Schloss Herzogsfreude

Schloss Herzogsfreude (also named Joy-le-Duc, the duke's pleasure) was a palace in Röttgen, part of the city of Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

Cologne's Elector Clemens August of Bavaria (1700 - 1761) was an avid builder and renovator of palaces and hunting lodges within his territories.

[1] ‘Par force’ hunts were grand theatrical events, meticulously planned to demonstrate power and greatness.

From their waiting place, the Elector and his guests could watch the hunters, horses and hounds as they persecuted the frantic stag at great speed.

When the exhausted stag was no longer able to run, the dogs held it fast by biting its throat, ears, legs and muzzle.

In the outskirts of Bonn, the capital of the Cologne Electorate, the ‘Kottenforst’ forest was a centre of such ‘par force’ hunts.

Only the network of avenues through the Kottenforst remain, just as a hunter's cottage that was constructed at the same time as the palace, and is now used by the forest administration.

Apart from street names such as “Schlossplatz”, “Kurfürstenplatz” and “Herzogsfreudenweg”, all that remains of the former electoral palace are parts of the former cellar vault, which can now be found under some private houses.

[4] The LWL Landesmuseum in Münster has an 18th century gaming table by Adolphe Jacque (created in 1760) where an image of Herzogsfreude is included on the surface, in a so-called 'trompe-l’oeil scagliola top'.