The movements and faces are very expressive, yet the message is not easy to understand today. The stone messengers herald the greatness of the Hohenlohe dynasty and the importance of Count Carl Ludwig. The glorification of the sovereign, at the same time creator of the garden, makes us think of stories from the world of the gods and heroes of classical antiquity. The Count placed the order for the extensive program of figures with the Sommer family of artists from Künzelsau, Germany.
From the two pillars of the bridge over the palace mote the visitor looks straight ahead across the Hercules fountain and the Orangery basin at the Orangery. In its central axis originally stood the large, gilded equestrian statue, which showed Count Carl Ludwig as a general with commander's baton – an allusion to his heroic deeds as an officer in 1702 in the War of Spanish Succession?
Many figures populate the garden. They include the four seasons, the four elements and the four winds, as well as the planet gods around the Hercules fountain, among them Mercury, Saturn, Apollo, Diana, Venus and Mars. Here lay the appeal of the program and its symbolism for the Count's educated contemporaries. While strolling through the garden, new references and parallels between the figures of the antique gods and the glorious activities of the one who commissioned them repeatedly appeared.
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