Palais Auersperg

Palais Auersperg, for a short time called Palais Rosenkavalier, is a Baroque palace at Auerspergstraße 1 in the Josefstadt or eighth district of Vienna, Austria.

Palais Auersperg was built between 1706 and 1710 on the plot of the former Rottenhof according to the plans of two well-known architects, Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt, for Hieronymus Capece de Rofrano, to whom the former name Rosenkavalier refers. The middle section of the palace was altered between 1720 and 1723 by Johann Christian Neupauer.In 1749, Prince Joseph of Saxe-Hildburghausen started to use the palace as his winter residence. He hired Giuseppe Bonno as musical conductor of the palace. Between 1754 and 1761, weekly music courses were held during the winter months.

From 1759, he rented the palace and hired Christoph Willibald Gluck as head conductor of the concerts held there.In 1777, Prince Johann Adam of Auersperg, friend and confidant of Emperor Francis I and Maria Theresia, bought the palace, at that time still called Palais Rofrano. From 1786, the palace was renamed Palais Auersperg and was the setting for a series of important and well-known musical events, notably Idomeneo by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (who also conducted), and Sieben Worte des Erlösers am Kreuze by Joseph Haydn.

As Johann Adam of Auersperg's second marriage stayed childless and the children of his first marriage had already died, he adopted his nephew Carl Auersperg (1750–1822). Carl accepted his inheritance in 1795. The marriage of Carl and his wife Josepha also remained childless, so in 1812, they adopted Prince Vinzens Auersperg, who accepted his inheritance in 1817. In the time between 1827 and 1837, Gustav, Prince of Vasa stayed at the Palais Auersperg with the Swedish Royal Family because his inheritance had been contested in Sweden.

In 1864, on the orders of Vinzens Auersperg, a ballroom building was built along the Lerchenfelderstrasse. After his death in 1872, his widow Wilhelmine commissioned further alterations to the ballroom building in order to rent the facilities to the Geometric Institute. In 1878, Franz Joseph Emanuel (1856–1938), son of Wilhelmine Auersperg, and his wife Wilhelmine Kinsky took possession of the Palais Auersperg.

Text adapted from “Palais Auersperg” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Palais Auersperg ranks #2,546 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #58 of the 200 mapped in Austria. Founded 1706, it is older than 22% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 525 atlas entries founded in the 18th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 2,009 times in the last 60 days, more than 66% of the atlas. 35 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Vienna, 1 km away. See how Austria compares in the castle statistics.

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