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Baroque & Rococo · Architecture of the Court

Baroque architecture spread through Europe from the early seventeenth century, using grand approaches, symmetrical layouts, richly ornamented interiors and dramatic perspectives to express the authority of monarchs and the Church. Palaces became settings for public ceremony and political display as much as places to live. During the eighteenth century, Rococo introduced a lighter and often more intimate decorative language, with curving forms, mirrors, delicate ornament and bright colours. The two styles overlap but are not identical. Moritzburg and Nordkirchen reveal different aspects of Baroque courtly life, while Frederick the Great's Sanssouci demonstrates the refined personal ambitions of Prussian Rococo. Unlike medieval castles, such residences were generally designed to communicate taste, prestige and pleasure rather than to withstand a siege.