Editing Rococo (section)

==Southern Germany==
In church construction, especially in the southern German-Austrian region, gigantic spatial creations are sometimes created for practical reasons alone, which, however, do not appear monumental, but are characterized by a unique fusion of architecture, painting, stucco, etc., often eliminating the boundaries between the art genres, and are characterised by a light-filled weightlessness, festive cheerfulness and movement. The Rococo decorative style reached its summit in southern Germany and Austria from the 1730s until the 1770s. There it dominates the church landscape to this day and is deeply anchored there in popular culture. It was first introduced from France through the publications and works of French architects and decorators, including the sculptor [[Claude III Audran]], the interior designer [[Gilles-Marie Oppenordt]], the architect [[Germain Boffrand]], the sculptor Jean Mondon, and the draftsman and engraver [[Pierre Lepautre (1652–1716)|Pierre Lepautre]]. Their work had an important influence on the German Rococo style, but does not reach the level of buildings in southern Germany.{{Sfn|de Morant|1970|pages=354–355}}

German architects adapted the Rococo style but made it far more asymmetric and loaded with more ornate decoration than the French original. The German style was characterized by an explosion of forms that cascaded down the walls. It featured molding formed into curves and counter-curves, twisting and turning patterns, ceilings and walls with no right angles, and stucco foliage which seemed to be creeping up the walls and across the ceiling. The decoration was often gilded or silvered to give it contrast with the white or pale pastel walls.{{Sfn|Ducher|1988|pages=150–153}}

The Belgian-born architect and designer [[François de Cuvilliés]] was one of the first to create a Rococo building in Germany, with the pavilion of [[Amalienburg]] in Munich, (1734–1739), inspired by the pavilions of the [[Grand Trianon|Trianon]] and [[Château de Marly|Marly]] in France. It was built as a hunting lodge, with a platform on the roof for shooting pheasants. The Hall of Mirrors in the interior, by the painter and stucco sculptor [[Johann Baptist Zimmermann]], was far more exuberant than any French Rococo.{{Sfn|Ducher|1988|page=150}}

Another notable example of the early German Rococo is [[Würzburg Residence]] (1737–1744) constructed for Prince-Bishop [[Johann Philipp Franz von Schönborn]] of Würzburg by [[Balthasar Neumann]]. Neumann had travelled to Paris and consulted with the French rocaille decorative artists [[Germain Boffrand]] and [[Robert de Cotte]]. While the exterior was in more sober Baroque style, the interior, particularly the stairways and ceilings, was much lighter and decorative. The Prince-Bishop imported the Italian Rococo painter [[Giovanni Battista Tiepolo]] in 1750–1753 to create a mural over the top of the three-level ceremonial stairway.{{sfn|Prina|Demartini|2006|pp=222–223}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Würzburg Residence |website=Bavaria |url=https://www.bavaria.by/experiences/city-country-culture/castles-palaces/wuerzburg-residence |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181030090927/https://www.bavaria.by/experiences/city-country-culture/castles-palaces/wuerzburg-residence/ |archive-date=30 October 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=B. M. |last=Field |title=The World's Greatest Architecture: Past and Present |publisher=Regency House Publishing Ltd |date=2001}}</ref> Neumann described the interior of the residence as "a theatre of light". The stairway was also the central element in a residence Neumann built at the [[Augustusburg and Falkenlust Palaces, Brühl|Augustusburg Palace in Brühl]] (1743–1748). In that building the stairway led the visitors up through a stucco fantasy of paintings, sculpture, ironwork and decoration, with surprising views at every turn.{{sfn|Prina|Demartini|2006|pp=222–223}}

In the 1740s and 1750s, a number of notable pilgrimage churches were constructed in [[Electorate of Bavaria|Bavaria]], with interiors decorated in a distinctive variant of the rococo style. One of the most notable examples is the [[Wieskirche]] (1745–1754) designed by [[Dominikus Zimmermann]]. Like most of the Bavarian pilgrimage churches, the exterior is very simple, with pastel walls, and little ornament. Entering the church the visitor encounters an astonishing theatre of movement and light. It features an oval-shaped sanctuary, and a deambulatory in the same form, filling in the church with light from all sides. The white walls contrasted with columns of blue and pink stucco in the choir, and the domed ceiling surrounded by plaster angels below a dome representing the heavens crowded with colourful Biblical figures. Other notable pilgrimage churches include the [[Basilica of the Fourteen Holy Helpers]] by [[Balthasar Neumann]] (1743–1772).{{Sfn|Ducher|1988| page=152}}{{Sfn|Cabanne|1988|pp=89–94}}

<gallery mode="packed" heights="200">
File:Schloss Amalienburg (6317867213).jpg|[[Amalienburg]] pavilion in Munich by [[François de Cuvilliés]] (1734–1739)
File:Amalienburg Spiegelsaal-1.jpg|Hall of Mirrors of [[Amalienburg]] by [[Johann Baptist Zimmermann]] (1734–1739)
File:NRW, Bruhl, Augustusburg 01.jpg|Looking up the central stairway at [[Augustusburg and Falkenlust Palaces, Brühl|Augustusburg Palace in Brühl]] by [[Balthasar Neumann]] (1741–1744)
File:Wieskirche 003.JPG|The [[Wieskirche]] by [[Dominikus Zimmermann]] (1745–1754)
File:Vierzehnheiligen-Basilika3-Asio.JPG|Interior of the [[Basilica of the Fourteen Holy Helpers]] by Balthasar Neumann (1743–1772)
File:Kaisersaal Würzburg.jpg|Kaisersaal in the [[Würzburg Residence]] by Balthasar Neumann (1749–1751)
File:Festsaal im Schaezlerpalais.jpg|Festival Hall of the [[Schaezlerpalais]] in [[Augsburg]] by [[Carl Albert von Lespilliez]] (1765–1770)
File:КИТАЙСКИЙ ДВОРЕЦ. ЗОЛОТОЙ КАБИНЕТ.jpg|Golden Cabinet of the Chinese Palace, [[Oranienbaum, Russia]], built by [[Antonio Rinaldi (architect)|Antonio Rinaldi]] for [[Catherine the Great]] (1762–1778)
</gallery>

[[Johann Michael Fischer]] was the architect of [[Ottobeuren Abbey]] (1748–1766), another Bavarian Rococo landmark. The church features, like much of the rococo architecture in Germany, a remarkable contrast between the regularity of the facade and the overabundance of decoration in the interior.{{sfn|Prina|Demartini|2006|pp=222–223}}