Margrave Ludwig Wilhelm of Baden-Baden had promised the people of Rastatt that he would build a church. However, it was his widow Margravine Sibylla Augusta who was finally able to keep this promise. After returning from a journey to Rome, she commissioned Michael Ludwig Rohrer to build a "Hofkirche" (Court Church) and a "Heilige Stiege" (Holy Staircase), which connected her apartment to the new church, from 1719 to 23.
The legend of the Holy Cross, to which the church is dedicated, is the main theme of the ceiling painting, which determines the impression of the church interior together which can be reached via two staircases. A cloud wreath with the Holy Trinity in the center towers over the altar and is framed by alabaster columns, which could be illuminated from the inside with small oil lamps.
Compendium of the Palace Church: Quadrate building with two aisles and choir.
Sibylla Augusta was deeply pious. As a result, the church consecrated in 1723 is quite in keeping with the tradition of the Counter-Reformation, which provided impulses for the renewal of the Catholic Church in a time of catastrophic wars, economic decline and major decreases in the population.
In the Palace Church this particular piousness was translated into a theatricality typical for the age. Illusionary paintings impart the impression of an endless church interior, and the splendid appointments combine many individual elements to form a theatrically staged artistic synthesis that enthralled the believers. In the Palace Church in Rastatt, there is a direct relationship between the public area and the personal confession of faith. The Margravine had herself portrayed as Saint Helen discovering the cross in the ceiling painting.
Palace Church: In view of the pulpit, communion bank and choir staircase.
The Palace Church is currently not open to the public. Extensive restoration measures are planned for the next several years.