leads to the Rhine.

The streets ajacent to the palace resemble very much different areas of Bonn, lined variously with 19th century Gründerzeit villas or large apartments, each mixed with their respective postwar counterparts.

A large artificial lake mirrors the palace and its flanking buildings, with a picturesque little isle in it and many waterfowl on its banks.

Another axis extended away from a side of the palace—with the sun clouded, I couldn't tell the cardinal direction—and over a series of shallow.

Off to the side is the former orangery, which now hosts a library. Its gardens are still blooming with a variety of flowers and smell of the boxwood hedges.

What an ugly duck.

I only regret that I couldn't get a look inside, as a wedding was being held there. Even in the rainy weather however, the palace and its grounds are a truly delightful work of art, splendid and beautiful at a very modest, human scale.