[5][6] The grove is distinctive because it stands amid numerous formations of limestone rocks, and it is unusual for beech trees to thrive on northern slopes in the arid Franconian Jura.

[7]: 58  The humanist de:Friedrich Taubmann, born in Wonsees, praised the grove for its beauty and described it in detail in his 1604 work Schediasmata poetica.

[5][8] Thirty-nine limestone outcrops of different heights and disparate groupings are located in the garden area that is about 800 metres in length,[9] connected by a total of 17.5 kilometers of footpaths.

All of these species occurred naturally in the original landscape, although in some places trees were cleared to afford a distant view of the ornamental buildings, as is seen in engravings of 1748 and 1793.

In the spring of 1744, on the orders of Margrave Friedrich von Bayreuth, work began in the castle grounds based on plans by the garden architect Joseph Saint-Pierre.

She made numerous suggestions, largely to shape the garden around incidents recounted in Fénelon's novel Les Aventures de Télémaque.

A German translation had been published in 1733 under the title Die seltsamen Begebenheiten des Telemach and was very popular in court circles at the time.

[3][1] Despite this, the narrative theme of the rock garden drew on Greek mythology, and what might appear to be a thematic dissonance did not prompt any critical comment at the time.

[9] In Fénelon's pseudo-historical and utopian novel, the young Telemachus and his teacher Mentor proceed through various ancient states in decline because of flattery, war and moral failings.

Fénelon shows how, thanks to Mentor's advice, these problems can be solved through peaceful settlements with neighbours and reforms, in particular by promoting agriculture and reducing the production of luxury goods.

[20] Margravine Wilhelmine chose to bring this story to life in the design of her landscape garden so that the walker follows a winding course through the natural rock groups from one scene to another.

[9] Wilhelmine's transformation of the Zwernitz's beech grove into the island of Ogygia by giving the landscape a literary program through decorative design was way ahead of its time.

On the first crest of rock stood the speakers’ house (“Referentenhaus”) a half-timbered building with quarry stone facing that could be heated by an open fireplace.

The log cabin ("Holzstoßhaus"), whose interior walls were decorated with landscapes in a sort of mosaic of moss and colored stones, had a shingle roof.

From there a wide meadow stretches out, at the edge of which originally stood the straw house (“Strohhaus”), a half-timbered building clad in bark, whose corners were made of raw tufa stones.

The grotto was originally decorated with a naturalistic, colorful group of sculptures consisting of the goddess Diana armed with bow and arrows and three nymphs with hunting dogs.

On the rock above the grotto stood a shingle-roofed green moss hut, the Dianenhäuschen, another "natural" accessory made of stones and bark clad with tufa.

On it, a good 15 meters above the ground, stood the Belvedere, a pleasure house in the form of an octagonal pavilion, framed by two other cylindrical buildings.

[35] Due to its location directly in front of the orchestra pit of the ruin theater and its size, the calypso grotto could be used as a rainproof auditorium.

[1] Well to the south of the parterre and Zwernitz Castle are two groups of rocks in an open field, which were included in the garden as peripheral elements and connected to the grove by paths.

[36] The more northern of the two groups contains the mushroom-like Zschokkefelsen (named after the poet Johann Heinrich Daniel Zschokke) and the more southern the Gollerfelsen, also called the Reigerfelsen in the 18th century.

Zwernitz Castle, originally built by Friedrich and Uodalrich de Zvernze in the middle of the 12th century, was destroyed and rebuilt over the course of its history.

Contrary to all baroque and rococo garden practice, a beech tree was planted right in the main architectural axis in the middle of the small courtyard.

As a result of this mixture, the rooms do not radiate blossom-like from the elevated central building, but rather form a grape-shaped conglomerate along the main axis.

The oriental building is also an original architectural representation of the cult of tree arbors, which have been a regular part of German and Swiss garden art since the Middle Ages.

The leading French garden theorist of the early 18th century, Dezallier d'Argenville, described them as follows: There are trees in Germany grown in a very ingenious way.

The front of the Oriental building was similar to the New Palace later erected at the Hermitage in Bayreuth, with colorful glass rivers, red and blue stones and rock crystals encrusted like a mosaic, although not as consistently as there.

What is new about the rock theaters in Bayreuth and particularly pronounced in Sanspareil is the lack of the separation between the previously independent elements of scenery and decorative setting.

The scenery naturally limited the choice of topics, and stood in contrast to the usual baroque and rococo theaters with their fantastic backdrops, special effects and artifice.

Since 1985, the de:Studiobühne Bayreuth has regularly performed pieces from its current program in the ruins and grotto theater during the summer months.