Miller-Aichholz Castle

View of the castle from the garden (2017)

The Castle Miller Aichholz (also: hunting lodge Esterhazy ) today also Europahaus Wien called Linzer Straße 429 was originally a Baroque building in the Vienna suburb of Hütteldorf . The place was incorporated into the new 13th Viennese district , Hietzing , in 1892 and has been part of the 14th Viennese district, Penzing , since 1938 . The historic property with its extensive park is owned by the Republic of Austria . Today the castle can be booked for weddings, festive events and seminars.

history

Around 1750, Empress Maria Theresia gave the Hütteldorfer property to baron Johann Georg von Grechtler , who had a hunting lodge built according to plans by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach . Through the heirs of Grechtler, the palace complex came into the possession of a princess Esterházy , b. Princess Liechtenstein . Her family and their descendants then used the hunting lodge as a summer residence for more than 100 years. The center of attraction were the parts of the Vienna Woods Mountains Wolfersberg and Bierhäuslberg , which bordered to the north of the castle, and which had served the imperial family as a private hunting ground since 1540 . For example, Archduke Franz Karl of Austria shot the last wolf of the Vienna Woods there in 1846 . The hunting lodge Esterhazy was just like the adjacent later Windisch-Graetz Villa meeting place of private hunting parties of the emperor, especially the Emperor Franz Joseph I (the south of the Esterházy Castle located, later Lainzer Tiergarten called, fenced area also served as a hunting ground for the official hunting invitations of the imperial family.)

Penzing and the surrounding area around 1872 ( recording sheet of the state survey)

A map from 1872 shows the Esterházy estate in the west of Penzing, south of Wolfersberg and north of Nikolaiberg (immediately below the later Windisch-Graetz Villa, symbolized by a depiction of the imperial orb ). Attracted by the imperial presence, numerous new villa buildings were built in the vicinity of the hunting lodge at the end of the 19th century, such as that of the industrial family Bujatti . There was an increased concern of the Wild , and the imperial family withdrew from their private hunting ground. As a result, the high nobility left their possessions there.

In 1894, Dr. Heinrich Miller zu Aichholz owned the palace complex, but the family had to sell it to the state due to the global economic crisis in 1938. In the time of National Socialism , the castle was a recreation center for police officers. After the war, the staff and the general secretariat of the French High Commissioner (see Occupied Post-War Austria ) were housed in the palace.

In 1955 the castle, which was still owned by the state, was settled by the Austrian Young Workers Movement (ÖJAB). The palace area has been in use as the “Europahaus Wien” since 1962; it was a temporary educational facility for the European Academy Vienna, founded in 1962 .

Building description

Miller-Aichholz Castle (2010)

The two-storey elongated building has a high hipped roof with dormer windows. The garden front has shallow central projections and an elevated, slightly protruding central wing with three-axis structure; in front of it is an open staircase with strong corner pillars.

On the first floor there are former dining and kitchen rooms, e.g. Some with groin vaults. The halls on the upper floor have mostly mirror ceilings and delicate stucco frame fields. On the garden side, the state rooms (large hall, Napoleon hall, Prinz-Eugen-Saal and Maria-Theresien-Zimmer) are arranged, in which there are original tiled stoves with Rocailles decor. In the rooms there is a collection of pictures, which mainly consists of copies of old masters and u. a. Includes a portrait of Prince Eugene by Hyacinthe Rigaud .

To the west of the park is a single-storey farm building. A greenhouse (the last Baroque sun trap house to survive in Vienna) from the first half of the 18th century is located on the wall. It is still largely in its original condition, only the glazing of the longitudinal front has been replaced by a board wall.