History
When, in 1712, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor hired the landscape gardener Jean Trehet to redesign the baroque park of the Augarten in the French style, many palaces were built on the grounds. The largest of these palaces had been built earlier, towards the end of the 17th century, by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach for the councilor Zacharias Leeb. In 1780 this palace came into the possession of Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor. Until the beginning of the twentieth century it remained in the possession of the Habsburg family. During this period, and especially in the nineteenth century, many balls were held in the palace, and a salon was opened. Among the guests at that time were Richard Wagner, Franz Liszt, and Hans Makart.
The greatest ball in the Palais Augarten took place on the occasion of the Viennese World's Fair of 1873; among the guests were Emperor Francis Joseph I and Czar Alexander II of Russia. In 1897 the palace was significantly remodelled for the family of Archduke Otto, the nephew of Emperor Francis Joseph.
From 1934 to 1936 the palace was inhabited by the Austrian Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg. During the Second World War, the estate was badly damaged, but after the war it was completely restored. In 1948 it was given to the Vienna Boys' Choir. The porcelain manufacture Augarten Porzellan is also located there. Today the palace, along with the rest of the Augarten, is in the possession of the state of Austria.
|
Coordinates: 48°13′20″N 16°22′46″E / 48.22222°N 16.37944°E / 48.22222; 16.37944
Read more about this topic: Palais Augarten
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The history of American politics is littered with bodies of people who took so pure a position that they had no clout at all.”
—Ben C. Bradlee (b. 1921)
“In history an additional result is commonly produced by human actions beyond that which they aim at and obtain—that which they immediately recognize and desire. They gratify their own interest; but something further is thereby accomplished, latent in the actions in question, though not present to their consciousness, and not included in their design.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)