The Great Tun

The biggest barrel of wine in the world

Twas the year 1591 The grape hung heavy on the vine and promised an abudant harvest. The Elector of the Palatinate had the idea to build a giant barrel as a storage facility: In those days in addition to taxes, the winegrowers also had to provide the sovereign with a portion of their grape juice in the form of a levy in kind. And to store this, of course, a large barrel was needed, which – as the lavish decoration on the first barrel testifies – also served as representation to the lord of the manor.

The barrel in Heidelberg is one of the most magnificent and largest of its kind in the whole of Europe. There were in fact, over the years several of them:

Elector Johann Casimir the administrator had the first Great Barrel built in 1591. With a volume of 127,794 litres, ( 132 barrels, 3 ohms and 3 quarters ) a huge vaulted cellar in the castle had to be built especially to house it. Its belly was surrounded by 24 egg-shaped hoops, and 122 hundred-weights of iron were used to make it. In front and behind, to the right and left, and on the top, there were five lions crouching, representing the Palatine arms. The foreman was paid 1500 guilders for his wages. It was destroyed during the disastrous Thirty Years’ War, but there is still an illustration of it by Matthias Merian in Zeiler’s topographia Palatinatus Rheni. (illustration above)

The rebuild barrels

Elector Karl Ludwig had it rebuilt in 1664 by his court cellarer Meyer, and enlarged to 204 barrels, 3 ohms, 4 quarters. Like the first one, it was equipped with 24 iron hoops, but it was richer and decorated all around with many colorfully painted sculptures. Eight verses were engraved on the front and back of each one, containing the story of the Fass and a praise of wine.  A rhymed saying could be read on each of the four faces. Joseph Tannenberg was the poet, the sculptor: Reinhard von Werth, and the miller: Rötger Franz. The craftsmen who helped with the construction have not been forgotten either. They were Christoph Wachter and Hans Kleb, the court carpenter; Hans Eberhard Libler, the town carpenter.  A large picture of the barrel, together with the ancient rhymes it bore, is added to the rare copper work: Die über alle Tugenden triumphirende Tugend der Beständigkeit, 1684.

When the castle was destroyed by the French in the Orleans war, this barrel although spared by the french soldiers having remained empty for forty years was also much decayed, until in 1728 Prince Kàrl Philipp had it repaired and decorated with many new verses and other rhymes.

By the side of this tun Perkeo, stood the prince’s jester, carved in wood, and may still be seen on the left of the stone staircase. As court jester, he provided entertainment for court society with his pranks and jokes. He is famous for his ability to hold his liquor and there are many stories to back it up. His name supposedly derives from when asked if he would like another glass of wine replied “Perqué Non?” Hence Perkeo.

The present Tun

In 1751 Carl Theodor ordered Engler the cooper to the court to construct the Tun now existing. It is the simplest, most unadorned, as the decoration although planned, was not realised. It is also the largest of all, enclosing room for 236 barrels, or 23600Q drinking bottles. The wine could be poured into it from the cooper’s workshop above it, and drawn by means of a leaden pump fastened against the wall, and thus distributed into the casks in the cellar of the castle. This new tun was filled with wine for the first time on Nov. 10, 1752, which is said to have been done three times from that period up to the year 1764. When the castle was burnt down in the summer of 1764, it was emptied, and has not been used since that time.

The barrel has thus lain empty for many years and become damaged and unusable. Wine storage in the barrel was abandoned as early as 1769 due to leakage. It was not dismantled, however, but preserved as an attraction for visitors. To this day.