Halbturn Palace, Halbturn, Austria

The Imperial family once used Halbturn Palace, Burgenland’s most important Baroque building, as a hunting lodge and summer palace. The palace, in northern Burgenland, and its splendid parklands, is regarded as one of Burgenland’s most esteemed historic attractions.

Halbturn palace was built in 1711 during the reign of Emperor Charles VI by Lucas von Hildebrandt, one of the most important Austrian figures in late baroque architecture. It has gone through good times and bad. Its heyday may well have been the epoch shown in an oil painting from the middle of the 18th century. During the first Turkish siege the imperial stud had been destroyed. The Halbturn estate was mortgaged for several years and passed back into imperial-royal ownership under Emperor Charles VI. After the death of Emperor Charles VI his daughter, Maria Theresia, succeeded to the throne on account of the Pragmatic Sanction of 1740.

In 1765 Maria Theresia acquired Halbturn Palace, part of the estate of Hungarian Altenburg at the time, from the Hungarian crown. She gave it as private property to her favourite daughter, Archduchess Marie Christine, as a present for her wedding to Duke Albert-Casimir von Sachsen-Teschen. For this occasion the baroque artist Anton Maulbertsch was also commissioned to paint the ceiling fresco, “Triumph of Light”.

Halbturn Palace offers a varied programme of art, culture, wine and gourmet food all year round. Fascinating annual exhibitions, high quality concert series, various summer events and the famous Pannonian Christmas Market in the historical setting of the palace draw thousands of visitors and tourists from home and abroad every year.

References:

Schloss Halbturn

Palaces, manors and town halls in Austria

User Reviews

David Miles (2 years ago)
Wonderful place for Summer Markets.. lots of exhibitors and the restaurant food is delightful. A must if you are in Gols at this time of year.

Barbora Kotasová (2 years ago)
Nice Castle. Now there is an exhibition about Royal childhood. It is sad to realize what tough childhood these kids had.... With Neusiedler see Card you have a free entrance. Castle park is also nice.

Chelsea Schmidt (2 years ago)
Gorgeous castle and grounds.

Diana Donisa (3 years ago)
Great location for the garden market in August! It's a shame one has to pay to enter and shop, but I can understand the accounting behind the concept. Very well organised. We will have to come again for the castle alone and a more relaxed visit of the gardens.

Blanched Kafka (5 years ago)
Extremely beautiful and calming place with not too much visitors. You can spot the ? if you were lucky! Parking is fo free just infront of the main gate.

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Soon the idea of a museum arose, and that was realised in 1833, which is The Royal Danish Collection’s official year of establishment.

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