 |
|
is visible as a ruin behind a loopholed wall; a strong bulwark at the north-west corner with circular walls 23 feet thick and a diameter of 99 feet. the heavy foundation in neat freestone, a feature of all buildings erected under Ludwig V; originally completed with a sixteen-cornered half-timbered storey and a high pyramidal roof. Friedrich V undertook the risk in 1619 of replacing the half-timbering with a stone storey 33 feet higher and thus created a large ballroom with an area of 633 sq.yds. This could be considered the most beautiful room of the castle, high above the town with a magnificent view all around. From a technical point of view it might be mentioned that during the building the huge framework of the roof was not taken down. Its construction was altered in such a way that it freely spanned the great circular space so that the previous supporting central colums could be removed; a remarkable piece of carpentry. A plate in Latin letters facing the Gun Park refers to this work. It is flanked by two statues of the builders, left Ludwig V in serious manly attitude, right Friedrich V with his youthful enterprising spirit which, in 1620 as he defended the recently gained dignity of King of Bohemia in the battle of the Weissen Berg near Prague against the Imperial troops, cost him both the royal throne and the Palatinate. He is called the Winter King. The statues are works of the sculptor Sebastain Gotz of Chur, who also made the plastic ornaments on the Friedrich Building , in particular the 16 great ancestral statues. |
 |
Ludwig V and Friedrich V by Sebastian Gotz of Chur. ------------------ Rendered from the Author's 1988 Video Tape |