When the United States Army Air Forces bombed the Ansbach train station district on February 22 and 23, 1945 as part of "Operation Clarion", not only the train station but also large parts of the Hofgarten including the Orangery and the buildings of the then Oberrealschule Ansbach, including the 18th .century created Zocha Castle, destroyed.
The first mention of a garden can be found in Leonhart Fuchs' herb book at the beginning of the 16th century.
In 1596 a pleasure and opera house was built here, which was replaced by an orangery in the 1720s.
Between 1723 and 1750 the complex was transformed into a baroque garden.
During the Second World War, the orangery building and garden were badly damaged and later rebuilt in the style of the 17th and 18th centuries.
Today there is also a herb garden with many medicinal plants and a citrus house for overwintering the potted plants.
Since the courtyard garden is not aligned axially with the residence, the chief building director at the time, Carl Friedrich von Zocha, created an independent architectural center for the gardens with the palace-like orangery.
Not far from there, a small Gothic pillar commemorates Kaspar Hauser, who died in the courtyard garden on December 14, 1833.
The annual Rococo Festival, which shows courtly life at the time of Margrave Karl Wilhelm Friedrich (Brandenburg-Ansbach), takes place in the Orangery and Court Garden.
(Source: Wikipedia)