Royal Tennis Courts (Ballhäuser) Germanic States (1500-1800)

During the Habsburg rule each German appointed dynast had near-sovereignty over his principality or state, usually holding the title of Archduke. Among them the Duchy of Bavaria (Bayern) excelled in size and prestige, and with the Hohenzollern Court of Brandenburg (Berlin), became pre-eminent. Munich was its capital, but the dukes also possessed residences elsewhere. Duke Albrecht V (1550-1579) had a tennis court built constructed at the Trausnitz castle when his son Wilhelm lived there.

In 1568 a remarkable project was initiated, unique in the history of tennis: the Duke had one of the imperial tennis courts at Innsbruck transported to Trausnitz, where the Ballhaus was completely rebuilt from scratch, close to the smaller court that existed there. In the 17th and early 18th century the lower nobilty also included Ballhäuser at their palaces. They were not of exactly the same size and lay-out. The Architect Leonhard Christoph Sturm, 1669-1719, in Vollständigen Anweisung Grosser Herren Palläste, Ballhaus chapter, complained that he had visited 6 or 7 Ballhäuser for his research but he had established that there was hardly any geometrical harmony to be found among them.

As far as we know at least three Ballhäuser have retained their original exterior, the tennis courts at Bückeburg and Butzbach castles, and the Ballhoftheater in Hannover. The famous Ballhaus of Schloss Wilhelmshöhe in Kassel, now exhibition centre, is not a former tennis court, but a dancing hall.