Esterházy Palace (Eisenstadt)

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Esterházy Palace in Eisenstadt (2011)

As a former royal residence, Esterházy Palace is a landmark of the Burgenland capital Eisenstadt . It is owned by the Esterházy Private Foundation.

history

In the place of today's castle stood a Gothic castle, the origins of which go back to the 13th century. It was owned by the Gutkeled family, who owned numerous estates in western Hungary. In 1364 the Kanizsay family bought the castle and extended it generously. On the basis of a permit from the Hungarian King Ludwig the Great , the family built a wall around the entire town of Eisenstadt , which enclosed the castle.

Between 1445 and 1464 the castle and the whole city came into the possession of the Habsburgs . For the time being, the castle was only pledged by them, which is why no modifications were made. According to the reconciliation of Emperor Friedrich III with the Hungarian King Mathias Corvinus, the city returned to the Kingdom of Hungary with the entirety of what was then western Hungary (roughly today's Burgenland).

In 1622 the castle came into the administration of the Esterházy family as a pawnbroker - as an object of exchange after the Peace of Nikolsburg , when Count Nikolaus Esterházy ceded the rule of Munkács in northeastern Hungary to Gábor Bethlen . In 1649 Nikolaus' son Ladislaus bought the castle from Ferdinand III. ; Since then, the area has been continuously owned by Esterházy. Since the city of Eisenstadt (within the city walls) was not subject to them, but had bought itself the rank of a royal Hungarian free city in 1648 , the family initiated settlement activities a short distance west of the castle (where, among other things, the Jewish community settled).

After Ladislaus' death, his brother Paul I had the castle rebuilt into a baroque palace in the 1650s, which remained the main residence of the family who soon became prince for 300 years. Carlo Martino Carlone was entrusted with the planning , stone carvings were assigned to the masters Hieronymus Bregno , Ambrosius Ferrethi and the brothers Ambrosius and Giorgio Regondi from Kaisersteinbruch . The renovation took about ten years. The work still necessary later came to a standstill due to the Second Turkish Siege in 1683.

In the 18th century, the outside of the castle was not changed much. Most of the renovations concerned the interior. Deliveries of hard stone from Kaisersteinbruch, the " Kaiserstein ", were made in 1745/1746 for the stone bridge construction over the castle moat, and in 1761 by master Johann Michael Strickner for the new main staircase. In 1790–1794 the stables and guard buildings opposite were built.

Projected garden facade of Esterházy Palace (oil painting by Albert Christoph Dies , 1812)

At the beginning of the 19th century (1805–1815), under Nicholas II , the building was converted by Karl Ehmann into a classicist castle based on plans by the architect Charles de Moreau . In the course of this, the moat was filled in. However, because of the occupation of Eisenstadt by the Napoleonic troops , the work had to be interrupted and could no longer be continued due to the financial burden of the Esterházy from the war against the French. Therefore, only the central part of the royal residence planned by Moreau to be more than twice as large exists today. Major renovations were carried out at the end of the 19th century, but the appearance did not change much.

present

After the Second World War , part of the Burgenland provincial government was housed in the castle during the occupation . After 1969, parts of the castle were leased by the state of Burgenland and managed by a state-owned operating company. This lease, which included extensive renovation and adaptation work, came to an end on December 31, 2009 because the state was not prepared to participate financially in the ambitious expansion plans of the Esterházy Foundation.

The architects Christian Jabornegg and András Pálffy, 2007 winners in a related competition, had the planning for an extension containing additional exhibition rooms, which was to be inserted in the space between the castle and the old town to the east. - After an international specialist board of trustees was established for the Esterházy private foundations in November 2007, taking into account the architect Gustav Peichl as a consultant, the Peichl und Partner office was commissioned with the renovation and general refurbishment of Esterházy Palace in spring 2008 .

The historic ballroom of the palace is known as the Haydn Hall and is often used as a concert hall. Joseph Haydn was in the service of the royal court as Kapellmeister for thirty years in the 18th century and in this function had to compose hundreds of pieces of music for immediate performance at the prince's ceremonial occasions. In 2009, two exhibitions were dedicated to Haydn in the palace.

Esterházy Palace has also been the seat of the Burgenland Haydn Festival , which took place in the palace from 1989 to 2016 , since 1986 .

investment

The palace complex comprises the main building with the palace chapel and the former princely stable and main guard building in the entrance area (built in 1793 by the princely master builder Joseph Ringer according to plans by the architect Johann Henrici ). There is also a listed portal and the Emerikus Fountain (end of the 19th century).

Castle Park

The flower and kitchen gardens to the east and north of the castle were redesigned in Baroque style in the 18th century and, after Moreau bought additional properties at the beginning of the 19th century, as part of the castle renovation, transformed into an extensive English landscape park. The orangery , which was completed in the first half of the 19th century , was next to Schönbrunn one of the largest and most modern greenhouse facilities with a representative character. The Leopoldin Temple, named after an Esterházy princess, stands on an artificial rock hill, and in it you can see a sculpture of the princess designed by Antonio Canova . In the eastern part of the park, further away from the castle, a small football stadium and a public swimming pool were built in the 20th century. The park, whose tree population shows rarities with information boards, is currently being carefully restored by experts.

The park is one of the most important garden architectural monuments in Austria and is under monument protection ( No. 2 in the appendix to Section 1, Paragraph 12 of the DMSG and in the list of monuments ).

Others

On November 9, 1962, the Austrian Post issued a definitive stamp from the series of Austrian monuments worth 3.50 Schilling for this motif .

See also

literature

in alphabetical order

  • Cornelia Ehmke: The landscape garden of Eisenstadt . In: Die Gartenkunst 6 (1/1994), pp. 110–116.
  • Géza Hajós : The castle park of Eisenstadt - remarks on the art-historical importance and problems of monument preservation . In: Die Gartenkunst 2 (1/1990), pp. 99–106.
  • Stefan Kalmár: The Eisenstadt Castle Park . In: Die Gartenkunst 16 (1/2004), pp. 49–72.
  • Milhály Möcsenyi: Documents in the Hungarian State Archives about the historical garden in Eisenstadt . In: Die Gartenkunst 2 (1/1990), pp. 107–120.
  • Franz Prost (Ed.): "Dedicated to nature and art": The Esterházy landscape garden in Eisenstadt . Böhlau, Vienna 2001. ISBN 3-205-99211-3

Web links

Commons : Esterházy Palace (Eisenstadt)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Princely Esterházy family archive Burg Forchtenstein, rent office accounts for the rule of Eisenstadt ( Josef Altenburger von St. Margerethen for the Steinmetzmuseum Kaisersteinbruch )
  2. ^ Helmuth Furch , Kaiserstein in Palaces and Churches - Esterházy Palace . In: Communications of the Museum and Culture Association Kaisersteinbruch No. 9, Corpus Christi 1991, p. 3 f. ISBN 978-3-9504555-3-3 .
  3. a b Esterházy Castle becomes a cultural center . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung , December 1, 1970, p. 10, center right.
  4. Extract from Esterházy Palace . In: burgenland.orf.at , November 24, 2009, accessed on November 8, 2010.
  5. ^ Esterházy Palace: Differences about renovation . In: burgenland.orf.at , March 18, 2008, accessed on November 8, 2010, as well as
    Schloss-Streit: Esterházy manage private . In: oesterreich.orf.at , March 31, 2008, accessed on November 8, 2010.
  6. Ute Wotron: Thinking. It's easy . In: derstandard.at , June 19, 2009, accessed on November 8, 2010.
  7. ^ Specialized Board of Trustees for Esterházy Private Foundations (...) Advice and support . In: burgenland.orf.at , November 11, 2007, accessed on November 8, 2010.
  8. Gustav Peichl is 80 . In: oe1.orf.at , March 18, 2008, accessed on November 8, 2010, as well as
    castle renovation: Peichl plans in book form . In: oesterreich.orf.at , October 11, 2009, accessed on November 8, 2010.
  9. http://burgenland.orf.at/news/stories/2772066/ Aus for Haydntage in the castle confirmed, orf.at, May 3, 2016, accessed May 3, 2016
  10. ^ Eva Berger : Historical Gardens of Austria: Gardens and parks from the Renaissance to around 1930 . tape 1 Lower Austria, Burgenland . Böhlau Verlag, Vienna 2002, ISBN 978-3-205-99305-6 , Eisenstadt, Schloßpark , p. 673 ff . ( limited preview in Google Book search).

Coordinates: 47 ° 50 ′ 46.3 ″  N , 16 ° 31 ′ 10 ″  E