Hellbrunn Castle is a baroque castle located in Salzburg, Austria.
Archbishop Marcus Sitticus von Hohenems commissioned Santino Solari to build a small castle to be used as a summer palace.
Hellbrunn Castle Architecture
Schloss Hellbrunn (1613–1619) is an Italian-style palace and it is the earliest of its kind north of the Alps. Situated at the end of a long avenue, the building is a cube of classic simplicity, with a bifurcate staircase opening onto a cour d’honneur.
The most remarkable interior features of the Hellbrunn Palace are the Festsaal (the banqueting hall), set asymmetrically on the west side, and its projecting octagon, with frescoes by Arsenio Mascagni (1579–1636).
Hellbrunn’s main attraction, however, is its gardens. The Lustgarten or Pleasure Garden was laid out north of the castle and furnished with an unusual variety of grottoes, fountains, ponds, and other features including the Roman Theatre, a miniature exedra dominated by a statue of Rome.
Here, the famous Stone Table with seats, supplied with ingenious hydro-mechanism that still works, was erected to entertain the Archbishop’s guests.
A later addition was the Mechanical Theatre made by Lorenz Rosenegger and others, in which various scenes from court life were performed by automata.
South of the castle the vast Ziergarten or Flower Garden was laid out; this was altered around 1730 from an Italian to a French garden. Towards the end of the 18th century, an English garden was added. On the slope of the hill at Hellbrunn the Stone Theatre (around 1617), the first open-air theatre north of the Alps was constructed. With its artificial stone stage, it blends perfectly into the natural surroundings of the castle.
Hellbrunn Castle Opening Hours
You can visit Hellbrunn Castle from April to November. The price of a ticket for an adult is currently 9.50 euros. You can find more information about opening times and tours on the official website at http://www.hellbrunn.at/en/
Hellbrunn Castle Location
Hellbrunn Castle is located in Salzburg, Austria. (Adress: Fürstenweg 37, 5020 Salzburg, Austria). This map will help you with directions to Hellbrunn Castle.