960 |
Kirchheim is named for the first time in a document, i.e. in writing |
1220-1230 |
The dukes of Teck, a side line of the Zähringer dynasty, raise Kirchheim to a town |
1381 |
Kirchheim is turned over to the counts of Württemberg due to financial difficulties of the dukes of Teck |
around 1538 |
Duke Ulrich of Württemberg (1487-1550) orders the expansion of Kirchheim to a fortress of the Duchy of Württemberg |
1538-1556 |
The palace is built as a four-wing Renaissance building surrounded by a combination of ramparts and a mote and is used as a citadel integrated in the town wall |
1594 |
Duke Friedrich I of Württemberg (1557-1608) moves the court from Stuttgart to Kirchheim due to a plague epidemic |
16th century and early 17th century |
The palace is the seat of the respective castellan, the Duke's representative |
1618-1648 |
The Thirty Years' War takes place, and as a consequence Kirchheim looses its strategic importance as a fortress of the Duchy |
17th century - mid-19th century |
The palace is the residence of the dukes' widows six times, and is therefore probably the most famous widows seat in Württemberg |
around 1630 |
The palace becomes a widow's seat for the first time when Barbara Sophie (1584-1636), the widow of Duke Johann Friedrich, moves in |
1634-38 |
Following the Battle of Nördlingen, the palace is occupied by imperial troops |
1638 |
Duke Eberhard III (1614-1674) returns to Württemberg after spending four years in exile in Strasbourg |
1642/43 |
Kirchheim is at times the seat of the Württemberg court |
1675 |
The widow of Eberhard III, Maria Dorothea Sophia of Oettingen-Oetingen (1639-1698), moves into the palace. The palace is renovated and refurnished before she moves in |
1690 |
The "Major Town Fire" (Großer Stadtbrand) destroys almost all of Kirchheim; the palace is spared |
1693-1697 |
The deposed Duke Administrator Friedrich Carl of Württemberg (1652-1698) is put up in the palace |
from 1709 |
The pious duke's widow, Magdalena Sibylla of Hessen-Darmstadt (1652-1712), orders the remodeling of the armory to the Palace Chapel (Schlosskapelle) |
1717 |
The Palace Chapel is consecrated by Samuel Urlsperger four years after the death of Magdalena Sibylla |
1735 |
The duke's widow, Johanna Elisabeth of Baden-Durlach (1680-1757), moves in. She has the palace renovated and refurnished |
1767-1771 |
Duke Carl Eugen of Württemberg (1728-1793) has the court gardening building in the stately gardens (Herrschaftsgärten) converted to an opera house for his hunting trips |
1793-1795 |
Before the duke's widow Franziska of Hohenheim moves in, extensive remodeling work is carried out in the west and south wing by the court architect R. F. H. Fischer. The building, which was rather well-fortified up to that point, is given a more palace-like, classicistic character |
1811 |
The indebted Duke Ludwig of Württemberg (1756-1817), his wife Henriette of Nassau-Weilburg (1780-1857) and their children are assigned Kirchheim Palace as their residence |
1817 |
Duke Ludwig dies and Henriette's 40-year existence as a widow begins, during which she is very active charitably and socially in Kirchheim, her place of residence |
around 1825 |
Henriette has two rooms built on in stone at the eastern end of the principle floor (Beletage), in the south wing. Her predecessor had had these erected as wooden extensions |
from 1857 |
The palace is used alternately as a military hospital, a school, a museum of local history and culture and a teacher training college |
1947 |
Extensive remodeling is carried out for use as a State School of Home Economics |
1972-75 |
The Baroque chapel room is destroyed |
1985 |
The State Palaces and Gardens of Baden-Württemberg set up a palace museum in the former residential rooms of the dukes' widows |
2007 |
A new presentation of the historical residential rooms in Kirchheim Palace is opened to the public |