Schönbrunn Palace

 

Schönbrunn Palace

There were two things that I had wanted to do in Vienna, one was to go inside the Spanisches Hofreitsschule. I had ridden Lipizaner horses in Spain on the Costa del Luz but had not see the inside of the famous Viennese school. And the ships schedule did not coincide with the opening times so I had missed out.

The other was to visit Schönbrunn Palace, the summer residence of the Habsbergs set in the country outside of Vienna. The Habsburgs had ruled Austria for over 600 years and had caused many wars including the Wars of the Spanish Succession. The assassination of Franz Josef started the First World War and the last emperor was forced to abdicate at the end of the war and the First Austrian Republic was proclaimed.

It is a huge place with over 1,400 rooms but we were only going to visit the top 20 Imperial rooms but these included the reception area, the fabulously decorated main banquet hall plus other famous rooms such as Napoleon's room, the Chinese Room and the Millionaires Room,  which are all richly decorated in the Rococo style. The start wasn't quite what I had expected as the courtyard in front of the palace was set up for a concert and obscured the view of the palace.

Looking back across what is usually open space to the two columns with golden eagles on the top which is the entrance to the courtyard.

This modest side door ti the left of the building is the visitors entrance. No photos are allowed inside as this is Austria's most visited tourist attraction hosting 8 million visitors a year and people taking photos delayed the movement of people through the rooms and caused blockages so it was banned.

But the gardens are free to visit and many locals walk in them for exercise and leisure. Some of the acres of glasshouses used to grow exotic fruit, now used to grow bedding plants in the gardens or unused.

One of the tree lined walkways in the gardens.

One of the entrances to the private gardens on one side of the palace.

                                        

The other side of the palace is unrestricted viewing and shows how deep the wings are.

                                         
A view of the back of the palace. The architecture and details are identical to the front facade but without the protruding side wings.

Turning around there is a spectacular fountain.

Up the hill behind the palace shows the building and some of its flower gardens and whilst it used to be in the countryside, the city has since expanded to engulf it.

In the woods going up the hill are more treasures such as this fountain.

The top of the hill is crowned with a gloriette or a fancy gazebo.