Ansbach Palace - priceless?
This was also known as the Margrave's Palace, where the current Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach and his family resided. This palace was one of THE best examples I have ever seen of baroque architecture (completed with wine fountains built into the main room), which was transformed into its current form during the Baroque architectural period in the mid and early 1700's. This palace has hundreds of rooms, and was used to demonstrate the power of the family of Frederick I, the Elector of Brandenburg. This family had an immense amount of power at one point, and were some of the most important people throughout Germany. So how did they gain so much power? Well, yes, money. But the family is said to have found a chemist trying to make an antidote to some disease, and he ended up accidentally created porcelain. And actually the most beautiful and high quality porcelain, which Germans had been trying to recreate to look like the imported Asian porcelain. This chemist gave the family the porcelain recipe, who then held a monopoly on this material and became uber wealthy. Today, porcelain from Ansbach is still highly valued and highly priced. Many items we also viewed in the palace were literally labeled as "priceless." One of ornate porcelain candle stick holders we saw was very whimsical and lighthearted - a gift presented to the Margrave's wife - and is so rare that there is only one other known item similar to this. We were not allowed to take pictures inside, but here are some that I was able to gather at the very beginning of the tour!
