Description

The courtyard and gardens of Esterházy Palace, which is often called ‘Hungarian Versaila’ and its baroque surroundings, even compared to European standards are unique. It is an emblematic site of the cultural history of Hungary. Prestigious and the largest baroque-rococo monument complex in Hungary.

Five types of gardens

There are 5 garden types at Esterházy Palace: French Garden, English garden (landscape garden), Rose Garden, Lavender and Herb Garden and the Lés-forest. In the French garden the alleys are reminders of Baroque garden design, which represents the order on nature, used symmetrical layout and geometrical shapes. The Lés- forest was one of the venues of festivities and huntings.

Originally, the French garden, were formally shaped, intersecting garden paths. At their junctions, there were statues of mythological gods/deities or muses. 20,000 flowers were planted along the paths and gardeners replaced them monthly. In contrast to the geometric forms and regular plantings of Baroque garden design, the aim of the 19th century English gardens was to imitate the irregularities of nature. Therefore, the English garden is also called a landsape garden. One of its features is that native trees are planted together with exotic tree species from other continents or countries.

The marvelous Rose Garden was founded on the initiative of Countess Margit  Cziráky in 1908. Originally 20,000 roses were planted here, nowdays the rosary has more than 9000 rose-bushes. The Esterházy Palace had several cultural building in the French garden like the Opera House or the Marionette Theather (which is a concert hall nowdays). There was the Orangerie with a baroque mayor and farmsted also. Nowdays the Orangerie is used as an event venue. The water tower wich was near the Maronette theather is today hosting a 360° experience-projection, which shows how the palace and the Historic Garden looked like in the 18th century.