Rundāle Palace
| Rundale Palace | |
|---|---|
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| General information | |
| Architectural style | Baroque |
| Town or city | Rundāle municipality |
| Country | Latvia |
| Construction started | 1736 |
| Completed | 1768 |
| Client | Ernst Johann von Biron |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Bartolomeo Rastrelli |
Rundāle Palace (Latvian: Rundāles pils; German: Schloss Ruhental, formerly also Ruhenthal and Ruhendahl) is one of the two major baroque palaces built for the Dukes of Courland in what is now Latvia, the other being Jelgava Palace. The palace was built in two periods, from 1736 until 1740 and from 1764 until 1768. It is situated at Pilsrundāle, 12 km west of Bauska.
In 1735 Duke of Courland Ernst Johann von Biron bought land in Rundāle with an old medieval castle in the territory of a planned summer residence. The old castle was demolished and construction after the design of Bartolomeo Rastrelli started in 1736. Construction proceeded slowly because part of the materials and resources were transferred to the construction of Jelgava Palace, a project which was more important for the duke. Following Biron's fall from grace in 1740, the palace stood unfinished and empty until 1762 when Biron returned from his exile. Under the supervision of Rastrelli its construction was finished in 1768. Johann Michael Graff produced lavish stucco decorations for the palace during this time. Ernst Johann von Biron loved the palace and moved there already in 1768. He often visited palace and spent summers there until his death in 1772. Son of a Ernst Johann duke Peter von Biron visited palace only a few times because unlike his father he preffered to spend summers in his Vircava manor.
After Duchy of Courland and Semigallia was absorbed by the Russian Empire in 1795, Catherine the Great presented the palace to Count Valerian Zubov, the youngest brother of her lover, Prince Platon Zubov. He spent his declining years there after the death of Valerian Zubov in 1804. His young widow, Thekla Walentinowicz, a local landowner's daughter, remarried Count Shuvalov, thus bringing the palace into the Shuvalov family, with whom it remained until the German occupation in World War I when the German army established a hospital and a commandant's office there. In 1812 the palace was used as a hospital for Napaleon's army. Several soldiers who died in this hospital were buried in the park of the palace. A monument has since been built there. At the end of the 19th century, the palace and park were actively restored and reconstructed.
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