Explorer Stuttgart

Schlossplatz is Stuttgart's largest square, framed by the New Palace on one side and bordered by the Königsbau and the Kunstmuseum. Once a military parade ground, it has been open public parkland since 1918, centred on the Jubiläumsäule column erected in 1841 and renewed for the 1977 garden show.

The New Palace is an 18th-century Baroque palace on Stuttgart's Schlossplatz, built from 1746 for Duke Carl Eugen of Württemberg by architects including Leopoldo Retti and Philippe de La Guêpière. Gutted by bombing in the Second World War, it was rebuilt with a modernised interior and now houses government ministries, so public tours are only by special arrangement.

The Staatsgalerie Stuttgart is an art museum combining the classicist Alte Staatsgalerie, opened in 1843, with the Neue Staatsgalerie extension designed by James Stirling and opened in 1984. The older building holds European paintings from 1300 to the 19th century; the newer wing shows 20th-century art including works by Picasso and Joseph Beuys.

The Weissenhof Estate is a housing development built for the 1927 Deutscher Werkbund exhibition, with 21 buildings by 17 European architects coordinated by Mies van der Rohe. Designed to showcase affordable modern housing, its flat roofs, strip windows and white facades became hallmarks of modernist architecture. Two houses by Le Corbusier are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Wilhelma is a combined zoo and botanical garden in Stuttgart's Bad Cannstatt district, built around Moorish Revival pavilions erected from the 1840s as a royal bathhouse for King William I of Württemberg. Spread over about 30 hectares, it houses roughly 11,500 animals of 1,200 species alongside some 6,000 plant species.

The Mercedes-Benz Museum traces the history of the Mercedes-Benz brand in a cloverleaf-shaped building designed by UNStudio and opened in 2006, next to the Daimler factory in Stuttgart. A double-helix route leads past more than 160 vehicles, from early motor carriages to modern models, split into chronological and themed rooms.

The Porsche Museum stands on a raised, angular platform next to Porsche's headquarters in the Zuffenhausen district of Stuttgart. Designed by Delugan Meissl Associated Architects and opened in 2009, it displays more than 80 historic and rare Porsche cars across 5,600 square metres, from early sports cars to racing models.

Solitude Palace is a Rococo hunting lodge built from 1764 to 1769 for Duke Carl Eugen of Württemberg, designed by Philippe de La Guêpière and Johann Friedrich Weyhing. It stands on a ridge west of Stuttgart between Leonberg and Gerlingen, its curved white facade and domed central hall overlooking formal approach avenues.