Schonbrunn Palace

Palace and Gardens of Schönbrunn*
UNESCO World Heritage Site
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.

Schönbrunn Palace (German: Schloss Schönbrunn) in Vienna is one of the most important cultural monuments in Austria and since the 1860s has also been one of the major tourist attractions in Vienna. UNESCO catalogued it together with its gardens as a World Heritage site as a remarkable Baroque ensemble and example of synthesis of the arts (Gesamtkunstwerk). The palace and gardens illustrate the tastes, interests and aspirations of successive Habsburg monarchs.

Schönbrunn Palace with its surrounding buildings and the huge park is one of the most significant cultural monuments in Austria. The castle was built to rival French Versailles in Baroque beauty and importance, but the House of Habsburg lacked funds to outdo its rivalling nation France. In earlier times it served as summer residence to various Habsburg rulers. Emperor Franz Joseph (ruled 1848-1916), who was born here in 1830, spent the last years of his life entirely in Schönbrunn. In 1918, the palace became the property of the new republic.

There are tours of the residence itself, offering a chance to admire the magnificent apartments of Maria Theresia, her sitting rooms, bedroom and the parlor in which the six-year-old Mozart used to play for the Empress, as well as the parlors and apartments of Imperial couple Franz Joseph and his queen, Sissi. The interior is an orgy of frescoed ceilings, crystal chandeliers, huge mirrors, and gilded ornaments. Schonbrunn has a total of 1441 rooms.

A Tirolian garden complete with original hut, orchard, and pasture farm enhances the charms of Schonbrunn and its park. There is also a palm house with three climate zones, and plants brought in from rain forests from all the continents.

The palace, itself, draws some 1.5 million visitors annually. The park and all the other attractions at Schonbrunn together attract an additional 5.2 million visitors each year, giving a grand total of 6.7 million visitors to the imposing palace complex each year

Early history

The Gloriette at the top of the hill behind the palace

In the year 1569, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II purchased the Katterburg, which was located on a large area between Meidling and Hietzing where today Schönbrunn's parks and different buildings are situated. He showed interest in the newly founded zoo, the Tiergarten Schönbrunn, and tried to establish not only a systematic maintenance of wild animals, but also a plantation of rare and exotic plants. He is justifiably called the creator of Schönbrunn's garden arrangement.

The new name, Schönbrunn ("beautiful well"), has its roots in a water well from which water was consumed by the royal court in Vienna. During the next century many members of the royal family of Austria spent their summer vacations and hunting excursions in the Katterburg. In the days of the Turkish sieges the Katterburg was nearly destroyed and it appeared to be impossible to restore the castle.

Modern palace

File:Vena 10.jpg

Roman ruins in garden (photo 2004)

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. 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.

Schönbrunn from the front side, painted by Canaletto in 1758

Not many parts of the first palace survived the next century because every emperor added or altered a bit on the inner and outer parts of the building. By order of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, the architect Nicolò Pacassi reshaped Schönbrunn Palace 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.

In the 19th century one name is closely connected with Schönbrunn's, Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria. He spent the majority of his life here and died on November 21, 1916 in his sleeping room. Through the course of his reign, Schönbrunn Palace was seen as a Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art) and remodelled in accordance with its history.

The palace complex includes sets of faux Roman ruins and an orangerie, staple luxuries of European palaces of its type.

Recent history

After the downfall of the monarchy in 1918 the newly founded Austrian Republic became the owner of Schönbrunn Palace and preserved the beautiful rooms and chambers as a museum for the visitors. In the 20th century the palace was used several times for important events such as the historical meeting between John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev in the year 1961. The UNESCO placed Schönbrunn Palace on the World Cultural Heritage List in 1996.

A public maze is located in the wide gardens of Schönbrunn Palace. The entrance fee allows entrance to the maze, as well as to a set of other outdoor puzzles, including a math game and a series of fountains.

Gallery

Panorama Schloss Schönbrunn

Panorama Schloss Schönbrunn

• Wien Schoenbrunn Rueckseite.jpg

  Schönbrunn Palace, as seen from the gardens

• Vena 11.jpg

  The Gloriette at the top of the hill behind the palace

• Schonbrunn gardens.JPG

  The gardens and the Gloriette

• Vena 04.jpg

  Palm pavilion (orangerie) in garden

Sculptures in the Schönbrunn Garden

File:GroParterre.jpg

Location of the sculptures

The sculptures in the Schönbrunn garden were generally made between 1773 and 1780 under the the direction of William Beyer. During the execution many sculptor were employed, among them Johann Baptist Hagenauer.

The numbering shows the situation of the statues.

Left Side

Sculptures in the Schönbrunn Garden

1 Artemisia II of Caria wife of Mausolus	2 Calliope, muse of poetry	3 Brutus holds the dagger in the hand, with which Lucretia committed suicide.	4 Ceres the goddess of the agriculture, the marriage and death and Bacchus, the God of the viticulture and the vegetation.	5 Aeneas escape from Troy	6 Angerona
7 Jason, He robbed the golden fleece with the Argonauten.	8 Aspasia, Greek Philosopher and the second wife of Pericles	9 Omphale	10 Flora's Nymph	11 Bacchante	12 Apollo
13 Hygieia godness of health.	14 Vestal Virgin	15 Paris	16 Hannibal

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Glaser, Joseph. Schonbrunn Palace, The Administration of Schonbrunn Palace, 1962. ASIN B000S3984S
• Schmitt, Friedrich. Schonbrunn Palace: A Guide to the Palace and Park, Schlosshauptmannschaft Schonbrunn, 1979. ASIN B000K6XKE2
• Schonbrunn Palace. Schonbrunn, Verlag der osterbreichischen, 1978. ASIN B000REE6Z4
• Viault, Birdsall. Modern European History, McGraw-Hill, 1990. ISBN 978-0070674530

External links

• Official website
• photograph-gallery: Schönbrunn Palace
• Schönbrunn Palace: My Way of Telling History (.pdf format)
• Orangerie Schönbrunn

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