The Sepulchral Chapel

Type: Mausoleum

This is a unique attraction in the FRG. The main castle of the Duchy was located there; after 1806 it was the seat of the kings of Württemberg. King Wilhelm I, who had married the Russian Countess Katharina Pawlowna, demolished the castle and erected a church burial site for her. The cupola-shaped structure that can be seen from a great distance still belongs to the Russian Orthodox Church. Katharina invested large sums from her own private fortune during times of the greatest hardship in Württemberg. She is known above all as being the founder of the “Sparkassen” (savings banks), the largest hospital in the capital city of Stuttgart, and of the first “Mädchengynasium” (girls’ college preparatory high school): the “Katharinenstift” (Katharine’s foundation)