Monday 3 September 2007

Viennese Escapes: Eszterházy Palace in Fertőd (Hungary)


The House of Esterházy
was a noble family in the Kingdom of Hungary since the Middle Ages. From the 17th century they belonged to the great landowner magnates of the Kingdom of Hungary, during the time it was part of the Habsburg Empire and later Austria-Hungary.
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Eszterházy Palace
Fertőd (Hungary)

The Esterházys
maintained a number of other residences throughout the Kingdom of Hungary and Transylvania, and those Esterházy princes who preferred the stylish life of the capital spent most of their time in Vienna.
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In the 1770s,
Prince Nikolaus Esterházy,
who disliked Vienna,
had a magnificent new palace constructed
at Eszterháza (now Fertőd), in rural Hungary
on the site of a former hunting lodge.
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This is the most admired of the Esterházy homes,
often called the "Hungarian Versailles."
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The composer Joseph Haydn
lived many years in the Eszterházy palaces
of Fertőd and close-by Eisenstadt,
working as a court musician and composer
for this illustrious noble Hungarian family.

Haydn was born
in the Austrian village of Rohrau,
near Eisenstadt, in the Burgenland Region,
which borders Hungary.





Details of the wrought-iron gates
by ironsmith Karl Johann Franke.


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Quoted from Wikipedia,
The House of Esterházy.



10 comments:

  1. What a gorgeous palace! It must be so impressive in real life.

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  2. Thanks for sharing these. Haydn is one of my top 5 composers.

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  3. This lovely post reminds me I must go visit my German friends who moved to Hungary!

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  4. c'est moi:
    It is indeed a very impressive presence, suddenly in the middle of the country, where one least would expect it.

    incurable insomniac:
    I have been thinking of you a lot lately, so many musicians have lived in or near Vienna, I wonder how you must feel coming here to live, amongst them.

    paris parfait:
    Yes, you should.
    I have such a long list of places myself to visit there.

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  5. So much fun!

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  6. gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous.
    My brother just returned from Vienna and said it is a must see when I come over (germany).
    As if I didn't already know that from your wonderful photo blog!

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  7. Whoa - Merisi, it's freaking me out!
    It is extraordinarily overwhelming!
    How does it make you feel on the inside, when you are standing in front of such opulence?

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  8. I love the fountains and gate design.

    Paz

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  9. Ah, there is the golden rose again. I love it.

    Thanks for the information about Haydn.

    Let me know if you ever publish a guidebook, I am sure it will be my favorite :-)

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  10. Thank you for the visit Merisi: this is a beautiful place, I like the ironwork of the gate, so... -I do not have any word!

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