In Wilhelmine Bayreuth, the German cradle of music

Bayreuth, an ancient residential city in Upper Franconia, owes its fame to a woman, the Prussian princess Wilhelmine, favourite sister of Frederick II of Prussia known as the Great, a general esteemed by Napoleon and above all a man moved by Enlightenment ideas to such an extent that Voltaire gave him the nickname Solomon of the North. Wilhelmine made Bayreuth, the seat of royal power, a renowned cultural capital. She adored music, baroque pageantry and gardens. Therefore, the margravine (title of nobility equivalent to marquise) Friederike Sophie Wilhelmine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth spared no effort or money to turn this town practically in the centre of Europe into a cradle of the arts. After all, she herself composed chamber music, played the lute and spoke numerous languages, including ancient Greek and Hebrew. Among the most emblematic places in Bayreuth is therefore surely the New Castle, Wilhelmine's residence, where the Palm Room fully reveals the taste and curiosity of this woman, in memory of whom a precious museum has been set up on the first floor.