Schönbrunn Palace

Schönbrunn Palace was the magnificent summer residence of the Habsburgs and is today Vienna’s most-visited landmark. The vast Baroque palace of 1,441 rooms, developed under Maria Theresa, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site together with its gardens.

The estate includes the sweeping palace park, the hilltop Gloriette, the maze and the world’s oldest surviving zoo, the Tiergarten Schönbrunn. State rooms such as the Millions Room and the Great Gallery bring the world of Empress Sisi and Maria Theresa to life.

Schönbrunn Palace stands in Hietzing, the 13th district of Vienna. It was the main summer residence of the Habsburg rulers and takes its name from an artesian well that once supplied the court. The Baroque palace has 1,441 rooms and has been a major tourist attraction since the mid-1950s. Its history and vast gardens span over 300 years, reflecting the changing tastes of successive monarchs. The palace was originally a hunting ground with pheasants, ducks, deer and boar. In 1569, Emperor Maximilian II enclosed the area and added exotic birds like turkeys and peafowl. The palace was remodelled in the 1740s and 1750s by Baron Diego Pereira d’Aguilar for Empress Maria Theresa. Emperor Franz I commissioned the neoclassical exterior seen today. Franz Joseph, Austria’s longest-reigning emperor, was born and died at Schönbrunn. After the fall of the Habsburgs in 1918, the palace became state property and a museum. It was bombed in 1945 during World War II and later used by British forces. In 1961, it hosted the meeting between U.S. President John F. Kennedy and Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev. The gardens include the Great Parterre, designed by Jean Trehet in 1695. The Tiergarten, an orangerie from 1755, and a palm house built by 1882 are part of the complex. The Gloriette crowns a 60-metre hill and was designed to glorify Habsburg power. The Roman Ruin, built in 1778, evokes an ancient edifice crumbling into the ground. The gardens also feature a café in a former garden pavilion and a botanical garden rearranged in 1828. The palace and gardens were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.