Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Sights
Schloss Esterházy
PALACE
(
www.schloss-esterhazy.at
;
Esterházyplatz 1; adult/child palace tour €9/7, Haydn Explosive €7/5; tours hourly
10am-6pm mid-Mar-mid-Nov, 9am-5pm Fri-Sun mid-Nov-Dec)
Schloss Esterházy, a giant, Schönbrunn-
yellow castle-palace that dominates Esterházyplatz, is Eisenstadt's most important attrac-
tion. Dating from the 14th century, the Schloss (castle) received one makeover in baroque
and a later one in the neoclassical style. Many of the 256 rooms are occupied by the pro-
vincial government, but 25 can be viewed on tours.
The regular tour covers about seven rooms, giving you an insight into the history of
the palace and the lives of the people who inhabited it. The highlight is the frescoed
Haydn
Hall
, where during Haydn's employment by the Esterházys from 1761 to 1790 the com-
poser conducted an orchestra on a near-nightly basis.
The
Haydn Explosive exhibition
across the palace courtyard offers an interesting conflux of
history and the new: Haydn's music accompanies you as you walk past exhibitions on the
life and work of the great composer, a nifty holograph depicts a string quartet, period fur-
niture is projected onto the ceiling and a minuscule hole in the floor has an odd projec-
tion of a bare-breasted woman shouting abuse while burning in hell. To get the most out
of the palace and Haydn, do the tour, then the Haydn exhibition.
Shortly after Joseph Haydn died in 1809, his skull was stolen from his grave in Vienna.
The headless cadaver was returned to Eisenstadt in 1920, but it wasn't until 1954 that the
skull rejoined it in the Bergkirche.
Bergkirche
(
www.haydnkirche.at
; Haydnplatz 1; admission €3; 9am-5pm Apr-Oct)
This unusual church contains
the white-marble tomb with Joseph Haydn's reunited parts. It began life as a small chapel
and in 1701 was transformed into a bizarre representation of Calvary, the mountain out-
side Jerusalem upon which Christ is thought to have been crucified. Manage all the dun-
geonlike rooms and you'll be feeling the Stations of the Cross in your feet; get to the top
of the 'mountain', though, and awaiting you is not a gaggle of stone-throwing sinners but
a fantastic view over town.
CHURCH
