With this building, King Wilhelm I fulfilled his wife Katharina's wish to be buried atop Württemberg Hill. Today, the sepulchral chapel is one of the best examples of classical architecture in the Stuttgart area.
One of the submitted designs.
A contest was held in 1819 to select the architect who would build the sepulchral chapel. Royal court architect Giovanni Battista Salucci won. The Italian architect presented at least three designs to the king, varying in their degree of ornamentation. In addition to a modest design, there was a very lavish design with a full colonnade and an imposing base. The design that was finally chosen was a compromise between these two.
Staircases and landings lead upward.
Salucci's designs were inspired by structures such as the Pantheon in Rome and Andrea Palladio's famous Villa Rotonda, built in the late 16th century in Vicenza, Italy. The sepulchral chapel is a free-standing circular building with three porticoes and four perrons, open staircases skirting the structure. Its monumental proportions serve solely to enhance its effect from a distance and are perfectly suited to its prominent position.
A large staircase with three landings lends the structure a noble, monumental air. It leads to the circular walkway around the chapel and to its entrance. Each landing hosts cast-iron tripods for torches and offering bowls. They are based on examples from antiquity and indicate the chapel's function as a mausoleum. The portico columns are crowned with Ionic capitals and are based directly on those in the Italian Villa Rotonda.
The structure boasts excellent stone masonry.
A proclamation of love completes the structure.
The foundation stone for the sepulchral chapel was laid as early as May of 1820. The king pushed ahead with the construction intently, so that the interior design began in 1821. With the inscription "love never dies", a bible verse used in the queen's eulogy, construction on the building finished in spring of 1824. Bible verses can also be found above the north and south doors. The queen's inscription can be found on the east side of the building, behind which the sanctuary interior is located.
The dedication on the Sepulchral Chapel on Württemberg Hill demonstrates quality stone cutting.
