page_title: Nymphenburg Palace Park
section_title: Magdalenenklause
hierarchical_section_title: Nymphenburg Palace Park / Architecture / Decorative buildings / Magdalenenklause
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Magdalenenklause im Schlosspark Nymphenburg von 1725/26
context_page_description: The Nymphenburg Palace Park ranks among the finest and most important examples of garden design in Germany. In combination with the palace buildings, the Grand circle entrance structures and the expansive park landscape form the ensemble of the Nymphenburg Summer Residence of Bavarian dukes and kings, located in the modern Munich Neuhausen-Nymphenburg borough. The site is a Listed Monument, a Protected Landscape and to a great extent a Natura2000 area.
  The exquisite composition of formal garden elements and English-style country park is considered a masterpiece of garden design and the spacious complex of palace and park has always been a popular attraction for local residents and tourists alike. To the east the park adjoins the palace buildings and the Grand circle. To the south and west the park is largely enclosed by the original Garden wall and borders the Botanical Garden to the north and beyond Menzinger Straße the park peripherie partly merges with the Kapuzinerhölzl forest.
  The designs of the original Baroque gardens had largely been modeled on the French gardens at Vaux-le-Vicomte and Versailles.
context_section_description: Although it is considered one of the park castles, the Magdalenenklause, which is somewhat hidden in the northern part of the park, differs significantly from the other castles. It was built by Joseph Effner between 1725 and 1728 and is a hermitage, designed as an artificial ruin. The single-storey building has a rectangular floor plan, the aspect ratio of which corresponds to the golden ratio. The rectangle is expanded to the northwest and southwest by two apses and two small, round extensions are attached to the corners of the building at the front. The entrance facade alludes to Italian ruins, the plastering on the outside reveals seemingly bricked-up window openings, which reinforces the impression of the deteriorated condition. The roof, which was kept flat until 1750, suited this as well.
  The building is considered an early representation of Hermitage and Ruin architecture in Germany. The location, separated from the neighboring castle, was to serve the Elector Max Emanuel as a place of contemplation - a memento mori, the completion of which the Elector not lived long enough to see.
  The building is entered from the east. Following a vestibule, an ante-room and a small cabinet, is a dining room and a prayer room. A contrast to these rooms, which are plainly furnished with simple paneling, exhibits the two-part chapel, the walls of which are grottoed with fantastic stucco work, shells and originally colored pebbles. The design was executed by Johann Bernhard Joch, the stucco figure of the Penitent Magdalene is the work of Giuseppe Volpini, the ceiling frescoes in the chapel room and in the apse were created by Nikolaus Gottfried Stuber. The grids were crafted by Antoine Motté.
caption: The Magdalenenklause was designed to look like a ruin
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.0 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2010:11:15 09:29:16", "Image ExifOffset": "172", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "310", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6611", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1942", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1351"}