Castle and Park Belvedere near Weimar

Weimar summer residence with orangery and maze

Belvedere Castle rises on a hill in the south of Weimar, surrounded by a 43-hectare park. Duke Ernst August of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach had a baroque summer residence built here between 1724 and 1748, including an orangery and a pleasure garden and a maze garden.
Since 1923, Belvedere Castle has been a museum of 18th-century arts and crafts featuring porcelain, glass, faience, furniture, and paintings.

The castle complex, which originally served as a hunting lodge, is surrounded by lateral cavalier houses and stables, which lend it the form typical of absolutist estates of the time. After the death of Ernst August in 1748, the park initially began to fall into disrepair. It only regained its original significance with the all-summer stays of Duchess Anna Amalia. Duke Carl August, who had reigned since 1775, conducted botanical studies at Belvedere together with Goethe. By 1820, a botanical garden with approximately 7,900 domestic and foreign plant species had been established. In 1811, Carl August handed over Belvedere Castle and Park to his son Carl Friedrich and his wife, the Russian Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna. The hereditary duke had the so-called Russian Garden laid out to the west of the castle for his wife, followed by a small hedge theater and a maze garden.

Between 1815 and 1830, the park complex, which had become completely overgrown in the meantime, was transformed into a landscaped park of the neo-classical-romantic style with meandering paths and a multitude of ornamental squares and park architectures. Grand Duke Carl Alexander, who had reigned since 1853, had the castle, park, and orangery carefully preserved and maintained. From 1974 to 1978, the park was recreated, and from 1978 to 1982, the Russian Garden was reconstructed. In 1998, the section-by-section restoration of the orangery complex began, which will continue in the coming years. Since 1998, Belvedere Castle and Park have been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.