Page "Koblenz" Paragraph 32

In the modern part of the town lies the palace ( Residenzschloss ), with one front looking towards the Rhine, the other into the Neustadt.

It was built in 1778 – 1786 by Clement Wenceslaus, the last elector of Trier, under design by the French architect P. M. d ' Ixnard.

In 1833, the palace was used as a barracks, and became the final depot for the optical telecommunications system that originated in Potsdam.

Today, the elector's former palace is a museum ; among other curiosities, it contains some fine Gobelin tapestries.

From it some pretty gardens and promenades ( Kaiserin Augusta Anlagen ) stretch along the bank of the Rhine, and in them is a memorial to the poet Max von Schenkendorf.

A fine statue to the empress Augusta, whose favourite residence was Coblenz, stands in the Luisenplatz.

But of all public memorials the most striking is the colossal equestrian statue of the emperor William I of Germany, erected by the Rhine provinces in 1897, standing on a lofty and massive pedestal, at the point where the Rhine and Mosel meet.