Features
Austrian features
Schloss Hof by Peter Gieler
This summer, with friends, I visited Schloss Hof, which lies to the North East of Vienna, near Marchfield, close to the border with Slovakia. What a revelation and stunning surprise!
Here is a magnificent complex that was built in the early 18th century for Prince Eugene of Savoy. He provided almost unlimited funding for the construction, and allowed the architect Lucas von Hildebrandt to realise his virtuoso concept of a unique ensemble, comprising of a magnificent palace, beautifully designed terraced gardens and an idyllic country estate.
Soon Prince Eugene ran out of funds and sold the palace to Empress Maria Theresia who extended the buildings. She and her family frequently used Hof Castle as a private retreat.
The complex had been increasingly neglected since the 19th century, fell into disrepair and collapsed after World War II. In 2002 an ambitious programme to restore the palace and grounds to its former glory was approved and in May 2005 the estate reopened to visitors.
Unique in Europe, this is an attempt to recreate the world of the Baroque in all its authenticity and diversity in an historical ambience. This is really worth a visit. The ballet scenes for the 2007 New Years’ Day Concert were recorded in the gardens of the Palace in early September.
The Castle
The year 1898 marked a significant turning point in the history of Hof Castle.
Emperor Franz Joseph turned the complex over to the military for use as a training facility and ordered all the interior furnishings of the castle to be removed. Some 200 wagonloads of precious furniture, exquisite artworks and elegant fabrics were carried away to the Imperial Warehouse in Vienna. In the years that followed, this inventory provided a rich source of decorative items for furnishing other imperial buildings and, after the collapse of the monarchy and the creation of the new Republic of Austria in 1919, for government buildings and embassies.
In recent years, many of these precious items were found spread across dozens of archives, collections and museums between Sweden and the Vatican. Great effort was made to regain possession of many items and following careful restoration, they once again decorate their original home. Old inventories have provided exact information about the location of each piece of furniture, picture and tapestry at the time when its imperial owners occupied the building.
Now the apartments can be viewed exactly as they were in the 18th century. These include the two-storey chapel with its domed roof, frescoes and altar paintings, the early Classicistic Ballroom, and the Sala Terrena, which is decorated with magnificent elegance and connects the castle with the gardens.
The Gardens Contemporary visitors admired the castle gardens even more than the castle itself and its furnishings. Even today, with its abundance of edged flowerbeds, sculpture groups, pavilions, ornamental shrubbery and lovely fountains, this masterpiece of garden design descends across seven manmade terraces to the banks of the March River. Over the years the garden, once famous throughout Europe, became lost in a sea of weeds and brush. However, the basic structure of the garden remained completely intact, having only retreated, in a sense, beneath the surface of the ground.
With the help of excavations by landscape architects, historical maps and three paintings that were created around 1760, the gardens were successively restored in exact detail to their original diversity of colour and form. The only blot on the landscape is the industrial background across the River March in Slovakia.
You must close your eyes for a second or two and use your imagination. Next year Prince Eugene’s Orangerie will once again be open to visitors. Originally this greenhouse was one of the largest and most modern buildings of its kind: 38 metres long, seven metres high and seven metres deep. It will once again be heated by a cleverly devised system of heaters sunk into the ground and will house an extensive collection of Mediterranean, African, American and South-East Asian plants.
The Meierhof (Farm) In order to ensure that the castle’s owners and their guests enjoyed every comfort, an extensive farming estate was included in the plans for the castle complex. Covering an area of six hectares, the ensemble of servants’ quarters, workrooms and shops, pastures and stables was one of the largest Baroque complexes of its kind in Europe.
Now there are basket-weavers, turners and potters who continue the traditions of their ancient guilds in workshops that have been restored according to historical models. Thousands of appetising, aromatic medicinal plants thrive in the herb garden, and the distillery produces delicious varieties of schnapps based on ancient recipes.
In close cooperation with Vienna’s Schönbrunn Zoo, the Meierhof also features numerous breeds of domestic animals from the days of the Austrian monarchy. Gidran and Nonius horses, Carinthian and Valachian sheep, woolly Mangalitza pigs and Silkie chickens have been given appropriate living conditions.
Meierhof is one of the last refuges for the white donkeys, for example, which until recently were on endangered species list. Hof Castle is taking part in several breeding programmes with partners in Austria and abroad.
Getting There
You can reach Hof Castle via the A4 Airport Motorway (exit Fischamend), B9 (in the direction of Hainburg) and B49. At weekends and on Public Holidays the Bus company Blaguss runs a service which departs from the Südbahnhof and the Schwedenplatz .
Tel: +43 (0)1 610 90 0.
Experience a wide range of cultural and social events including; concerts, wine tastings, lectures, film evenings, excursions and social gatherings.
