"Keeweechic's Ludwigsburg" a Ludwigsburg Travel Page by keeweechic

Ludwigsburg is about 25kms north of Stuttgart. It began in the 18th century as a small community which formed and grew around a castle built by Duke Eberhard Ludwig. Throughout the 300 years of its evolution, Ludwigsburg has always been in the shadows of Stuttgart and therefore has been less important despite the fact that the city has the biggest and best preserved baroque palace in the whole of Germany. Friedrich Schiller was also inspired by Ludwigsburg to write his play Wallenstein over 200 years ago. In 1842 the town was famous for its production of a special kind of porcelain. Today there is a internationally recognised film academy, the only one in the State, as well as 4 universities.

The city has prospered into a city of 85,000 people. There are some 1200 commercial and craft oriented companies and over 50 factories. Throughout its seven suburbs there are also over 2000 wholesale and retail outlets. The city is also an important military depot. One of the most popular attractions is the annual garden show which is held on the grounds of the Palace and is one of Germany’s oldest.

I really only visited the Palace and the gardens in Ludwigsburg. I was dropped off in the morning by a dear friend. Instead of taking about 45 mins, he got lost enroute, it started to lightly snow and it took us nearly 2 hours in the end. He was supposed to be teaching a class at the University and being so late, we stopped there first to explain... poor Hans (again), I don't think he lived it down with his students - getting lost that is. We finally made it to the Palace where he dropped me off and dashed back to his class. I had a couple of hours there before he picked me up again, this time to head to Stuttgart for a nice hot lunch before starting our walking tour...which is another story.