Keszthely - Festetics Castle

In a large park to the north of the town center lies the Palace which was the residence of the Festetics family for two hundred years. The first palace, built for Kristóf Festetics in 1745, was a comparatively modest affair with "only" 34 rooms and a French Baroque garden. The enlarged and changed building we see today was the work of the Viennese architect Viktor Rumpelmayer, carried out between 1883 and 1887 on the instructions of the future Duke Tasziló Festetics. The result is a spacious, horseshoe-shaped complex with 101 rooms. The uniform Neo-Baroque façade, built on the lines of French palaces, is accentuated by the tower in the central wing. The garden at the rear was designed by the English landscape gardener E.H. Miller, and a wall with a gateway separates the palace from the town.