Schönbrunn Palace is a former imperial 1,441-room Rococo summer residence in modern
Vienna,
Austria. One of the most important cultural monuments in the country, since the 1960s it has been one of the major tourist attractions in Vienna. The palace and gardens illustrate the tastes, interests, and aspirations of successive Habsburg monarchs.
Gardens
The sculpted garden space between the palace and the Sun Fountain is called the Great Parterre. The French garden, a big part of the area, was planned by Jean Trehet in 1695. It contains, among other things, a
Maze. The complex however includes many more attractions: Besides the Tiergarten, an orangerie erected around 1755, staple luxuries of European palaces of its type, a palm house (replacing, by 1882, around ten earlier and smaller glass houses in the western part of the
Park) is noteworthy. Western parts were turned into English garden style in 1828–1852.
Sculptures
Lining the Great Parterre are 32 sculptures, which represent deities and virtues.
Roman Ruin
Originally known as the Ruin of Carthage, the Roman Ruin is a set of follies that was designed by the architect Johann Ferdinand Hetzendorf von Hohenberg and erected as an entirely new architectural feature in 1778. Fully integrated into its parkland surroundings, this architectural ensemble should be understood as a picturesque horticultural feature and not simply as a ruin, which due to lack of maintenance it had increasingly grown to resemble prior to its recent restoration.
The Schönbrunn Palace Silver Coin
The palace was recently selected as the main motif of a high value commemorative coin: the Austrian 10 euro The Palace of Schönbrunn Silver coin, minted on October 8, 2003. The obverse shows the
Central part of the frontage of the palace behind one of the great fountains in the open space.
Recent History
Following the downfall of the monarchy in 1918 the newly founded Austrian Republic became the owner of Schönbrunn Palace and preserved, as a museum, the rooms and chambers. UNESCO catalogued Schönbrunn Palace on the
World Heritage List in 1996, together with its gardens, as a remarkable Baroque ensemble and example of synthesis of the arts.
Activities At Schloss Schönbrunn Today
The Schloss is Vienna's most popular tourist destination, attended by 2,600,000 visitors in 2010. The whole Schönbrunn complex with Tiergarten Schönbrunn, Palmenhaus, Wüstenhaus and the Wagenburg, accounted for more than five million visitors. At the official website tickets can be purchased in advance for tours.
In addition to tours and tour packages, many classical concerts featuring the music of W. A.
Mozart and his contemporaries can be enjoyed with the added benefit of more time in the spectacular halls, Orangerie, or Schlosstheater.
Features In Movies
The gardens and palace have been the location for various movies, such as the Sissi trilogy in 1950s, in A Breath of Scandal with Sophia Loren and briefly in James Bond's The Living Daylights (1987) as a hotel where Bond (Timothy Dalton) was staying on a mission.
