
Nymphenburg Palace
Baroque summer residence with a gilded hall of portraits of the era's most celebrated beauties.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Nymphenburg Palace in Munich centers on King Ludwig the First's Gallery of Beauties, thirty-eight portraits of women he found beautiful, from duchesses to a shoemaker's daughter. It focuses on one face: dancer Lola Montez, whose barely-there costume made the court painter cover her shoulders in black velvet before the portrait could hang. You'll hear how quickly she rose from stranger to mistress and political adviser within months of meeting the king in 1846. Look for her portrait, still half covered exactly as he demanded.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Schlosspark Nymphenburg
Sprawling baroque garden of canals, cascades and a deliberately built fake ruin for royal contemplation.
Schloss Nymphenburg Marstallmuseum
Royal stable hall of gilded coaches and sleighs, including a fairytale king's electric-lit night sleigh.
Munich Residence
Sprawling former royal palace of ten courtyards and over a hundred rooms, rebuilt from ruins after wartime bombing.
Schleissheim palace complex
Baroque palace begun as a four-winged rival to Versailles, left as one wing after its patron exiled.
Residenz Museum
Sprawling former royal palace of Bavarian dukes and kings, with Renaissance halls, rococo theatres, and a jeweled treasury.
Cuvilliéstheater
Gilded rococo court theatre whose carved interior was secretly saved from wartime bombing.