Nymphenburg Palace was commissioned in 1664 by Elector Ferdinand Maria and his wife Henriette Adelaide of Savoy to celebrate the birth of their son and heir, Maximilian II Emanuel. Italian architect Agostino Barelli designed the original cubic pavilion, and over the following century the House of Wittelsbach expanded it into the sprawling baroque and rococo summer residence that survives today.
The palace’s Great Hall is considered a rococo masterpiece, decorated with elaborate stucco work and a ceiling fresco depicting the gods of Olympus. The South Wing houses the Marstallmuseum, one of the world’s leading collections of royal carriages, with roughly forty coaches, sledges, and litters spanning the late 1600s through the 1800s.
The 200-hectare grounds blend a formal French garden with an English-style landscape park and include several rococo pavilions: the Amalienburg hunting lodge, the Badenburg bathhouse, the Pagodenburg tea house, and the Magdalenenklause hermitage. Nymphenburg Palace is open daily from 9 AM to 6 PM, and people typically spend up to two hours exploring the palace and gardens.