The Hall of Mirrors was built under Friedrich II (1544-1556), brother and successor of Ludwig V. As a far-travelled man who had seen the change from the late-Gothic to the "new antique form" as Durer called it, the beginning of the Renaissance, at the princely courts of France, Spain, Italy and England, he did not want to lag behind his contemporaries. Of course many details of the building still show the Gothic tradition; yet the arrangement of the loggias in three storeys towards the courtyard is a thoroughly "modern" composition, which has its classical model in the Italian palace courts - there more free and airy, here on the contrary heavy and compact. Noteworthy are the capitals and the decoration of the gable on the portico. The central coat-of-arms shows for the first time the imperial orb bestowed by the Emperor Karl V, and the date 1549 in the lettering. The building is called after the "Hall of Mirrors" (also the "Mirrored Hall") as the great hall on the top storey was called on account of the mirrors covering the walls, for those days a striking luxury. Rebuilt several times after the destructions the building finally fell into ruin after the lightning and great fire of 1764.
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