The idea was to impress aristocratic guests: A visitor, who was approaching the palace from the east in a horse-drawn carriage, noticed the growing building backdrop. When driving through the Grand circle his vehicle described a semicircle, so that the extra-wide palace front presented all its grandeur. The end point of the palace canal leading from the city to the palace is the "Ehrenhof". Effner designed its center as a water parterre, with fountain, water cascade and canals branching off on both sides. These canals break the string of main palace elements and annex buildings and continue under the galleries (built from 1739 to 1747) on the garden side. This further emphasized the connection between the "Cour d'honneur", the palace and the gardens in the background, also denoted by large window openings and archways in the main building. The "Grand circle" on the city side ends at the "Cavalier houses", a semicircle of smaller buildings. These ten circular pavilions were planned by Joseph Effner and built after 1728. Since 1761, the Nymphenburg Porcelain Manufactory has been located at the "Nördliche Schloßrondell 8", a two-storey hipped roof building with a semicircular risalit center and structured plaster. During the baroque period the Orangery was located in the square building at the northernmost corner of the palace. The "Carl Friedrich von Siemens Foundation" is located at "Südschloßrondell 23", a two-storey baroque hipped roof building with structured stucco and a narrow central risalit, erected in 1729 by Effner. In front of the "Ehrenhof" (Cour d'honneur) is a Lawn parterre, which underlines the design concept of the palace garden. The Garden parterre, closely linked to the garden side of the palace, still remains a visible feature of the French garden. In the course of the redesign of the entire palace park by Sckell, it was simplified, but retained its original size: in 1815, the six-part broderie parterre became a four-part lawn with a flower bordure. The view of the observer standing on the palace stairways is being lead across the parterre with the fountain to the central water axis. Today, the parterre is divided into four fields, of which the eastern ones facing the palace are significantly longer than the western ones.