Model ship - Bucentaur vom Würmsee

This is a mini-version of the Bucentaur of King Ludwig.

The model is very detailed and manufactured to a high quality. Many details have been realized. Only the most valuable woods were selected, and all fittings and components were reproduced as accurately as possible. The panels of the boardroom are modeled after the original and cast from a special resin. Even the typical elaborate paintings on the upper deck of the Bucentaur were executed with a lot of craftsmanship.

Here now is the very interesting history of the Bucentaur:

The Bucentaur, based on the Venetian bucintoro or buzzo d’oro (= golden belly), was built from 1662 to 1665. With a length of 29 meters, a width of 8.4 meters, and a height of 5 meters (excluding masts), it was roughly as large as today’s Bernried. The draft of only 0.9 meters allowed operation near the shore; 80 rowers with gilded oars kept the ship on course in any wind.

As a new jewel of the electoral pleasure fleet, the Bucentaur played the central role in the courtly celebrations around Lake Starnberg. These palace and sea fêtes, especially the deer hunts in the shoreline area between Kempfenhausen and Berg, were topics of conversation among European nobility and drew visitors from all of Central Europe. They rivaled the festivities of the French King Louis XIV.

The court society was driven from Munich’s Residenz to Lake Starnberg along a specially laid-out and reserved carriage path—the so-called Fürstenweg. In total, 18 gates stopped cross-traffic and allowed for a pleasant journey.

Electoral Sea Festival with the Bucentaur – Ignaz Bidermann, 1738

At major occasions 450 to 500 people—guests, court officials, servants, and crews—were aboard. When the boardroom was dining, the kitchen ships, the cellar ship, and the Sauterne ship were to be brought into operation. In 1671 there was even an 18-day festival with tournaments, fireworks, hunts, banquets, plays, and operas; the festivities occupied the entire northeast sea area. The preparation and sequence of these fêtes are vividly described by HR Klein. The detailed provisioning lists, with old terms for poultry and local fish, are particularly impressive. Local peasants, fishermen, and artisans could earn a comfortable living from the arrangements.

In addition to his palaces at Starnberg and Possenhofen, Elector Ferdinand had Berg Palace built from 1676 as a mooring site for the Bucentaur. Two years later he purchased Kempfenhausen Palace with the associated lands. In his Forstenrieder Park he released deer, driven by beaters and hounds through a fenced, wide corridor south of Harkirchen to the Etztal. There the narrow corridor opened like a funnel to the lake, leaving the animals no choice but to plunge into the water, where they were greeted by the hunting party.

But one question cannot be answered even for HR Klein: What did the court lords from Sattlerhof (today Will), from Clausenhof (today Gastl), from Schusterhof (still Schuster), the Harkirchen courts, and the other manors think about this pageant? At the time of the feasts they had already lived on their estates for several centuries and led a completely different life from the powdered court society. But that is another story.