Palais Lobkowitz

The palace is located on the Lobkowitzplatz, a plaza that was originally known as the “pig market” and was a less prestigious site. The Lobkowitz Palace is one of Vienna’s oldest palace structures. The palace was the first significant baroque city palace erected following the Battle of Vienna (die zweite Türkenbelagerung), when the nobility was no longer required to invest its money solely for military objectives.

Unlike its interior, the palace façade is retained mostly in its original state from the time it was built. Leopold Baron von Felss sold the original structure where the palace presently stands to imperial Colonel stable master Philipp Sigmund count von Dietrichstein in 1685. This led to the existing palace, which was erected by Giovanni Pietro Tencala between 1685 and 1687. The new palace took up not just the site of the Baron von Felss’ residence, but also the original site of a nearby bathhouse, which was also purchased by Philipp Sigmund Count von Dietrichstein.

After several owners (including Count Wenzel Gallas), Ferdinand Philipp Prince von Lobkowitz purchased the mansion in 1745. The palace remained in the property of the Lobkowitz family until 1980.

The palace was renovated multiple times while owned by the Lobkowitz family. The project was given to Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and his son Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach at the beginning of the 18th century.

Ludwig van Beethoven was a frequent visitor to the palace in the early nineteenth century, as the owner at the time, Joseph Franz Maximilian von Lobkowitz, was a major supporter of the composer. Beethoven’s Third Symphony was dedicated to the prince, thus the name “Eroica Hall” for the palace’s festival chamber. Beethoven’s Third Symphony was originally performed in this venue in 1804 in Vienna, with the composer conducting.

Numerous festivities and balls were held at the palace during the Congress of Vienna. The Lobkowitzes moved their main house to their family palace in Roudnice nad Labem, northern Bohemia, towards the middle of the nineteenth century, and rented out their Viennese residence.

The mansion served as the French embassy between 1869 and 1909.

The Czechoslovakian legation was housed there from 1919 to 1938.

Following the conclusion of WWII, the mansion became the home of the Institut Français de Vienne. The palace became government property in 1980, and it has functioned as the Kunsthistorisches Museum’s theatrical museum since 1991, following a full refurbishment.