Schönbrunn Palace
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Coordinates: 48°11′04″N 16°18′43″E / 48.184516°N 16.311865°E
| Palace and Gardens of Schönbrunn* | |
|---|---|
| UNESCO World Heritage Site | |
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| State Party |  Austria |
| Type | Cultural |
| Criteria | i, iv |
| Reference | 786 |
| Region** | Europe and North America |
| Inscription history | |
| Inscription | 1996 (20th Session) |
| * Name as inscribed on World Heritage List. ** Region as classified by UNESCO. |
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Schönbrunn Palace (German: Schloss Schönbrunn [ʃøːnˈbʁʊn]) is a royal residence in 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.
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[edit] Early history
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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 like turkeys and peafowl were kept. Fishponds were built, too.
The name Schönbrunn (meaning "beautiful well"), 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 Eleonore 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 Eleonore Gonzaga as well.
In the Turkish siege of 1683, the buildings were destroyed, and never restored.
[edit] Modern era
Emperor Leopold I gave architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach the order to design a new palace. His first draft was a very utopian one, dealing with different antique and contemporary ideals and trying to top its role model Versailles. His second draft showed a smaller and more realistic building. Construction began 1696 and after three years the first festivities were held in the newly built middle part of the palace.
Few parts of the first palace survived that century, because especially Maria Theresa of Austria to whom the estate was made as a present by her father (who, himself, had shown but little interest in it) had decided to make it the imperial summer residence, after she was crowned. She ordered her architect-of-the-court Nicolò Pacassi to reshape the palace and garden in a way of the style of the Rococo era. At the end of the so-called Theresianian epoch, Schönbrunn Palace was a vigorous centre of Austria's empire and the imperial family, and stayed their summer residence until the more-or-less "abdication" of Charles I of Austria, in 1918.
In the 19th century one name is closely connected with Schönbrunn's, Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria. He was born there, spent the majority of his life there and died there on November 21, 1916 in his sleeping room. Through the course of his 68-years reign, Schönbrunn Palace was seen as a Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art) and remodelled in accordance with its history.
[edit] Gardens
The sculpted garden space between the palace and the Neptune Well (viewn towards Gloriette, which is on top of the hill) is called the Great Parterre ("Great Ground Floor"). The French garden, a big part of the area, was planned by Jean Trehet in 1695. It contains, among others, a maze.
The complex however includes by far more attractions: Besides the Tiergarten, world's oldest existing zoo (founded in 1752), 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. 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. This one is currently being restored and partly will be house a modern enclosure for Orang-Utans, besides a restaurant and office rooms. It will be re-opened in 2009.
[edit] Sculptures
Lining the Great Parterre are '32 sculptures , which represent deities and virtues.
[edit] Gloriette
The garden axis points towards a 60 meters higher hill, which since 1775 is crowned by the Gloriette structure (remember that Fischer von Erlach had initially planned to erect the main palace on top of that hill).
Maria Theresa decided Gloriette to be designed to glorify Habsburg's power and the Just War [a war that would be carried out of 'necessity' and lead to peace], and thereby ordered to recycle "otherwise useless stone" which was left from the almost-demolition of Schloss Neugebäude. 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.
[edit] Roman Ruin
Originally known as the Ruin of Carthage, the Roman Ruin 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 symbolise 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 programme 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 symbolises the rivers Danube and Enns.
[edit] 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 Schoenbrunn Silver coin, minted in 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.
[edit] Recent history
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 WWII and during the Allied Occupation of Austria (1945-1955) 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 (Gesamtkunstwerk).
[edit] Activities at Schloss Schönbrunn today
The Schloss is a very popular tourist destination today with often long lines for entrance. At the official website tickets can be purchased in advance for tours. In addition to tours, many classical concerts featuring the music of W. A. Mozart and his contemporaries can be enjoyed with the added benefit of more time in the spectacular halls, Orangerie, or Schlosstheater. Concerts, dinner concerts with tours included or packages with dinner, tour, concert and cruise are available and can be booked in advance through the firm of Classictic.
[edit] Features in movies
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.
[edit] Gallery
 Fischer von Erlach's 1688 design. |
 Second design, after 1693. |
 Rough map. On items, see file description. |
 The beautiful well. |
 Schönbrunn Palace, view from Neptune well. |
 View from Great Parterre towards Gloriette |
 Approaching Gloriette. |
 Obelisk in E part of the gardens. |
_20080216.jpg) Orangery, in NE part of the gardens. |
 Palm pavilion in W part of the gardens. |
[edit] External links
Media related to Palace and gardens of Schönbrunn at Wikimedia Commons- Official website
- Schönbrunn Palace: My Way of Telling History (.pdf format)
- Orangerie Schönbrunn
- Apartments of Maria Theresia and Schönbrunn Palace An extract from the book 'My Way of Telling History' by Robert M. Tidmarsh, covering the history of Schönbrunn Palace during its occupation by British troops. Reproduced by kind permission of Robert Tidmarsh and Schloß Schönbrunn Kultur- und Betriebsges.m.b.H.
- View on Google Maps - includes a short video.
- Official Vienna city map: Schönbrunn gives a by 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].
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