Eszterháza

Esterházy Palace, also known as Castle Fertőd and often referred to in Austria to distinguish it from the Eisenstadt family castle as Esterháza is a western Hungarian castle of the former Prince Esterházy. It is located near the Austrian border, a few kilometers south-east of Lake Neusiedl, in a fertile flat land on the outskirts of the town Fertőd.

It is one of the largest rococo palaces of Hungary, is part of the world cultural heritage and simultaneously integrated into the national park Fertő Hansag. It can be reached from the west via Eisenstadt (Burgenland) or Sopron ( Sopron ) (25 km ) or from the north via the Austrian Seewinkel east of Lake Neusiedl ( Pamhagen 10 km), from the east via the Hungarian county seat Kapuvar (15 km). The Borderland bike path around Lake Neusiedl leads right past the park.

History

Esterházy Palace was built by Prince Nicholas I, after it was first built at the beginning of the 18th century by Michael Prince Esterházy as a smaller hunting lodge. After a visit in 1764 in the Palace of Versailles near Paris instructed Prince Nicholas the Vienna court architect Johann Ferdinand Mödlhammer and Melchior Hefele with the reconstruction, which lasted for 46 years.

The emperor stone Brucher champion from Lower Austria received large orders and delivered Kaiserstein for the stairs and decorative elements of the system. In the Hungarian State Archives is because of those delivered to Esterház Steinem from Kayser- quarry to read about the Inquisition took place in 1783. The Esterházy were (and are ) the owner of the quarry of St. Margaret in Burgenland; from there building materials were supplied. Furthermore, there were large supplies of Zogelsdorfer stone for the castle Eggenberg castle in Lower Austria.

The need for representation of the royal family was expressed in the very self- conscious architecture as well as in the interior design of the castle. Similarities with the imperial summer residence of Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna are no coincidence, for example, the similar means stairs to the main floor in the main building. The Habsburgs in turn had for Palace Versailles as a model. Esterházy Palace is therefore also known as the " Hungarian Versailles ".

As in the Esterházy Palace in Eisenstadt spent Joseph Haydn - the Esterhazy'sche court composer and founder of the Viennese Classical - even here many years. The musician had to follow through with the court orchestra of the prince each on its whereabouts. In winter, this was mostly Eisenstadt, in summer often Esterháza. " In between " kept the prince in Vienna, Sopron or in any other of his residences on. In the concert hall of the castle, for example, in 1772 Haydn was later premiered very popular " Farewell Symphony " at the left of the orchestra, whose part is over, the stage until only one play at the end.

How else Esterházy property in Hungary, the plant was expropriated in 1945 by the state. Today, the central part of the castle can be visited as a national museum. In the side next to a vocational school for horticulture, a business school is housed, which cooperates with the Austrian Academy of Commerce wife churches. In this case, both countries teach bilingual teachers in the schools.