Schlosspark Nymphenburg

In Schlosspark Nymphenburg in Munich, a deliberately built fake ruin sits among the trees, commissioned by Elector Max Emanuel from architect Joseph Effner. Inside waits a hermit's cell with a shell-covered grotto chapel, a human skull on a table, and a crucifix he carried home as plunder from his wars in Hungary. The guide traces why a man who built a garden meant to declare his glory also asked for a room meant to remind him of his own mortality.