On October 8, 1569, Emperor Maximilian II acquired the extensive property, built a wall around the area and stocked it with feathered deer, red deer and wild boar to use it for hunting. He had fish ponds built and exotic birds such as turkeys and peacocks kept in a separate area. The name pheasant garden for the rear part of the property that is not open to the public is an indication of this.
In 1570 Maximilian had a hunting lodge built in the existing zoo, which is still in operation today and is therefore the oldest zoo in the world. The construction of a castle was not yet planned: at that time, Maximilian had a new castle built on the other side of the city.
Schönbrunn Palace in its present form was built in the 18th century as a summer residence for Archduchess Maria Theresa. The name goes back to a saying said to Emperor Matthias. He is said to have discovered a spring here while hunting in 1619 and exclaimed: "What a beautiful fountain".
From 1638 to 1643 a palace was built in this area as a residence for the second wife of Emperor Ferdinand II, Eleonora Gonzaga. However, this facility was badly damaged in the second Turkish siege of Vienna in 1683. In 1687, Leopold I commissioned his heir to the throne, Joseph I, to build a prestigious new building for what was then a long way from the city gates.
It was not until 1743, under Maria Theresa, who had been Empress since 1745, that the palace and park were remodeled and expanded in their current form. The Baroque palace was the summer residence of the kings and emperors of the empire from the mid-18th century until the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, and of the Austrian imperial family from 1804 until the end of the First World War. During this time, the palace was almost continuously inhabited by a court of several hundred people and became a cultural and political center of the Habsburg Empire.
Schönbrunn is the largest palace and one of the most important and most visited cultural assets in Austria. The castle and the approximately 160-hectare park have been part of the UNESCO World Heritage since 1996.

The Bucklige Welt is an offshoot of the Eastern Alps, which begins to slide below the Panonian Plain. Sometimes the landscape is also referred to as the land of 1000 hills and it also takes its name from these hills, because in the local dialect the hills are called Buckel. Despite the small size, there are 3 different climate zones in this part of the landscape. In the south it is warm for a long time, the proximity to the Mediterranean climate is already strongly noticeable, while in the north the steppe climate of the Panonian lowlands predominates, an alpine transitional climate can already be found on the hills. The Eselberg is the highest elevation at 974 m.
The landscape is characterized by forests and wide meadows, the small roads meander from hill to hill and always offer fantastic views from the crests. Still an insider tip for two-wheelers in Vienna too :)

Halbturn Palace is a baroque palace complex which was built between 1701-1711 by Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt as a hunting lodge for Emperor Charles VI. was built. Maria Theresa later had the palace rebuilt and it became the summer residence of Albert of Saxe-Teschen and Archduchess Marie Christine as governors in Hungary.

In the 13th century, a Gothic castle was built on the same site as today's castle, which changed hands several times in the centuries that followed until 1622. In the same year 1622, the castle was first managed as a pawn by the Esterhazy family, who were able to purchase it in 1649 and have owned it continuously since then.
In the 1650s the family was elevated to the rank of prince, had the castle converted into a baroque palace and used it as their main residence for the next 300 years.
Between 1805-1815 the building was rebuilt into a classical castle and the moat was filled in. Due to the financial burden on the Esterhazy family during the war against the French, the renovation work came to a standstill and therefore only half of the princely residence that was once planned to be twice as large still exists today.
Today the castle serves as a space for various exhibitions and as a concert venue.