!!!Schönbrunn, Schloss

Schoenbrunn Palace, in Vienna´s 13%%sup th/%  district, former 
summer residence of Austrian rulers (house of  Habsburg), located 
between the right bank of the River Wien and a low foothill of the 
Vienna Woods. On the location of the "Kattermuehle" mill of 
Klosterneuburg Monastery, a palace was built and bought by 
Maximilian II in 1559 to serve as a hunting residence; named 
after a fountain (the "Schoener Brunnen" = beautiful 
fountain) in the 17%%sup th/%  century and destroyed by the Turkish 
invaders in 1683. J. B.  Fischer von Erlach designed a grand new 
building modelled on Versailles Palace, which was planned to be 
located on the hill. The summer and hunting residence was built 
1695-1711 according to a simplified 2%%sup nd/%  plan. A park in the 
French style was laid out in 1695-1699. Schoenbrunn was Maria 
Theresia´s favourite residence; she charged N.  Pacassi with 
structural alterations (1744-1749) and to turn the palace into a 
residence displaying an elegant, yet simple Baroque style; after the 
death of her husband, Emperor Franz I (1765), several rooms were 
redecorated in the Rococo style and the park underwent extensive 
remodelling following the taste of that time. In 1817-1819 the palace 
(mainly the court and garden façades), where Napoleon had lived 
and where, at a later date, his son (Duke of Reichstadt) had died, 
underwent Classicist alterations. Emperor Franz Joseph I, who was 
born and died in Schoenbrunn, stayed there regularly; Emperor 
Karl I signed his abdication in Schoenbrunn in 1918. After the 
expropriation of the imperial family, the palace became the property 
of the federal authorities. After the heavy bomb damage from World War 
II had been repaired, the palace was reopened to visitors. The main 
building, today one of Vienna´s chief tourist attractions, is 
occasionally used for state receptions, while the annexes are used for 
apartments and by various businesses and institutions. Since 1992 the 
Schloss Schoenbrunn Kultur- und Betriebsges. m. b. H. 
has been responsible for the administration, upkeep and economic use 
of Schoenbrunn.

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In 1996 the palace and park were placed on the UNESCO World Cultural 
Heritage list.

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The palace has 1,441 rooms, among them the chambers of Emperor Franz 
Joseph I and of Empress Elisabeth and a number of state 
apartments: Mirror Room, Great and Small Rosa Rooms, Round Chinese 
Cabinet and Oval Chinese Cabinet, Small Gallery with ceiling fresco by 
G. Guglielmi, Horse Room, Hall of Ceremonies with painting by Martin 
van Meytens, Blue Chinese Salon; apartments mostly used by Maria 
Theresia (e.g. the Vieux-Laque Room, the Napoleon Room, the Porcelain 
Room, the Millions Room), Suite of Archduke Franz Karl with Salon; 
Goess apartments (murals by J. Bergl); chapel (ceiling painting by D. 
Gran, 1744). The palace theatre built by N. Pacassi 1744-1747 in the 
right wing of the palace is sometimes used for performances. The 
former winter riding school is now the location of the collection of 
historic carriages used for state and everyday purposes (Wagenburg 
Coach Collection) belonging to the Kunsthistorisches Museum.

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Behind the palace and combined with it to form one architectural unit, 
lies the large park extending to the south, overlooked by the  
Gloriette belvedere. The park´s southern part has been closed 
off since the 1930s to form the "Fasangarten" (with the 
Forstversuchs- und Gartenbauanstalt forestry and horticultural 
research station, barracks), the northern part (the actual park) is 
open to the public during the day; it was redesigned under Maria 
Theresia from 1772; mythological figures along the main avenue, the 
Neptune Fountain (1780) and the Gloriette (1775) were added. As 
additional visual aspects of the park J. F.  Hetzendorf von 
Hohenberg set up the Obelisk (1777) and the Roman Ruin (1778). The 
pavilion of the Schoener Brunnen was erected around 1750 by J. N. 
 Jadot de Ville-Issey.

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To the west lies the menagerie (Schoenbrunn Zoo), and adjacent to it 
the horticultural garden, laid out in 1753 by N. v.  Jacquin, 
featuring the Palm House (completed in 1882, 114 m long, 
28 m wide and 30 m high), particularly renowned for the 
cultivation of orchids and the Victoria regia giant water lily). The 
garden supplies plants for the Federal gardens and parks and for state 
occasions.

!Literature
E. M. Kronfeld, Park und Garten von Schoenbrunn, 
1923; J. Gregor et al., Das Schloss Schoenbrunn, 1962; K. Eigl, 
Schoenbrunn, 1980; G. Kugler, Schoenbrunn, 1980.



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