Liechtenstein City Palace
The Liechtenstein City Palace in the 1st district is owned by the princely Liechtenstein family, as is the Garden Palace in the 9th district. It stands on Bankgasse in a superb location in downtown Vienna near the Ringstrasse, right next to the Burgtheater and Volksgarten.
The top two floors of the City Palace have one of the best Baroque grand staircases in Vienna. In the staterooms, Baroque stucco ceilings with the opulent neo-Rococo interior, the original furnishings, precious silk hangings and the refined parquet floors by Michael Thonet's form a harmonious whole and offer insights into past epochs. Selected artworks of the Biedermeier and Classicism periods from the private art collection of Prince von und zu Liechtenstein can be seen on tours of the Palace.
Construction of the Liechtenstein City Palace began in 1691 on the instruction of Dominik Andreas Graf Kaunitz to designs by Enrico Zuccalli. In 1694, Prince Johann Adam Andreas I. of Liechtenstein had the construction completed by Domenico Martinelli, who created the first monumental Baroque portal in Vienna on the front facing Bankgasse. Prince Alois II. von Liechtenstein had the palace remodeled in the style of the "Second Rococo" between 1836 and 1847. The building was also famous in the 19th century for its technical refinements: an elevator over four floors, internal intercom with correspondence tubes made from rubber and silk, hot air heating with outlet vents cleverly integrated into the wall paneling. In the Second World War, serious damage was caused by bomb hits and an aircraft which crashed into the roof.
Liechtenstein City Palace can only be viewed on tours (registration required!).
Registration: online, by email to office@palaisliechtenstein.com or by telephone on +43-1-319 57 67-153
