Villa Aichelburg

The Villa Aichelburg stands in Baden, a spa town south-west of Vienna. Built early in the 19th century, it is a two-storey Biedermeier villa with a symmetrical façade. Joseph Kornhäusel is credited with its design. The villa has been protected as a listed building since the 19th century. The villa was commissioned by an army officer whose family gave the house its first name, Reginens Ruhe. Later owners included the Bylandt-Rheidt counts, who kept the name Villa Bylandt-Rheidt. Around 1900 it became a meeting place for writers and artists such as Peter Altenberg and Arthur Schnitzler. Schnitzler used the villa and its young tenant as models for his play The Wide Land. Visitors approach through a park that once belonged to the estate. The villa’s central section has a broad balcony above two pillars and a triangular pediment. Inside, the staircase hall is decorated with murals by August César. Outside, two 18th-century putti mark the entrance to the garden of the former service wing. Apollo and Flora, statues from the same period, stand in the garden among rare 19th-century cast-iron urns.