Magazin Berchtesgaden

The Concept of the residence
Access to the staterooms is through the main courtyard with its three-arched hallway, past
the monumental niche with the Hercules fountain
The imposing main staircase was constructed to give access to the princely staterooms.
Ever since the time of Wolf Dietrich, the entrance was through
the Carabinieri Hall, an impressive stateroom used for ceremonies and festivities that also
gave access to the adjoining living and administrative quarters. The route which
ambassadors, statesmen, and diplomats were required to take by Baroque ceremonial
before an audience with the prince-archbishop led them through the Knights Hall to the
Council Chamber, then passing through the Antechamber to the Audience Hall, the
magnificent highlight. Only a few select guests were ever allowed access to the private
area of the princely apartments adjacent to the study (Retirade). The order of these rooms
was essentially laid down by the French suite of rooms for princely rituals and regulated by
‘chamber ordinances’.
The prince-archbishops continued to improve the décor of the Residenz. Therefore, the
decoration of the Carabinieri Hall with stucco and ceiling frescoes dates from the time of
Prince-archbishop Johann Ernst Graf von Thun.
From 1709 Prince-archbishop Franz Anton von Harrach had the Residenz modernized. The
renovation of the apartments, inspired by the Leopoldine Wing of the Imperial Palace in
Vienna, was intended to emphasize the patron’s princely status as a prince-archbishop.
The appearance of the main façade today, with its ornate main entrance portal and the
stucco surrounding the windows of the piano nobile, origins from this era.
Hieronymus Graf von Colloredo, the last prince archbishop before secularization, planned
extensive changes to the buildings.
He also commissioned Peter Pflauder, the court stucco artist, to decorate the walls of the
staterooms with fine white and gold ornamentation in line with neoclassical taste.
It was only with its transfer to the imperial crown estate office that the Residenz was used
as a secondary residence by the Austrian imperial family. Consequently, the staterooms
were equipped with furniture from the Imperial Furniture Collection.
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