Gloriette

The Gloriette stands at the highest point of the Schönbrunn Palace gardens in Vienna. Built in 1775 as a final garden structure, it served as a temple of glory and a viewing platform 241 metres above the gardens. Emperor Joseph II and Empress Maria Theresia commissioned the building, reusing stone columns and decorative elements from an older gallery at Schloss Neugebäude. The white Kaiserstein columns and carved bulls’ heads were prepared by master stonemasons Bartholomäus Pethan and Antonius Pozzo in the imperial quarry. Measuring 84.3 metres long and 25.95 metres high, the Gloriette dominates the landscape. The Gloriette was later used as a dining hall and breakfast room for Emperor Franz Joseph I. Today its central hall houses a café, while the roof offers a wide view over Vienna. Sculptures by Johann Baptist Hagenauer adorn the structure, and after bomb damage in the Second World War the building was restored by 1947. A further restoration in the 1990s returned the glazed central arches to their original appearance, recreating the space as it looked in historic photographs. Nearby, the smaller structure called the Kleine Gloriette is actually a two-storey pavilion rather than a true Gloriette. Visitors walk up broad steps to reach the Gloriette’s terrace. Inside, the café occupies the former imperial dining room, its walls lined with mirrors and chandeliers. From the roof terrace the whole city stretches below, from the spire of St Stephen’s Cathedral to the wooded hills of the Vienna Woods. The stonework, reused from earlier buildings, shows the marks of skilled craftsmen from the imperial quarry. The inscription on the front records its dedication to just wars that led to peace under Joseph II and Maria Theresia.