HELLBRUNN PALACE - SALZBURG
Baroque Water Park Garden and Trick Fountains
“Oh,
what a lovely place for retreat, what grace, what delight, what a little
earthly paradise I have had the luck to see. That is Hellbrunn!” so
proclaimed a visitor to the summer pleasure palace of Hellbrunn in 1671.
That sentiment has not really changed in over 400 years. Markus Sittikus
von Hohenems was the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg in the early 1600s
whose influence reigned from Carinthia in the Italian south to Regensburg
in Germany to the north, a man with enough power and wealth to exercise
his most imaginative
whims.
Summer palaces came into popularity in the early baroque age. Deciding
he needed a getaway from the duties of his
office he had a palace built in the countryside to the south of Salzburg,
close enough for a day trip out and back to his city palace. Named for
a clear spring day, Schloss Hellbrunn was designed by Italian Architect
Santino Salari, incorporating the latest water tricks of the day into
the park he created for the pleasure of the Archbishop and his guests.
The
Hellbrunn Palace took only 3 years to build. The elegant manor house
following the balanced
proportions of early baroque design, is small
in scale as palaces go, because the archbishop never planned to sleep
there, so had no need for a residence quarters. A tour of the palace
rooms provides
a look into the ideas and 
proclivities of the archbishop, a fascination
for odd animals, giant fish with teeth, Greek and Roman
mythology which seemed to occupy the wealthy potentates of the time.
Beautifully painted ceilings and examples of the water machines which
make the fountains work. His concept of the unity of “Divine
opposites”,
represented by light and dark, fire and water, lively and quiet – pervades
the atmosphere of the two story mansion. But the main attraction of the
Hellbrunn Palace is its park and trick fountains.
The
most complete surviving examples of trick water fountains originally
conceived by
Italian Renaissance artisans, the trick fountains at Hellbrunn
have been entertaining visitors for four centuries. A tour of the gardens
leads through the practical joke amusements of the 17th Century. Mystical
figures called automats, sculptures of mythic characters with moving
eyes and mouths operated by flowing water through gravity fed valves.
A stone dinner table with water jets from the seats would drench guests
in sudden surprise while the Archbishop’s place would always remain
dry. Grottos of mythological themes with illustrated walls entirely of
sea shells, mounted deer heads spouting of water sprinkles shocking hopefully
unsuspecting visitors operated by the tour guide in place of the whimsical
Archbishop.
Visiting Helbrunn Palace & Trick Gardens
The
tour admission of the Hellbrunn Palace include both the house and the
trick fountains.
In the formal gardens are reflecting pools and animal
figures below the small “Month Palace” named because it was
built in only a month after one of the Archbishops guests suggested the
hillside needed detail, and now contains the Carolina Augusteum Folk
Art Museum. At Hellbrunn can also be found the pavilion used as a film
location for “The Sound of Music”. In winter a Christmas
Market is held on the grounds (see Austria
Advent Markets)
The journey to the Hellbrunn Pleasure Palace (Lust Schloss) from Salzburg takes about 20 minutes by city bus (Line 25) or 15 minutes by taxi (a cab ride costs about €10). Admission for the tour is €8.50 for adults, €3.80 for children, and a family ticket is available for €21.50. The palace is open from March to November, 9am to 4:30, 5:30 or 6pm depending on the season with special evening hours until 9pm in July and August. A visit to Hellbrunn Palace can be combined with the Salzburg Zoo walking distance nearby and combined ticket for both can be purchased at the Hellbrunn ticket kiosk. © Bargain Travel Europe
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Schloss
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SEE ALSO:
SALZBURG
MOZART MUSEUMS
CAFE
TOMASELLI - OLD SALZBURG
VIENNA
MOZART ORCHESTRA CONCERTS
INNSBRUCK'S
COURT CHURCH - HOFKIRCHE TOMB
HOFBURG IMPERIAL
PALACE - INNSBRUCK
