Barouche

A barouche, also called a caleche, is a large, four-wheeled horse-drawn carriage with a canoe-shaped body and a folding leather hood over a rear seat for four passengers who sat facing one another, driven either from a high coachman's box or by a mounted postilion. Introduced to England from Germany around 1760, when it was known as a German wagon, the barouche took its English name from the German word barutsche and became a fashionable, luxurious vehicle for town driving and social display among the wealthy rather than a practical everyday carriage. It remained popular through the 19th century, and today it survives chiefly in ceremonial use by European royal households and in museum collections.