At Brühl, in North Rhine-Westphalia between Cologne and Bonn, stand two former residences of the Prince-Electors and Archbishops of Cologne. The larger summer palace, Augustusburg, and the smaller hunting lodge, Falkenlust, were both built for Clemens August of Bavaria. Regarded as 'the first significant creations of the Rococo style in Germany', the two palaces with their park were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1984.
Begun in 1725 on the ruins of a medieval moated castle, Augustusburg was built to plans by Johann Conrad Schlaun and continued by François de Cuvilliés the Elder, who shaped its façades and state rooms in the Régence and early Rococo style. Its crowning feature is the ceremonial staircase built by Balthasar Neumann between 1740 and 1746, with a ceiling fresco by Carlo Carlone — one of the masterpieces of German Baroque. The palace served as the elector's summer residence, occupied only a few weeks each year, the main seat being at Bonn.
