The Palace Park

a landscape painting

Eggenberg Park, with its picturesque woodland sceneries and sweeping lawns, has preserved its poetic character as a living landscape painting as it was originally conceived in the 19th century. After 1810, Eggenberg Palace was only occupied for a few weeks in the year. It was Johann Hieronymus Count Herberstein and his wife Marie Henriette who initiated the ambitious transformation of the formal Baroque gardens into an English style landscape garden.

The landscape garden

After 1820, Jérôme Count Herberstein commissioned two head gardeners from Silesia, Franz Matern and Friedrich Wägener, to design an English landscape garden to represent the romantic ideals of the new era.

The Master’s Garden

Jérôme Count Herberstein died in 1847 and the estate was passed on to his son, Johann Heinrich. In 1848, Johann Heinrich ordered the head gardener Friedrich Wägener to create and build a private garden for him at the back of the palace. This garden was later known as the Breakfast or Master's Garden.

The garden in front of the southern pavilion

By the mid 19th century, the western half of the park had been turned into an English-style landscape garden, while the eastern half, i.e. towards the "Eggenberger Allee" (Eggenberg avenue) retained its formal Baroque character. After 1848, major changes were, however, also made to this section and it was integrated into the landscape garden.

The lost Baroque garden

Throughout the history of the palace, the gardens have always been equally as important as the house and its fittings and furnishings. They have been redesigned to suit every generation's individual ideas and the latest fashions of the time.