The little market town of Laxenburg (pop. 2,000) lies amid the meadows bordering the Schwechat in the Vienna Basin. At one time the Court rode out to Laxenburg to escape from the heat of Vienna during the summer months, and the countryside around constituted the old hunting grounds of the Habsburgs. The park, laid out in 1780-90, has many old trees and other features characteristic of the landscape gardening of the Romantic period, and is one of the most outstanding of its kind in Austria. The medieval "Altes Schloss" in the park is of historical importance, because it was here that the Emperor Charles VI issued the "Pragmatic Sanction" which enabled his daughter Maria Theresa to succeed to the throne. It now houses the Austrian film archives.
The Laxenburg Palace Park, laid out 1780-90, has many old trees and other features characteristic of the landscape gardening of the Romantic period, and is one of the most outstanding of its kind in Austria. The park and horse-jumping arena are the venue for many equestrian events. On the western edge of the park is a leisure and health center.
The medieval Altes Schloss in the Laxenburg Palace Park is of historical importance because it was here that the Emperor Charles VI issued the "Pragmatic Sanction", which enabled his daughter Maria Theresa to succeed to the throne. It now houses the Austrian film archives, and film performances are put on at weekends during the summer months (May-Sept.).
In a dominant position on an island in the Grosser Teich (Great Pond) stands the Neo-Gothic Franzensburg (1798-1836), modeled on the castle of Habsburg in Switzerland. In the courtyard (open-air theatrical performances) can be seen 37 busts of members of the Habsburg family. In the interior, which is fitted out as a museum (furniture, pictures, glass paintings), are rooms shown to visitors, including the Habsburger Saal (Habsburg Hall), Lothringer Saal (Lorraine Hall), the Spinning Room, the Speisesaal (Banqueting Hall), the Hungarian Coronation Room with a ceiling by Eger, and the Capella Speciosa chapel (consecrated 1801), the columns in which came from Klosterneuberg.
On the western side of the Laxenburg Schlossplatz stands the parish church, built in the Baroque style to be the Hofkirche (Court Church) in 1693-1726. The main Baroque feature is the tower above the entrance; inside, note the magnificent pulpit and a ceiling fresco by Adam Obermiller (1713).
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Palace Park, Laxenburg
Palace Park, Laxenburg
