Karlsruhe Palace

Margrave Karl Wilhelm founded Karlsruhe in 1715 by building a hunting lodge in a forest and laying out thirty-two avenues radiating from its tower like the ribs of a fan, nine of them becoming city streets and the rest running into the woods; the plan is unique among European cities and gives Karlsruhe its nickname, the fan city. The palace was rebuilt after 1944 bombing and now holds the Badisches Landesmuseum, whose collections include a large holding of Ottoman objects taken in the seventeenth-century wars, known as the Türkenbeute. The tower is climbed for the view down the radiating streets.

What you actually see

• The fan plan - thirty-two avenues radiating from a single tower.
• The tower view - the radial layout visible from above.
• The Türkenbeute - a large collection of Ottoman objects in the museum.
• The Schlossgarten - the park behind, with a miniature railway.

When to go

April to October for the park; the museum closes Mondays. The fan plan is best understood from the tower, which has its own opening hours.

Honest expectations

The palace is postwar reconstruction. Museum sections close for refurbishment. The radial plan is only legible from the tower or a map.

Nearby

Baden-Baden lies south; the Rhine is west.