Charles Eugene's court architect, Philippe de La Guêpière, completed and refurbished parts of the New Hauptbau in the Rococo style, especially the palace theatre.

Frederick and his wife Charlotte, Princess Royal, resided at Ludwigsburg and employed Nikolaus Friedrich von Thouret to renovate the palace in the Neoclassical style.

Located 10 kilometers (6.2 mi) from Stuttgart, Eberhard Louis could set up a court with his mistress, Wilhelmine von Grävenitz, and demonstrate his absolutist status as a monarch.

He hired Johann Jakob Stevens von Steinfels [de], Tomasso Soldati, and Donato Giuseppe Frisoni in 1708, Andreas Quitainner in 1709, and then Luca Antonio Colomba, Riccardo Retti and Diego Francesco Carlone.

Frisoni designed a four-story structure, double the height of the existing palace, but plans changed several times after construction began in 1725 atop the first terrace of the south garden.

[28] Construction of the Neuer Hauptbau and its connecting galleries cost 465,000 guilders and was managed by Paolo Retti, who at times had more than 650 stone masons, cutters, and basic laborers working on the facades between 1726 and 1728.

[31] Charles Alexander ended funding for the palace, dismissed its staff, and moved the capital back to Stuttgart in 1733 to modernize Württemberg's army and fortifications.

The two men were acquitted in 1735 after they paid a hefty fine to the ducal treasury, despite attempted intervention by Charles William Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach to free them earlier.

The function of certain rooms at Ludwigsburg changed frequently; Johann Christoph David von Leger [de] converted the Ordenskapelle to a Lutheran church from 1746 to 1748 for Duchess Elisabeth Fredericka Sophie.

The royals returned when Frederick II agreed in 1803 to pledge allegiance to Napoleon and part with Württemberg's territory on the Left Bank of the Rhine, an area of 388 square kilometers (150 sq mi).

[46] Charlotte was the last ruler of Württemberg to reside at Ludwigsburg, as Frederick's son and successor, William I, and future kings did not show any interest in the palace.

[57] The 50th anniversary of Charles de Gaulle's speech at Ludwigsburg was celebrated on 22 September 2012 and included appearances by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Minister-President Kretschmann, and French President François Hollande.

The palace's two Baroque architects, Johann Friedrich Nette and Donato Frisoni, were educated and worked in Bohemia and hired staff experienced in the Bohemian style.

Eberhard Louis's apartment features a hall of mirrors decorated with stucco by Frisoni and a hidden staircase, since removed, into the room of his mistress Wilhelmine von Grävenitz.

[24] The two pavilions to the west and east of the corps de logis are connected to it by arcaded galleries, completed in 1713 and 1715 respectively, that close off the northern edge of the cour d'honneur.

[22] The western gallery celebrates peace with stucco statuary, medallions, and reliefs of the Judgement of Paris, Aeneas fleeing Troy, Hercules and Omphale, and Apollo and Daphne.

[74][75] The eastern gallery celebrates war with stucco trophy captives and weapons, reliefs of Eberhard Louis's monogram, and depictions of the cardinal virtues and the classical elements.

At the end of the gallery is the Spielpavillon, completed in 1716, whose center is a rounded, cruciform hall with four corner rooms that contain imitation Delftware images of Jacques Callot's Grotesque Dwarves.

Instead, Carlone painted an homage to Eberhard Louis from 1731 to 1733, glorifying his reign with depictions of Alexander the Great, Apelles, Venus, Mars, Apollo, Phobos, and the Muses, among others.

Eberhard Louis died before he could move into the Neuer Hauptbau, leaving its interiors unfinished until Duke Charles Eugene finished them in 1747, but abandoned the palace in 1775.

A vaulted passageway decorated with two figures of Hercules leads into a salon, featuring a ceiling fresco by Diego Carlone and statues of Roman deities in niches.

The King's Staircase has statuary themed after unhappy romances, and the cavettos above are adorned with stucco depictions of the seasons personified and medals bearing Eberhard Louis's initials.

[24] To the east of the Marble Hall is Queen Charlotte's apartment, originally the suites intended to house Prince Frederick Louis and Princess Henrietta Maria.

Charlotte's audience chamber contains her throne, red silk walls, and paintings of Cybele, Minerva, and personified virtues by Viktor Heideloff [de] over the doors and in the lunettes of the mirrors.

The walls and furnishings of the king's office are Neoclassical, decorated with the heads of Greek gods and cornucopias, but the ceiling fresco is a Guibal original from 1779 of Chronos and Clio.

The initial rooms are the first and second antechambers, clad in green damask with portraits by Antoine Pesne and paneling by Michel Fressancourt, overdoors by Matthäus Günther, boiserie flooring, and furniture by Jacques-Philippe Carel and Jean-Baptiste Hédouin that Charles Eugene acquired around 1750.

The restoration of the garden required the moving of 100,000 cubic meters (3,531,467 cu ft) of earth by bulldozers supplied and operated by American soldiers and the planting of tens of thousands of trees and hedges, 22,000 roses, and 400,000 other flowers.

The Blooming Baroque (Blühendes Barock) gardens were opened on 23 April 1954 as a special horticultural show and attracted more than 500,000 visitors by the end of May, among them President Theodor Heuss.

[126][127][128] The Fashion Museum, housed in the Festinbau and West Kavalierbau,[129] displays about 700 pieces of clothing and accessories from the 1750s to the 1960s, including works by Charles Frederick Worth, Paul Poiret, Christian Dior, and Issey Miyake.

[130][131] On the ground floor of the Neuer Hauptbau is a lapidarium, housing original Baroque statuary by Andreas Quittainer, Johann Wilhelm Beyer and Pierre François Lejeune.