Schönbrunn Palace is a former imperial 1,441-room Rococo summer residence in modern Vienna,
Austria.
One of the most important cultural monuments in the country, since the 1960s it has been
one of the major tourist attractions in Vienna.
The palace and gardens illustrate the tastes, interests, and aspirations of successive Habsburg
monarchs.
History
In the year 1569, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II purchased a large floodplain of the Wien
river beneath a hill, situated between Meidling and Hietzing, where a former owner, in 1548,
had erected a mansion called Katterburg.
The emperor ordered the area to be fenced and put game there such as pheasants, ducks,
deer and boar, in order to serve as the court's recreational hunting ground.
In a small separate part of the area, "exotic" birds such as turkeys and peafowl were kept.
Fishponds were built, too.
The name Schönbrunn, has its roots in an artesian well from which water was consumed
by the court.
During the next century, the area was used as a hunting and recreation ground.
Especially Eleonora Gonzaga, who loved hunting, spent much time there and was bequeathed the
area as her widow's residence after the death of her husband, Ferdinand II.
From 1638 to 1643, she added a palace to the Katterburg mansion, while in 1642 came the
first mention of the name "Schönbrunn" on an invoice.
The origins of the Schönbrunn orangery seem to go back to Eleonora Gonzaga as well.
Following the downfall of the monarchy in 1918 the newly founded Austrian Republic became
the owner of Schönbrunn Palace and preserved, as a museum, the rooms and chambers.
After World War II and during the Allied Occupation of Austria Schönbrunn Palace, which was empty
at the time, was requisitioned to provide offices for both the British Delegation to
the Allied Commission for Austria and for the Headquarters for the small British Military
Garrison present in Vienna.
Later it was used for important events such as the meeting between John F. Kennedy and
Nikita Khrushchev in 1961.
UNESCO catalogued Schönbrunn Palace on the World Heritage List in 1996, together with
its gardens, as a remarkable Baroque ensemble and example of synthesis of the arts.
Gardens
The sculpted garden space between the palace and the Sun 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 is noteworthy.
Western parts were turned into English garden style in 1828–1852.
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.
Sculptures
The Great Parterre of Schönbrunn is lined with 32 sculptures, which represent deities
and virtues.
Gloriette
The garden axis points towards a 60-metre-high hill, which since 1775 has been crowned by
the Gloriette structure.
Maria Theresa decided Gloriette should be designed to glorify Habsburg power and the
Just War, and thereby ordered to recycle "otherwise useless stone" which was left from the almost-demolition
of Schloss Neugebäude.
The same material was also to be used for the Roman ruin.
The Gloriette today houses a café and gives the visitor a view of the city.
Roman Ruins
Originally known as the Ruin of Carthage, the Roman Ruin is a set of follies that was
designed by the architect Johann Ferdinand Hetzendorf von Hohenberg and erected as an
entirely new architectural feature in 1778.
Fully integrated into its parkland surroundings, this architectural ensemble should be understood
as a picturesque horticultural feature and not simply as a ruin, which due to lack of
maintenance it had increasingly grown to resemble prior to its recent restoration.
The fashion for picturesque ruins that became widespread with the rise of the Romantic movement
soon after the middle of the 18th century symbolize both the decline of once great powers
and the preservation of the remains of a heroic past.
Erected at the same time not far from the Roman Ruin, the Obelisk Fountain was intended
to complete the iconographic program of the park at Schönbrunn as a symbol of stability
and permanence.
The Roman Ruin consists of a rectangular pool enclosed by a massive arch with lateral walls,
evoking the impression of an ancient edifice slowly crumbling into the ground.
In the pool in front of the ruin is a seemingly haphazard arrangement of stone fragments supporting
a figural group which symbolizes the rivers Vltava and Elbe.
The Schönbrunn Palace silver coin
The palace was recently selected as the main motif of a high value commemorative coin:
the Austrian 10-euro The Palace of Schönbrunn silver coin, minted on October 8, 2003.
The obverse shows the central part of the frontage of the palace behind one of the great
fountains in the open space.
Activities at Schönbrunn today Schönbrunn is Vienna's most popular tourist
destination, attended by 2,600,000 visitors in 2010.
The whole Schönbrunn complex with Tiergarten Schönbrunn, Palmenhaus, Wüstenhaus and the
Wagenburg, accounted for more than five million visitors.
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 Summer Night Concert Schönbrunn is held every year.
Features in movies and television The gardens and palace have been the location
for various movies, such as the Sissi trilogy in 1950s, in A Breath of Scandal with Sophia
Loren and briefly in James Bond's The Living Daylights when Bond and Kara are riding through
the palace garden.
The palace is also seen during the end credits.(1987) .
Also the comedy movie The Great Race was filmed there in 1965.
Dutch violinist Andre Rieu and the Johann Strauss Orchestra, along with the Opera Babes
used it as the back drop for a version of the European Anthem, "Ode to Joy" in 2003.
In the sixth leg of the Amazing Race 23 teams had to race through the garden's maze and
search for the pit stop located at the Gloriette.
Gallery
See also Tiergarten Schönbrunn, the zoo in the palace
gardens that claims to be the oldest one in the world.
Gloriette List of Baroque residences
List of World Heritage Sites in Austria References
External links Official Schönbrunn website
Everycastle.com: Schönbrunn History and Pictures Schönbrunn Gigapixel Panorama
Surfvienna.net: 360° Panoramas Wien.info: Schönbrunn Palace—"Empress Sisi’s
former summer residence" Schönbrunn Palace: My Way of Telling History
View on Google Maps—includes a short video Official Vienna city map: Schönbrunn—a
far better aerial view, zoomable up to <1m resolution.
*Click "Orthophoto" and "Draw new map", then zoom in [there seems to be no direct link].