Second Floor Salon @museum.de

The 19th century owners of Palais Wunderlich lived in grand style.

In a second construction phase – most probably under Lucas Faesch, who owned the house from 1804 to 1847 – the second floor was converted into a grand apartment. The salon in particular, with windows overlooking the street, was undoubtedly the residents’ pride and joy:

Auf dem Bildschirm:08_02.1 to 6: Slideshow Detailaufnahme Parkett, Detailaufnahme Intarsien, Detailaufnahme Schraubenimitat, Detailaufnahme Messingschloss, Türband, Olive

The walnut parquet flooring features elaborate inlays of different coloured wood. The wall panelling and the door frames are also sumptuously decorated with carvings and intricate inlay work. Even the tiniest details are designed to impress. For example, the inlays on the mouldings, which are actually nailed on, were made to look as if screws were used – which were much more expensive. A crafty example of trompe-l'oeil!

The box locks on the doors, on the other hand, have no visible screws at all – an exceptional display of skill! Like the hinges and door knobs, they most probably came from France.

The paintings above the doors were also from somewhere west of the Rhine. They feature putti at play and patently erotic symbolism in grisaille painting technique.

But in terms of art-history, they’re probably much older than Palais Wunderlich. Perhaps they arrived here after the looting that followed the French Revolution – or they may have come from a secularised monastery.

The salon was probably originally conceived as a large rectangular room with a pair of stoves in the corners on the south side. That symmetry was ruined when the space was divided into two almost square rooms of roughly equal size. The antique double doors that now divide the salon once opened on to the hallway.