With the move on January 1, 2007 in the Villa Marienwahl wanted to cause the CEO Jens Orhanovic a change. As a result, the new headquarter should not be any office building, but a delightful combination of historical tradition and modern information technology. “The villa gives us the feeling of constancy, safety and the well-tried.”
Villa Marienwahl
An exceptional, beautiful workplace in a historic building of the royal Württemberg Villa Marienwahl in Ludwigsburg.
When Prince William acquired Villa Marienwahl in 1878, he had just become a father. At the request of his wife Marie, the couple lived neither in the Kronprinzenbau, nor in the Ludwigsburg Castle, but in the relatively modest villa built in 1826 by Baron Friedrich von Varnbühler. Since then she was called Marienwahl.
The villa was rebuilt and refurbished according to the needs of the prince couple. Among the special features is the so-called Arabic room, whose ceiling painting is still preserved today. This room also contained items that had been brought to Württemberg by the horses imported from the Orient as gifts to guests, including rifles of Indian origin and pompons.
The last King of Württemberg left the Marienwahl as private property of his daughter Pauline, who spent a large part of her youth there. Just like her father she loved the animals and started in 1906 with her own horse breeding. She married the hereditary prince Friedrich zu Wied and returned as a widow to the Marian election. Later she left the property to her son Dietrich and his wife Antoinette. Consequently, the noble couple and the three children Ulrich, Wilhelm and Ludwig were the last inhabitants of the villa.
The buildings were empty from 1988 and threatened to expire. Two construction projects failed until finally the city of Ludwigsburg could take over the property. It was possible to obtain the villa and the two cavalier houses from the entire complex.
After renovation, part of the park is now open to the public and invites to go for a walk. The villa itself has been restored with great empathy. The parquet floor and stucco were redone. Furthermore, a modern sanitary facility was installed and the entire wiring renewed and laid under plaster.
