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40-563: 49°29′04″N 8°27′42″E  /  49.48438°N 8.46172°E  / 49.48438; 8.46172 The Mannheim Palace Church (German: Mannheimer Schlosskirche ), founded as a court chapel, was built in the 18th century and is part of the Mannheim Palace . The church served as court chapel for the prince-electors of the Electorate of the Palatinate between 1731 and 1777 and belongs to

80-569: A bright ochre /yellow, the Mittelbau (Corps de Logis) has been thoroughly rebuilt (including a new roof construction), and the Ehrenhof (Court of Honor) was restructured and paved with granite. 49°28′58.8″N 8°27′43.2″E  /  49.483000°N 8.462000°E  / 49.483000; 8.462000 Grand Duchy Prior to the early 1800s, the only Grand duchies in Europe were located in what

120-461: A general trend among the German princes to create grand new residences in that era. Construction was commenced solemnly on 2 June 1720. The building process was intended to cost about 300,000 Gulden , financed by an extraordinary "palace tax", but in the end, the palace cost about 2 million Gulden and severely worsened the Palatinate's financial situation. The first administrative institutions began using

160-520: A hotel with a capacity for up to 65 guests after the war. Today it is used as occasional exposition space for modern and urban art, e.g. during the Long Night of Museums in Mannheim. The northern wing includes the impressive Schlosskirche (palace church) and the law section, as well as Mannheim's Amtsgericht (lower district court). The southern/eastern wing is much larger than the northern one, including

200-490: A male dynast . If there were no male heirs in a specific branch of the House of Nassau , the throne would go to the next in line from any of the other branches. This resulted in the title of grand duke being bestowed on a distant male cousin of William III, Adolphe , from the elder branch of Nassau-Weilburg (at present Luxembourg-Nassau ). The current monarch is Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg since 2000. The term "grand duchy"

240-463: A monarch whose grand-dukedom was borne as a subsidiary title (Finland, Luxembourg, Transylvania ), some of which were client states of a more powerful realm ( Cleves and Berg ), and some whose territorial boundaries were nominal and the position purely titular ( Frankfurt ). In the 21st century, only Luxembourg remains a grand duchy. The only grand duchy still extant is Luxembourg . It regained its independence from Napoleonic France and became

280-652: A sovereign grand duchy in 1815 by decision of the Congress of Vienna which dealt with the political aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars . In order to act as a sufficient counterbalance to France, the Congress decided to grant the dignity of grand duke of Luxembourg to the monarch of the newly created United Kingdom of the Netherlands which comprised present-day Netherlands and Belgium. Luxembourg remained in personal union with

320-663: A united Kingdom of Italy . In 1696, the Duchy of Savoy became the Grand Duchy of Savoy when its duke was promoted to grand duke by writ of the emperor. The title was considered a necessary bribe to keep Savoy aligned with the rest of the imperial states during the Nine Years War against France. From 1713, the primary title of the ruler of the Savoyard state became "king" instead (briefly of Sicily, then of Sardinia from 1720 onward). In

360-479: Is Royal Highness (HRH). The title of grand duke borne under the Russian Empire by children and grandchildren of its rulers was a non-sovereign honorific, unrelated to any grand duchy, to which was attached the style of Imperial Highness (HIH). Ranking, internationally, no higher than the members of other reigning dynasties whose head held the title of emperor, the usage was an historical anomaly, persisting from

400-602: Is now Italy: Tuscany (declared in 1569) and Savoy (in 1696). During the 19th century there were as many as 14 grand duchies in Europe at once (a few of which were first created as exclaves of the Napoleonic empire but later re-created, usually with different borders, under another dynasty). Some of these were sovereign and nominally independent ( Baden , Hesse and by Rhine , Mecklenburg-Schwerin , Mecklenburg-Strelitz , Oldenburg , Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and Tuscany ), some sovereign but held in personal union with larger realms by

440-609: Is of relatively late invention, used at first in Western Europe in 1569 in the case of Tuscany, to denote either territories of a particularly mighty duke or territories of significant importance in political, economical or military matters without being of sufficient size or importance to be recognized internationally as a kingdom. The number of duchies had inflated towards the end of the Middle Ages to an extent that included middle-sized towns or relatively small fiefs , as compared to

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480-719: Is referred to as the Grand Principality of Transylvania in English rather than as a Grand Duchy, since its name/title derives directly from Großfürst(entum) . Until the 18th century it had been simply referred to as Fürstentum Siebenbürgen in German and the Principality of Transylvania in English, much like the Danubian Principalities . Junior members of the dynasties of historical grand duchies in Germany sometimes bore

520-648: Is said to have been used by the rulers of Lithuania , and after rulers from the Jagiellonian dynasty became Kings of Poland , it was found among the titles used by the rulers of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . The Polish kings of the Swedish House of Vasa also used this grand-princely title for their non-Polish territories. On the other hand, the Habsburg (Austrian) Großfürstentum Siebenbürgen

560-567: The German Confederation . The term "grand duchy" is often, but incorrectly, used in reference to Warsaw between 1807 and 1813, which was in fact the Duchy of Warsaw . In Belgium and to some extent in France, Grand-Duché (French for "grand duchy") is often used as a metonym to refer to the neighbouring country, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg . This practice helps to avoid confusion with

600-550: The Schneckenhof yard (a popular university party ground) and holding most of the university's central institutions, as well as the largest lecture halls and the central Hasso Plattner Library. Two sculptures are located on the central courtyard and represent the two founders of the Mannheim Palace Charles III Philip, Elector Palatine and Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria . The palace has been repainted in

640-504: The Mannheim city centre. By surrounding an area of 6 hectare the castle is one of Europe's biggest palaces and the second biggest one in Baroque style, second only after Versailles. For reasons of prestige the architects made sure that Mannheim Palace has one more window than Versailles. The Breite Straße runs from the palace to Mannheim's central square, the Paradeplatz . The central part of

680-514: The Netherlands and Luxembourg and small parts of western Germany ( Burgundian Netherlands ). The first monarchy ever officially titled a "grand duchy" was the Medici sovereignty over Tuscany thanks to a papal bull issued by Pope Pius V , the first rulers receiving the title in 1569. Tuscany remained a grand duchy until 1860, when it was annexed by the Kingdom of Sardinia which succeeded in establishing

720-575: The belfry, two of them are baroque bells that have their origins in the building time of the Mannheim Palace. Mannheim Palace Mannheim Palace (German: Mannheimer Schloss ) is a large Baroque palace in Mannheim , Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It was originally the main residence of the Prince-electors of the Electorate of the Palatinate of the House of Wittelsbach until 1777. Part of

760-452: The city center, key institutions such as the rectorate or the main library are accommodated in the palace, besides countless lecture halls and offices. The site of the palace is impressive, although the construction of roads and railway tracks has diminished its dominating look. To the southwest, it faces the Rhine and Ludwigshafen . To the northeast the palace presents its 450 m long front to

800-444: The consort of Grand Duke Karl of Baden , resided here after 1806. For most of the 19th and early 20th centuries, the palace served no uniform purpose, being used as a representative building and a museum for the city. In World War II , the palace was heavily bombed and partly destroyed. Many people supported demolishing it after the war to create space for a more modern city architecture. These plans came to nothing and in recent years

840-447: The crown of the Netherlands until 1890 when William III , King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg, died without leaving a male heir. He was succeeded on the Dutch throne by his daughter Wilhelmina , but she could not become Grand Duchess of Luxembourg under the semi-Salic law established by the Congress of Vienna . In terms of the law, the grand ducal throne had to be passed to

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880-598: The early nineteenth century, Napoléon I occasionally used the title "grand duchy" for several French satellite states given to his relatives or generals. Other allies abandoned the orbit of the Holy Roman Empire to join Napoleon's nominally independent Confederation of the Rhine . The elevation of these vassals to the title of grand duke was usually accompanied by an expansion of their realms with additional territory gathered at

920-419: The elevation of the Grand Duchy of Muscovy to the tsardom and, later, empire of All Russia, until its collapse in 1917. In several Balto-Slavic languages (such as Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Belarusian and Russian), the term often translated into English as "grand duke" is literally grand prince . In some western European languages (English, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, etc.), the term "grand prince"

960-454: The expense of subdued powers such as Prussia . Though Napoleon was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo and most of his newly created satellite states abolished, the Congress of Vienna restored some of the previous sovereign duchies and principalities, while recognizing others as grand duchies. As a result, the 19th century saw the creation of a new group of grand duchies in central Europe, such as

1000-401: The grand duchies of Hesse , Baden and Oldenburg . Historically, in Europe a sovereign grand duke was one of the highest ranks among hereditary rulers after emperor and king , and was equal to that of prince-elector ; ranking as royalty, i.e., European rulers and, in Germany, the reigning nobility ( Hochadel ). The correct form of address (also for the heir apparent and his wife)

1040-694: The imperial House of Romanov who were children or patrilineal grandchildren of a Russian emperor. More remote descendants of emperors were titled "prince" ( князь , knyaz ). The Grand Duchy of Finland , an autonomous state ruled by the Russian Empire and established in 1809, was referred to in Swedish, Finnish and Russian as a Grand Principality ( Swedish : Storfurstendömet Finland ; Finnish : Suomen suuriruhtinaskunta ; Russian: Великое княжество Финляндское ) Velikoye knyazhestvo Finlyandskoye ; The Russian Tsar held title as Grand Duke of Finland. The title of "Grand Prince" ( Ukrainian : Великий Князь )

1080-469: The most important territorial princes of the Holy Roman Empire . The actual palace dates from the 18th century. When Elector Karl III Philip had confessional controversies with the inhabitants of his capital Heidelberg , he decided to make Mannheim the Palatinate's new capital in 1720. Karl Philip decided to construct a new palace as his residence on the site of the old Friedrichsburg. It was part of

1120-671: The national, pre-medieval tribal provinces. As a consequence, a new title was needed to make the difference between important and unimportant regional powers: the title grand duke was born. One of the first examples was the unofficial use of the title for the dukes of Burgundy , who almost succeeded in forming a new kingdom in the historical region of Lotharingia . Collectively known as the Burgundian State in modern historiography, they held lands in modern-day eastern France (Burgundy, Franche-Comté, Alsatia, Lorraine, Champagne, Picardy and Nord-Pas-de-Calais) as well as most of modern Belgium,

1160-585: The oldest parish churches of the Old Catholic diocese in Germany . The organ was built by the company Steinmeyer (Oettingen) in 1956 and is a musical keyboard instrument with 34 organ stops (3 transmissions in the pedal) and an electro-pneumatic tracker (Taschenladen). At the balustrade is the Rückpositiv located that carries ornaments with the seal of Charles Philip III . There are three bells in

1200-802: The palace has been renovated extensively thanks to private donations and government funding totaling more than 54 million euro. Elector Karl Theodor founded the Kurpfälzische Akademie der Wissenschaften as early as 1763, and although there was no continuous existence of a scientific college in Mannheim, the Wirtschaftshochschule , or business college, founded in 1907, saw itself in the tradition of Karl Theodor's earlier college. The college expanded its subjects program in 1967, thus gaining "university" status. The University of Mannheim still uses Mannheim Palace as its central building complex and although many university buildings are dispersed all over

1240-630: The palace in 1725, but Karl Philip was able to transfer his court to the new residence only in 1731. Construction was not completed until 1760. Karl Philip died in 1742 and was succeeded by a distant relative, the young Count Palatine of Sulzbach and later Duke of Bavaria Charles Theodor . During his reign, the palace and the city of Mannheim saw their zenith. The glamour of the Elector's court and Mannheim's famous cultural life lasted until 1778, when Karl Theodor became Elector of Bavaria by inheritance and he moved his court to Munich . Although Mannheim kept

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1280-818: The palace is the Mittelbau with its representative halls. Today, the Mittelbau holds state rooms and the Rittersaal hall. The Mittelbau is flanked by the Ehrenhof West and Ehrenhof Ost wings, which include the Court of Honor in front of the Mittelbau. In those two wings, there are mainly lecture halls and offices of the university's humanities section. Below the Ehrenhof, there is a massive bunker dating from World War II. Initially constructed as defensive military fortification designed to protect up to 1,500 residents or valued materials from Russian and Allied bombing attacks, it served as

1320-455: The palace is used today by the University of Mannheim . The castle, which features tapestries, furniture, paintings, porcelain and silverware can be visited on a free-flow basis with audioguides. The city of Mannheim, founded in 1606, was fortified and at the present site of the castle there was a fortress called Friedrichsburg , sometimes serving as alternative residence for the Elector, one of

1360-495: The smaller post-1815 German states' rulers, and still in use today by the Prince of Liechtenstein ) and is distinct from Prinz , which is used for a member of the dynasty of a monarch; both are translated as "prince" in English. Emerging from the Middle Ages , the rulers of Ruthenia (modern Ukraine), Lithuania and some Eastern Slavic states , as well as other Eastern European princes and later Russian dynasts, were referred to by

1400-504: The style of Highness , sometimes that of Grand Ducal Highness , and continued to be accorded those styles post-monarchy by courtesy in such reference works as the Almanach de Gotha and Burke's Peerage . Prior to the Napoleonic Wars , only two grand duchies were recognized in Europe. Both were in Italy, the first, Tuscany, was elevated to that status by a papal bull while the second, Savoy,

1440-519: The title Великий Князь ( Veliky Knyaz , German: Großfürst ), whose literal English translation is "grand prince" rather than "grand duke". Although grand prince is found in historical references, since the reign of Catherine the Great , the Russian Veliky Knyaz has usually been translated into English as "grand duke". Since the 18th century it has also been used to refer to cadets of

1480-457: The title of "residence", the palace was used merely as accommodation for several administrative bodies. Things worsened further during the Napoleonic Wars , when Mannheim was besieged. During Napoleon 's reorganization of Germany, the Electorate of the Palatinate was split up and Mannheim became part of the Grand Duchy of Baden , thus losing its capital/residence status. Some glamour returned to Mannheim Palace when Stéphanie de Beauharnais ,

1520-482: Was elevated by the Holy Roman Emperor: Other states whose names are translated as "grand duchy" in English were, properly, grand principalities : The Napoleonic Wars saw several minor ducal titles so elevated, and between then and World War I there were many grand duchies in Europe. Some were created in the Napoleonic era, others were recognized by the Congress of Vienna and were founding members of

1560-415: Was rare or non-existent, used to refer to some rulers of Transylvania, Russia or Tuscany prior to the 19th century. In German and Scandinavian languages, both titles co-exist: Groß herzog ("grand duke") and Groß fürst ("grand prince"). Fürst is specifically a monarchal title (as used, for example, by the imperial princes ( Reichsfürsten ) of the Holy Roman Empire and retained by several of

1600-547: Was used by the supreme Kievan rulers of Kievan Rus' . After the dissantigration process occurred in the state, different members of the Rurik Dynasty in the northern principalities could compete for the title of Grand Prince of Kiev . Some princes however could add "Grand" to their title without winning the competition, such establishing their principality's independence from Kievan metropole . The title Magnus Dux or "grand duke" ( Lithuanian : Didysis kunigaikštis )

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