The entrance to the Corps de Logis, the most important building of the palace complex, leads via the rising ramp between the terrace-like slope walls to the "Cour d'Honneur", i.e. the Court of Honor, which once served as a parade and exercise grounds.
Rastatt Palace: Driveway to the Court of Honor with figur on the balustrade (Minerva) next to the "Schildhäuschen", on the right: Corps de logis.
The Entrance Area
The Corps de Logis is reached via the Court of Honor. The building's entrance area consists of the Intrada (Entrance Hall), the Sala Terrena (Garden Hall) and the flights of stairs of the staircases adjoining on the sides. The Sala Terrena opens out to the palace garden. Margrave Ludwig Georg had the originally baroque ceilings of this room adorned with rococo stuccowork by the sculptor Johann Schütz.
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The Northern and Southern Staircase
The staircase as an architectural element played a major role in royal representation. In Rastatt there were two. They served as both a stairway and a banquet hall. The stucco figures, reliefs and ceiling paintings, which guests saw during the reception in the staircases, glorify the sovereign architect Ludwig Wilhelm as the savior of the empire and Christianity.
Both staircases lead to "an antisala" on the "Beletage", the first upper floor. The antisala is a long, light-flooded entrance hall with its short sides opening out onto the stairways as double arches. The "Ahnensaal" (Ancestral Hall) and the two "Staatsappartements" (Apartments of State) are accessed via this entrance hall.
Rastatt Palace: On the entrance to the Ancestral Hall stands the original sculpture of the flash throwing Jupiter, who was once enthroned on the top of the Palace. Johann Jakob Vogelhund, 1723.
