Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna?, Austria
Schönbrunn Palace was the main summer residence of the Habsburg rulers, located in Hietzing, Vienna.
The 1441-room Rococo palace is one of the most important architectural, cultural, and historic monuments in the country.
Since the mid-1950s it has been a major tourist attraction.
The history of the palace and its vast gardens spans over 300 years, reflecting the changing tastes, interests, and aspirations of successive Habsburg monarchs.
At the end of the seventeenth century Emperor Leopold I commissioned the Baroque architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, who had received his training in Rome, to design an imperial hunting lodge for his son, Crown Prince Joseph, later to become Emperor Joseph I. Replacing the château de plaisance built on this site for the dowager empress Eleonora of Gonzaga in 1642, it was to grow into a palatial imperial residence over the course of the eighteenth century.
The former summer residence of the Habsburgs impresses with imperial ceremonial rooms and magnificent gardens.
Maria Theresa, Emperor Franz Joseph, Empress Elisabeth and others once resided here.
Schönbrunn Palace is one of Europe's most beautiful Baroque complexes and has been in the possession of the Habsburgs since 1569.
The wife of Emperor Ferdinand II, Eleonore von Gonzaga, had a pleasure palace built on the site in 1642 and called the property "Schönbrunn" for the first time.
The palace and garden complex created from 1696 onwards following the siege of Vienna was complete redesigned under Maria Theresa after 1743.
Today, due to its historical significance, its unique layout and magnificent furnishings, the palace is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The sculpted garden space between the palace and the Neptune Fountain is called the Great Parterre.
The French garden, a big part of the area, was planned by Jean Trehet, a disciple of André Le Nôtre, in 1695.
It contains, among other things, a maze.
The complex however includes many more attractions: Besides the Tiergarten, an orangerie erected around 1755, staple luxuries of European palaces of its type, a palm house (replacing, by 1882, around ten earlier and smaller glass houses in the western part of the park) is noteworthy.
Western parts were turned into English garden style in 1828–1852.
The area called Meidlinger Vertiefung to the west of the castle was turned into a play area and drill ground for the children of the Habsburgs in the 19th century.
At this time it was common to use parks for the military education of young princes.
Whereas the miniature bastion, which was built for this purpose, does not exist anymore, the garden pavilion that was used as shelter still does.
It was turned into a café in 1927 and is known as Landtmann’s Jausen Station since 2013.
At the outmost western edge, a botanical garden going back to an earlier arboretum was re-arranged in 1828, when the Old Palm House was built.
A modern enclosure for Orangutans, was restored besides a restaurant and office rooms in 2009.
Schönbrunn is Vienna's most popular tourist destination, attended by 3,800,000 visitors in 2017.
The whole Schönbrunn complex with Tiergarten Schönbrunn, Palmenhaus, Wüstenhaus, the Wagenburg, and The Schoenbrunn Palace Concerts accounted for more than five million visitors in 2009.
At the official website tickets can be purchased in advance for tours.
In addition to tours and tour packages, many classical concerts featuring the music of Mozart and his contemporaries can be enjoyed with the added benefit of more time in the spectacular halls, Orangerie, or Schlosstheater.
The annual Summer Night Concert Schönbrunn is held on the grounds of Schönbrunn.
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