The 18th Century

After the male line of the Eggenberg family died out, the State Rooms were modernised, bringing them into line with the tastes of the age between 1754 and 1763.  The commissioning patrons for these alterations were the last Eggenberg princess, Maria Eleonora and her third husband, Johann Leopold Count Herberstein.

The surviving interiors, together with the three Far Eastern side rooms and the Palace Chapel, which was added to the building complex instead of a theatre, all date from this period.

Nonetheless, the rooms would be used for only a few years until 1789. After that date, the building passed into the ownership of another line of the Herberstein family, who seldom resided at Eggenberg.  For this reason, the Rococo décor and the great cycle of ceiling paintings, dating from the 17th century, remain unaltered to this day.