Schloss Hof Estate

Schloss Hof and Schloss Niederweiden

Discover two enchanting and truly unique palaces in the Marchfeld region. Your choice to visit one or both of them! Schloss Hof, the bigger one of the places, is ideal for long walks around the estate and captivates visitors with its animal kingdom and petting zoo.  

Schloss Niederweiden is a delightful hunting lodge with an original Barouque kitchen, telling the history of its former occupants. Nowadays it features cooking events and tastings for groups.  

The Location Ticket Schloss Hof Estate offers entry to both palaces.

Getting to know the Schloss Hof Estate: Palace – Baroque Garden – Estate Farm

Awaiting you here are the highlights of Austria’s largest rural stately home and estate are waiting to welcome you. The state rooms in the palace provide a view into the imperial lifestyle, the garden is a manifestation of the artistic design principles of the Baroque era, and the estate farm revives the everyday life of this fascinating epoch in handicraft workshops, themed gardens and stables, with rare species of Austrian domestic animals from days of yore.

• Duration: 120 min

Unknown Schloss Hof: Secret Passages and Cellar Vaults 

On this guided tour through secret cellar vaults, hidden nooks and crannies and subterranean passages we take you behind the scenes of the palatial Baroque ensemble. Highlights include the Baroque jewel of the palace, the small chapel and sacristy. Both are actually still used today for wedding ceremonies.
For a heart-warming finish enjoy a glass of wine with us. Our wine comes from local winegrowers from the Marchfeld region. And we’re happy to offer you, children and young people under 19 an alcohol-free alternative.

• Duration: 60 min

Baroque Country Life on the Estate Farm: Step into the world of flora and fauna of the 18th century

Take a stroll through historical handicraft workshops, theme gardens and the private horticultural collection of Prince Eugene of Savoy and experience what everyday life was like in the Baroque era. Visit the rare animal species on the estate farm and meet the white Baroque donkeys and Bactrian camels.

Two adventure paths including exciting and entertaining play stations open up a new perspective onto the life of a Baroque palace estate. You can find out how schnapps and brandy wine are distilled in the distillery and, what is more, you can taste the results straight away. And we’re happy to offer you, children and young people under 19 an alcohol-free alternative.

• Duration: 60 min
   

Schloss Hof Estate: On the trail of Prince Eugene and Maria Theresa

Enjoy a guided tour through the special exhibition and the resplendent apartments of the palace with its exquisite furniture, sumptuous textiles and crystal chandeliers. Learn more about the history of Schloss Hof and listen to fascinating anecdotes all about the historical personalities who once resided in Schloss Hof.

• Duration: 60 min

Prince Eugene of Savoy’s Garden: A Masterpiece of Art and Nature 

On seven terraces Prince Eugene of Savoy commissioned one of the largest and most beautiful landscape gardens of the Baroque era. Your stroll takes you past blooming broderie beds, artistic sculptures and mighty fountains, and to one of the most beautiful orangeries in Europe and its gardens with Mediterranean plants.

• Duration: 60 min

The Niederweiden Hunting Lodge: A jewel of Baroque architecture 

In 1755 Maria Theresa purchased both, the resplendent complex of Schloss Hof Estate and its estate and the small – yet stately – hunting lodge of Niederweiden. Around 1765, she commissioned radical remodelling and extensions. Schloss Niederweiden, a jewel of Baroque architecture, is particularly enchanting, with the joie de vivre of a French chateau de plaisir and the charm of a noble villa in Upper Italy

• Duration: 60 min

Witches' Brews and Flower Beds: A trip of discovery through the gardens of the Schloss Hof Estate

There are seven terraces to wander through at your leisure in the Baroque Garden of Schloss Hof, past around 35,000 flowers and cascades, and at the same time you can find out all kinds of interesting information about stone sculptures, broderie horticulture and fountains.

A tour through the idyllic estate farm brings you to a multitude of visual delights in the shrub beds and rose and herb gardens, where secrets of the ancient lore of herbs are revealed. As a charming final touch you receive your own, specially composed fragrant sachet in the Potting Plant Nursery – a waft of Schloss Hof fragrance to take home with you..

• Duration: 90 min
   

A Relaxing Day in the Marchfeld

What about chilling out on a trip into the countryside where you can visit the palaces of Prince Eugene and Maria Theresa? Enjoy a relaxing day in the Marchfeld region. In the morning you can view Schloss Niederweiden including the historical Game Kitchen from the time of Prince Eugene, have lunch in one of the two restaurants in the Schloss Hof Estate and in the afternoon step into the fascinating world of the Baroque.

The estate farm with its world of animals and themed gardens, the Orangery, the State Rooms in the Palace and a Baroque Garden on seven terraces await with all the thrills of new discoveries. And you can also finish off this wonderful day trip with a guided tour through the Palace or the garden at the Schloss Hof Estate.

• Duration: All-day tour

IMPERIAL WEDDINGS

9 March - 3 November 2024

Weddings in the Imperial House were characterised for their pomp and splendour. The special exhibition shows aspects of imperial marriages, from courtship to widow- and widowerhood. But hidden behind all these elaborately staged festivities we can frequently find poignant life stories. Habsburg weddings were rarely affairs of the heart. 

IN LOVE? BETROTHED! MARRIED.

Marriage in ruling houses was not only an alliance between two individuals but between two dynasties. Love had little to do with it. Children of a marriageable age were the pawns of politics and had little chance to have a say in choosing a partner.

The exhibition section at Schloss Hof estate deals with the question of what criteria the ideal bride or groom should fulfil ­– and most of all: who was good enough for the Habsburg Dynasty?

A CAUSE FOR CELEBRATION

The exhibition section at Schloss Niederweiden gives an inside view of the procedure of imperial weddings, starting with the provisions prior to the betrothal, then the strenuous courtship journeys and finally the church marriage ceremony.

The stupendously spectacular festivities with fireworks, opera performances, wedding banquets and mighty triumphal arches show that weddings were in a league of their own as the most important events for the Imperial House.