The Palace Church and Its Vault

The architect of Weissenfels Palace, Johann Moritz Richter (1620–1667), designed the palace church to face north instead of the usual east.
Richter was a native of Weimar and used the palace chapel there, which he knew quite well, as his model, but he had the church in Weissenfels built with a massive barrel vault. The Italian stucco artists Giovanni Battista Caroveri (1624–after 1690) and Bartolomeo Quadri (d. 1687) decorated the church’s walls. The ceiling is adorned with numerous putti, some holding the instruments of Christ’s Passion, others presenting images of putti wearing shields with musical instruments.