This statue may go completely unnoticed when passing through the Rheinpromenade, but if you stop to look, a story unfolds. The statue depicts Stéphanie von Baden, a Grand Duchess who lived in Mannheim Palace and influenced the city the palace is named for.
She was actually a French woman, but she ended up in Baden due to Napoleonic dynastic alliances and being married to a crown prince, who was offered large expansion of territory for the marriage.
After moving to Mannheim Palace, she started hosting highly regarded events in her palace, which was redecorated in a French style. She died in 1860 knowing she revitalized the Mannheim Palace, but had no heirs as all of her surviving children were women.
Today she is immortalized in this statue and is popular with the residents of Mannheim today.
