The House of Thurn und Taxis

The House of Thurn und Taxis has been around a very long time. In 1650, Emperor Ferdinand II rewarded the Baron von Taxis for doing such a great job of setting up the postal service for the Holy Roman Empire (House of Habsburg). Since then, the family head is called the Prince of Thurn und Taxis.This book is about the German family seat since 1806, the Palace of St. Emmeram or Regensburg Palace. It has some 500 rooms and many of them are shown off in the pictures. And there are a LOT of photos over the book's 239 pages. There are 13 smaller photos, 107 full-page pictures and 38 that spread over more than 1 page. Given that the pages are 13" x 10.5", that's a lot of detail. They include private rooms and are beautifully presented.Most photos have no captions, which was annoying until I realized the book's elegant solution to including so many full-page photos that there wasn't room for captions. In the back is a section where there are 139 thumbprints of the larger photos (and page numbers), and there's where the captions are given.What a treat these photos are. As I'm paging through the different rooms, I was struck by the choices in color palette. Which did I like best, the blue, gold & cream of the Hall of Mirrors, or the pale aqua, silver & white of the Silver Room? Impossible to choose.Other favorites include the 1887 Golden Staircase, what I call a "swoopy staircase". And there's the extraordinarily beautiful net vault ceilings in the Crypt Chapel. The only touch this castle is missing is a maze!In addition to the wonderful photos, there is interesting text:1. Introduction, by Mariae Gloria, more formally known as Her Serene Highness Gloria, Dowager Princess of Thurn and Taxis. Simply told, Gloria tells how she met and married Prince Johannes. One of the things you notice with many of the photos is that there is modern art mixed in with the antiques. That's due mostly to Gloria, who was considerably younger than her husband. Johannes "did not like contemporary art. But he wanted me to have fun, and so he sponsored my new passion."2. Foreward, by Todd Eberle, the book's photographer. He roamed the palace over 3 years taking these photos.3. "A Conversation Between Princess Mariae Gloria Thurn und Taxis and Sir John Richardson". Richardson is an old friend. Right after they discovered financial mismanagement by their Harvard-trained advisors, Gloria's husband died, resulting in massive inheritance taxes. Richardson says, "How courageous you were to climb down from your gilded cloud to salvage Joanne's rickety financial empire. You abandoned your electric guitar for a computer and took to studying business, corporate law, and estate management."4. Family Trees. Both Johannes and Gloria have families with long aristocratic histories. Johannes' tree goes back to 1251. Gloria's goes back to 1174 and a Lord of Schoenburg.5. "Time" by Jeff Koons. Jeff Koons is one of the modern artists Maria collected, and he became a friend.6. "Have You Been in Every Room?" by Princess Elisabeth. She talks about having childhood classmates sleep over: "Most kids never wanted to come back because of mum's raunchy contemporary art collection – apparently a photograph by Cindy Sherman of a worm-infested dinner table does not appeal to everyone."7. "Schloss St. Emmeram in Regensburg and its Mistress" by Martin Mosebach. He covers even more history of the family and the castle.8. "Home Away From Home" by André Leon Talley. Talley is a frequent guest: "I remember a wonderful old gentleman with white hair, who told me he had been born at the Schloss. His lifetime's work, which he learned from his father, was to wind all the clocks daily. These days, the clocks are left unwound."9. Chronology of the Princely House of Thurn und Taxis.10. Selected Bibliography. Most of the works, unsurprisingly, are in German.11. Artwork Credits.12. "About the Museum", the public side of the Schloss complex. Many valuable objects, such as furniture, porcelains and gold & silver items, were sold to the German State to settle inheritance taxes. In a creative solution, the Bavarian National Museum opened a branch at St. Emmeram, and those pieces are now on display in a museum in the castle complex.This is a classy book and I enjoy it immensely. It is definitely 5 stars and is close in quality to my favorite of my "big-house" books, the exceptional  Chatsworth: The House Happy Reader

This book is fabulous. The photographs are amazing and the brief history of the house and its current owner interesting without giving us too much information. I am not a huge fan of modern art, and I personally found the modern art in the castle jarring. However, that doesn't take away from the book's purpose which is to show the castle and to some extent the family to the larger world. The authors accomplish this in an effective and interesting manner.There are many large photographs, pages and pages of them. Very little text, which again personally, I enjoy in a picture/coffee table book.

The photos are glorious but there is no description or context with the photo. There are notes in the back of the book but not well detailed. The stories in the book are wonderful, which makes you want more. Visually the book is wonderful, but it misses with the lack of information regarding the individual rooms and objects.

An interesting book that delves into their lives and homes.

The condition of book was as described. I’m enjoying reading it.

Beautiful book

Disappointed with myself....I should have read the description better. Nice book not what I thought.

ALL BOOKS RATE A 10 E WRAY WILLIAMS

Superb photographs and an interesting text - I'm now tempted to a summer visit!

Wonderful book. Superb photos. Interview is in English too.

good

Fabulous book! Great photos and content.

Dieser Bildband über Schloss Emmeran der Familie Thurn udn Taxis ist wunderschön. Das großformatige Buchzeigt die offiziellen Räume des Sitzes der Fürsten Thurn und Taxis und ermöglicht ebenso einen Einblick in die mit einer Schlossführung verbundenen Lebensweise. Die Fotos sind großformatig, Text gibt es wenige, ellenlange und langweilige kunsthistorische Ergüsse fehlen zum Glück. Man kann sich ganz den optischen Eindrücken widmen. Die kurzen vorhandenen Texte sind auf Englisch, das Interview mit Fürstin Gloria über die Geschichte des Stammsitzes und mancher seiner Bewohner ist herzerfrischend unterhaltend. Würde ich sofort wieder kaufen.