Esterházy-kastély — Attraction in Soproni járás

Esterháza is a palace in Fertőd, Hungary, built by Prince Nikolaus Esterházy. Sometimes called the "Hungarian Versailles", it is Hungary's grandest Rococo edifice. Esterháza was not the primary or ancestral home of the Esterházy family; that was Schloss Esterházy, a palace nearby (40 kilometers (25 mi)), in Eisenstadt. Miklós Esterházy began his plans for a new palace not long after he became reigning prince in 1762 on the death of his brother Paul Anton. Before this time, Nikolaus was accustomed to spending much of his time at a hunting lodge called Süttör, built in the same location around 1720 with a design by Anton Erhard Martinelli. The hunting lodge was the nucleus around which Esterháza was built.

The first architect to work on the project was Johann Ferdinand Mödlhammer, succeeded in 1765 by Melchior Hefele. While the palace is often compared to Versailles, which the Prince had visited in 1764 when he visited Paris, H. C. Robbins Landon claims that a more direct influence can be found in "Austrian prototypes, particularly Schönbrunn palace in Vienna." The palace cost the Prince the sum of 13 million Austro-Hungarian gulden, a figure that Robbins Landon terms "astronomical".

Eszterháza was first inhabited in 1766, but construction continued for many years. The opera house was completed in 1768 (the first performance was of Joseph Haydn's opera Lo speziale), the marionette theater in 1773. The fountain in front of the palace was not completed until 1784, at which point the Prince considered his project complete. Nikolaus Esterházy died in 1790. Neither his son Anton, who inherited the Esterházy lands, nor any of his later successors had any interest in living in the...

the palace is (was?) gorgeous, totally in line with what you see in Vienna. unfortunately it's in a "bad shape" so to say. fun fact: it's not because of WW2, or how one would imagine - Soviets. in fact the palace didn't get hurt during the attacks, but was looted and now could be found in private collections stone the world. furnishings and stuff from the palace that survived were nationalised by Soviets and now safe in national museums. what to expect to see at the moment: 3-4 halls, stairway and a small chapel. everything else is under construction. you can get inside palace only with a guided tour. i was 'lucky' to have Hungarian tour, but you will be provided with a brochure in possibly all languages at the ticket office. (some kind of signs in the rooms with coordinating numbers would be very helpful, but just a tip as soon as you're inside - you're in room 1, start reading). photos are allowed without flash in the palace and prohibited in the 'treasury' exposition. the park is free. the rose garden is extra (tickets are sold at the rose garden entrance). there's also a tourist train going through the park and around the palace, although you can quite easily just walk around it's not that long walk. car parking - personally i didn't see any signs, so parked right behind the ticket office because there were a lot of cars. on the map you get at the ticket office you'll see at least two parking lots, with one to the left from the entrance of you're...

Esterháza is a palace in Fertőd,  Hungary, built by Prince Nikolaus Esterházy. Esterházy is a Hungarian noble family with origins in the Middle Ages. Since the 17th century, they were among the great landowner magnates of the Kingdom of Hungary during the time it was part of the Habsburg Empire and later Austria-Hungary. During the history of the Habsburg empire, the Esterházys were consistently loyal to the Habsburg rulers. The castle is Hungary's landmark Rococo building open for the tourists. The palace has 126 rooms. Of particular note is the Banquet Room which has on its ceiling a painting of Apollo in his Chariot. The large library holds almost 22,000 volumes and is graced with the letter 'E', standing for the family surname. The largest room is the grotto-like Sala Terrana which was inspired by the then fashionable  Italianate style. On the ceiling are dancing Angels who hold wreaths of flowers in the shape of an 'E'. From 1766 to 1790, the estate was the home of the celebrated composer Joseph Haydn. He lived in a four-room flat in a large two-storey building housing servants' quarters. Haydn wrote the majority of his symphonies for the Prince's orchestra. Eszterháza had two opera houses. Professional guides assist visitors showing among other moments graffiti by Soviet Red Army soldiers occupying the place at the end of WW2. Allow minimum two hours to see and enjoy the beauties of the palace and rose garden and for a...