It was planned and funded by Archbishop-Elector of Cologne, Clemens August of Bavaria of the Wittelsbach family, and designed by the architects Johann Conrad Schlaun and François de Cuvilliés.

An elaborate parterre for an area south of the palaces was also designed, but it was restructured by Peter Joseph Lenné in the 19th century and turned into a landscape garden.

From shortly after World War II until 1994, Augustusburg was used as a reception hall for guests of state by the German President, as it is not far from Bonn, which was the capital of the Federal Republic of Germany at that time.

The magnificent main staircase was designed by Johann Balthasar Neumann and made of ornate marble, jasper and stucco.

[1] The main garden directly south of the Augustusburg Palace is a complex, embroidery-like parterre, with four fountains and a mirror pool, flanked by alleys lined with lime trees.