Palais Lobkowitz
Encyclopedia
Baroque architecture
Baroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...
palace
Palace
A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word itself is derived from the Latin name Palātium, for Palatine Hill, one of the seven hills in Rome. In many parts of Europe, the...
in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. It was owned by the noble Lobkowitz family.
Today it houses the theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
museum of the Kunsthistorisches Museum
Kunsthistorisches Museum
The Kunsthistorisches Museum is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on Ringstraße, it is crowned with an octagonal dome...
.
History
The palace is located on the Lobkowitzplatz, a square named after it which previously had been called the "pig market", at which time it was a less distinguished address. The Lobkowitz Palace ranks among the oldest palace buildings of Vienna. The palace is the first important baroque city palace built after the Battle of ViennaBattle of Vienna
The Battle of Vienna took place on 11 and 12 September 1683 after Vienna had been besieged by the Ottoman Empire for two months...
(die zweite Türkenbelagerung), when the aristocracy no longer had to invest its money only for military purposes.
The palace façade, unlike its interior, is still to a large extent in its original condition from the time of its construction. The original building that stood where the palace now stands was sold in the year 1685 by Leopold Baron von Felss to the imperial Colonel stable master Philipp Sigmund count von Dietrichstein. This led to the current palace, built in the years 1685 and 1687 by Giovanni Pietro Tencala. The new palace occupied not only the site of the house of the Baron von Felss, but also the original site of a neighburing bathhouse, which was also bought by Philipp Sigmund Count von Dietrichstein.
After repeated ownership changes (among the owners, Count Wenzel Gallas), the palace was bought in 1745 by Ferdinand Philipp Prince von Lobkowitz.
The palace remained from that time up to the year 1980 in the possession of the Lobkowitz family.
Under the Lobkowitz family, the palace underwent several renovations. At the beginning of the 18th century, most notably, Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach
Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach
----Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, born Johann Bernhard Fischer was probably the most influential Austrian architect of the Baroque period....
and his son Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach
Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach
Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach, also Fischer von Erlach the younger was an Austrianarchitect of the baroque, Rococo and baroque classicism.-Life and career:...
were entrusted with the project.
In the early 19th century,
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
was often a guest in the palace, since the owner at that time, Franz Joseph Maximilian von Lobkowitz, was an important sponsor of the composer. Beethoven's Third Symphony
Symphony No. 3 (Beethoven)
Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 in E flat major , also known as the Eroica , is a landmark musical work marking the full arrival of the composer's "middle-period," a series of unprecedented large scale works of emotional depth and structural rigor.The symphony is widely regarded as a mature...
was dedicated to the prince,
which is why the festival room of the palace was also baptized "Eroica Hall."
In 1804,
Beethoven's Third Symphony was performed for the first time in Vienna in this hall, with the composer as conductor.
During the Congress of Vienna, numerous celebrations and balls were held in the palace. Around the middle of the 19th century, the Lobkowitzes transferred their major residence to their hereditary palace in Roudnice nad Labem
Roudnice nad Labem
Roudnice nad Labem is a small town on left bank of the Elbe River . It has about 13 500 inhabitants and covers an area of 16,67 km². The town is situated near the famous hill Říp, which is well known for its legendary connection with Praotec Čech....
, northern Bohemia, and released their Viennese residence for renting out.
Between the years 1869 and 1909, the house was used as the French embassy.
Later, from the years 1919 to 1938, the Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
n legation was accommodated there.
After end of the Second World War, the house was used as seat of the Institut Français de Vienne.
In the year 1980, the palace became government property, and since the year 1991, after a comprehensive renovation, it has served as the theatre museum of the Kunsthistorisches Museum
Kunsthistorisches Museum
The Kunsthistorisches Museum is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on Ringstraße, it is crowned with an octagonal dome...
.
External links
- http://www.theatermuseum.at/ - Homepage of Theatermuseum, with gallery of the Palace.