"I have now selected the place for my residence. I have never seen a more beautiful location in all my life. It is in Bruchsal, a city much larger than Aschaffenburg, and quite nicely rebuilt."
Damian Hugo von Schönborn to his brother, Father Erwein, 9 March 1720
On 4 April 1720 a decree is issued against "the roving, dissolute rabble and thieving gypsies", in which their employment of these people for forced labor in the erection of Bruchsal Palace was ordered.
"(...) Please, Your Eminence, send me a copy of the exact drawing including the domestic buildings. It will serve to satisfy the Schönborn building mania for a while. (...) Indeed, I am building in a country in which there is war every day and every hour (...) Therefore, it (the palace) must also be built so that if a fire starts, the other buildings can still be rescued. This means that nearly everything is built separately, however does have a connection, has many courtyards and many spaces in between, and lies in the most beautiful surroundings within a journey of 20 to 30 hours, on a hill (...)"
Damian Hugo von Schönborn to his brother, Father Erwein, Bruchsal,18 May 1723
"My building just does not want to move along this year, and I am not really satisfied with the architect and the building authorities, and then several very bad and dangerous things occurred, so that now I drive to the building site every day and have a look"
Damian Hugo von Schönborn to Lothar Franz, Bruchsal, 27 April 1726
"I humbly report to Your Royal Grace that I am still in Bruchsal with His Royal Eminence, and as I had at first constructed half of the model of the staircase and its architecture in wood and plaster with my own hands, and in my opinion had done enough, however His Royal Eminence took such a gracious liking to and pleasure in it and asked for the other part as well, and I did as he asked; (...) I shall hurry as best I can to provide the projects in Würzburg and Bamberg".
Balthasar Neumann to the Bishop of Würzburg, Bruchsal, 17 February 1731
A contemporary description of the technique of gilding contains the following: "The gilder rubs the broad gilding brush on his forehead and makes it sticky here. Therefore, the gold leaf sticks when he approaches it with the brush, and he can thus lay it spread out on the wetted place with the brush." The gilding brush was a flat brush held between sheets of cardboard.
Following secularization, Bruchsal Palace had done its duty as an ecclesiastic residence. Now it only served as a summer residence or widow's seat. Margravine Amalie von Baden lived here from 1803 to 1832. As an opponent of the French Revolution, she refused to receive Napoleon in 1805. He characterized her with his remark: "She is the only man at the Court of Baden".