Hellbrunn Palace

Hellbrunn Palace (German: Schloss Hellbrunn) is a magnificent early Baroque house near Morzg, a southern borough of Salzburg, Austria. Markus Sittikus von Hohenems, Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, erected it in 1613-19 and called it for the “clear spring” that supplied it. Hellbrunn was only intended to be used as a day home in the summer, as the Archbishop frequently returned to Salzburg in the evening; hence, Hellbrunn lacks a bedroom.

The schloss is particularly well-known for its jeux d’eau (watergames) on the grounds, which are a major summer tourist attraction. Markus Sittikus, a guy with a sharp sense of humour, devised these games as a series of practical pranks to be played on visitors. Notable elements include stone chairs arranged around a stone dining table, through which a water conduit shoots water into the visitors’ seats when the mechanism is engaged, and concealed fountains that surprise and shower tourists while they participate in the tour. A mechanical, water-operated, and music-playing theatre erected in 1750 includes 200 automata depicting various vocations at work, a grotto, and a crown being propelled up and down by a jet of water, symbolizing the rise and fall of authority. There is always one area that is never wet: where the Archbishop stood or sat, where there is no water conduit, and which is now inhabited by the tour guide.

Hellbrunn is set in a large park with a nearby zoo, a stone theater, and a small building known as the Monatschlössl, or “little month-palace,” because it was built in one month after a visitor suggested to Sittikus that a building on the hill would improve the view from one of the schloss’ windows. The archbishop heeded his advise, and the Monatschlössl was completed a month later when the visitor returned. It presently houses the ethnographic area of Salzburg’s Carolina Augusteum Museum.

The castle is so well-known that it inspired a collectors coin: the Austrian 10 euro Castle of Hellbrunn Coin, which was issued on April 21, 2004. The obverse portrays the castle’s principal entrance from its courtyard. The mountains of Salzburg on the northern margin of the alpine range may be seen in the backdrop.