Schloss Bebenhausen

Schloss Bebenhausen rises out of a sunny clearing in Germany's Schönbuch forest, its thick stone walls appearing between the trees. It began as a medieval Cistercian monastery, a place the monks ordered entirely around silence. You can still feel that intention in the restrained monastery church and in the quiet order of the cloister.

In the nineteenth century, parts of the complex became a royal hunting lodge. The old refectories turned into splendid dining halls, and the blue and green salons welcomed distinguished guests. The palace kitchen, built in the early twentieth century, survives as a monument to technical progress. When the monarchy ended in 1918, Wilhelm II, the last king of Württemberg, and Queen Charlotte made the schloss their home. Wilhelm died there in 1921, and Charlotte lived on until 1946. For a short time afterwards, the buildings even housed the state parliament of Württemberg-Hohenzollern.

The cloister is the medieval heart of the place, its arches repeating a patient rhythm above the walkways. Then there is the queen's bathroom, early twentieth-century comfort fitted neatly into centuries-old stonework. You can stand in both on a single visit, and the few steps between them cross several centuries.