Palais Augarten

The Palais Augarten is a palace in Vienna’s Leopoldstadt area.The Palais am Augarten is owned by the Republic of Austria and is utilized by the Vienna Boys’ Choir as a home, rehearsal facility, and high school training facility.

In the close proximity of the Augarten Palace lies the Augarten Porcelain Manufactory.

Several smaller and bigger mansions were erected in the Augarten region following Emperor Karl VI’s radical renovation of the Augarten’s baroque gardens in the French style, which landscape architect Jean Trehet was commissioned to carry out in 1712.The greatest of these mansions was erected earlier, towards the end of the 17th century, for the councilor Zacharias Leeb by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach.Emperor Joseph II acquired ownership of this mansion in 1780.It remained in the hands of the Habsburg-Lorraine imperial dynasty until the turn of the twentieth century.Several festivals were hosted at the palace during this period, particularly in the nineteenth century, and a salon was established.Richard Wagner, Franz Liszt, and Hans Makart were among the guests at the time.

The grandest event in the Palais Augarten occurred in 1873 as part of the Vienna World Exhibition, with attendees including Emperor Franz Joseph I and Tsar Alexander II of Russia.The palace underwent a substantial makeover in 1897 to accommodate the family of Emperor Franz Joseph’s nephew, Archduke Otto.On September 1, 1903, Franz Joseph held a family supper for King Edward VII of the United Kingdom, who was in town on a state visit.

During World War I, Archduke Otto’s wife, Maria Josepha Luise von Sachsen, looked for the injured in the Palais Augarten, where she had established a military hospital.

The residence was occupied by Austrian Federal Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg from 1934 until 1936.The property was severely damaged during WWII and was almost completely repaired following the war’s conclusion; some of the palace’s original furniture may still be found.It was given to the Vienna Boys’ Choir in 1948.It, like the rest of the Augarten, is currently owned by the Austrian state.