It is sunday again and I went for another walk through the beautiful palace garden of the Schönbrunn palace. It seemed to me that some of you very enjoyed the pictures I took the last time, therefore I took again some pictures during my walk for you.

There are so many ways one can take through the palace garden of Schönbrunn and every weekend I try to take another way. Again also this time – I took a completely different way.

Therefore I have some nice pictures and information especially of “The Obelisk Fountain”, the remains of the “nordöstliche Trophäengruppe” and the “Gloriette” for you this time. I hope you will enjoy my short excursion to the 18th century or well, to the remains of the 18th century… 😉

If you like this pics you can find more photos taken at Schönbrunn in my last posting here: Impressions from Vienna – Schönbrunn Palace Garden & the oldest zoo of the World

Enjoy! 😀

I would like to start with this lovely ladies which I found along the way – I just couldn’t resist to take pictures of them:

According to the information board next to the fountain:

“…Like many of the other architectural features in the park, this fountain was designed by Johann Ferdinand Hetzendorf von Hohenberg and according to the inscription was constructed in 1777. The sculptural work was executed by Benedikt Henrici.

This fountain consists of a pool enclosed by a retaining wall with a balustrade crowned with vases. The ‘grotto mount’ at the centre is articulated by three pools and populated by river gods; the water flows from the mouth of a centrally positioned mask and from the vases held by the river gods into the fountain pool.

Borne on the backs of four turtles as symbols of stability, the obelisk and its hieroglyphs purported to tell the history of the House of Habsburg. However, the symbols are entirely spurious since hieroglyphs were not deciphered until 1822.

In ancient Egypt obelisks were associated as cosmic symbols with the cult of the sun. Crowned by a golden sphere symbolising the sun, they embody the path taken by the rays of the sun to the Earth, while the four edges indicate the cardinal directions.”

…and here a selection of my favorite pictures of the Obelisk fountain for you:

Btw. when you turn around and look into the other direction you can see the Schönbrunn palace:

This time I also took a walk up to the Gloriette – what I really do very very seldom – but I thought you would enjoy some pictures of the Gloriette too. …and here they are:

Die “Gloriette”
from the 18th century

I wish I could provide you a nice link to an English wikipedia page with information but I could only find a German wikipedia page with information <here>.

According to the German wikipedia page the Gloriette was built in the year 1775 and was the last building they worked at. Like the Obelisk fountain it was also build after a design by Johann Ferdinand Hetzendorf von Hohenberg.

And here a story you might enjoy – it is an urban legend I was once told about the Gloriette. Well, this urban legend says that the Habsburger wanted to build their “real” and bigger and more representative palace on this hill and after they build the first building for their servants they just run out of money and had to build something small – that’s why Vienna has its Gloriette. *lol* I absolutely don’t know if this story is true or not but it’s definitely a funny urban legend. Can you imagine the mighty Habsburger living in the servant’s house because they run out of money? I always enjoyed this urban legend and it still makes me giggle every time I see it.

…and now some pictures for you:

…while I was taking photos some people “made”(?) huge soap bubbles – it was just too cute not to take pics… *giggle*

…and last but not least – photos of the:

Remains of the “nordöstliche Throphäengruppe”
from the 18th century

A little bit hidden at the back of the Gloriette, somewhere at the side, you can find a shield with following inscription next to some “stones”:

“Überreste von der in der 2. Hälfte des 18. Jahrhunderts errichteten und im Februar 1945 durch Bomben zerstörten nordöstlichen Throphaengruppe”

This text gives the information that this “stones” are the remains of the north-eastern trophy-group from the 2nd half of the 18th century which were destroyed by bombs in February 1945 (WWII).

I seldom paid attention to them before but somehow they are cute and are also a part of Schönbrunn and therefore I didn’t want to withhold them:

I hope you enjoyed our walk through Schönbrunn. 🙂