ABOUT
Nowadays, conference guests dine in the former Great Hall, which is today referred to as the Dining Hall. Until the end of the 1970s, the furniture consisted of large sofas and upholstered chairs, which were replaced by inlaid cherry wood chairs and dining tables. The design of the walls and ceiling was inspired by international neoclassical style elements.
The walls and the doorframes are made of chatoyant marble. Blue and green contrasts with the salmon pink of the wall plaster. The top part of the wall, which meets the ceiling, forms a dark brown, wooden frieze with golden ornamentation. Above this is the coffered ceiling made of larch wood with heavy beams.
Special mention should be made of the six precious Gobelin tapestries and the fireplace. In the centre of each gable end is a wall-length Gobelin tapestry on the themes of »spring« and »autumn«. Surrounded by birds, fish and plants, the spring tapestry depicts a nude young woman as a »nymph«. Her gaze rests on a chaffinch in her hand. In the autumn tapestry, a young hunter sits on a rock. The scene here is also dominated by local animals and plants. The workman Jakob Kössler posed as a model for the figure of the hunter whose photograph Attenhuber had taken dressed in an alpine hunting costume. The corners of the room are each accentuated by a wrought-iron, four-flame standing candelabra on a wooden pedestal.
The substantial, open fireplace of limestone with the coat-of-arms tapestry above the ledge is the centrepiece of the Dining Hall. The Gobelin tapestry is adorned with the ducal coat of arms of the House of Wittelsbach (white and blue rhombuses and golden lions on a black background), as well as Luitpold's motto »Mit der Zeit« (»With the times«). All of the castle's Gobelins were made by the Nymphenburg Tapestry Manufactory until 1946. The daylight coming in at different angles changes the appearance of the valuable tapestries; silk, wool and cotton shimmer in various degrees of intensity and create different moods. The artist Friedrich Attenhuber devoted a great deal of creativity to the designs of the tapestries. It was his task to assess the quality of the Gobelin Manufactory in Munich commissioned with producing the designs. The Duke clearly reminded Attenhuber of his responsibility in a letter dated 7 January 1922: »I only placed the order with the tapestry manufactory under the condition that you oversee the work after I have sent them the design. It is therefore your duty, illustrious master, to ensure that I have not wasted hundreds of thousands for rubbish.«
In 1946, the last two quadratic Gobelin tapestries were completed on the south wall above the windows. The works »Three birds with larch branch« on the right-hand side and »Three birds with fir branch« stand out owing to their true-to-detail, realistic depiction.
GALLERY
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The focal point of the society rooms in the North Wing is the Great Hall, which is today used as a Dining Hall for guests. (© MPG)
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Beneath the protective carpeted floor is the exquisite parquet with a large-scale diamond pattern made of different woods.
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The dining table and chairs with the contrasting dark inlays were made according to the original designs for the previous dining room. (© MPG)
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The bronze bust on the mantelpiece, which is framed on both sides by brass bird of prey sculptures, shows Duke Luitpold at the age of 42, to which the inscription »XLII« refers. (© MPG)
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Design of the fireplace in the Great Hall (© MPG)
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In the drawing of the fireplace installed in 1923, Attenhuber had intended to use different sculptures instead of the subsequent bronze bust of the Duke. (© MPG)
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The glass mosaic with the golden monogram of the Duke on a green background is the fireplace’s most striking feature. Like the entire ensemble, it also bears the initials F.A. of its designer. (© MPG)
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The Gobelin tapestry »Autumn«, which Attenhuber designed in 1939, is one of the six tapestries that decorate the modern-day Dining Hall. (© Dr. Kai-Uwe Nielsen)
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The photograph of Jakob Kössler, who posed in hunting garb for this image, served as the model for the Gobelin tapestry »Autumn«. (©Dr. Helga Himen)
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True-to-detail, Attenhuber adopted the photographic motif of Kössler, who sits in the centre of the picture, depicted in warm, golden autumnal colours. (© Dr. Kai-Uwe Nielsen)
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Duke Luitpold expressed his fascination with Gobelin tapestry in his dissertation on »Frankish tapestries« from which this sharply outlined, almost sacral drawing comes. (© MPG)
VIDEO
Art historian Dr. Helga Himen