Schönbrunn Palace - Vienna, Austria
Posted by: Metro2
N 48° 11.090 E 016° 18.760
33U E 597567 N 5337677
In Leo Tolstoy's famous novel, War and Peace, Napoleon has made this Palace his headquarters in Vienna.
Waymark Code: WMX63A
Location: Wien, Austria
Date Posted: 12/02/2017
Views: 28
In chapter 14 of Leo Tolstoy's epic novel, War & Peace, Napoleon has just invaded Vienna. He makes Schönbrunn Palace his headquarters while there and writes a letter to Prince Murat complaining about his acceptance of an armistice without Napoleon's approval. Napoleon orders Murat to break the armistice immediately and to inform the Russians that it will require ratification by the Emperor of Russia...which Napoleon admits is only a trick.
Wikipedia (
visit link) informs us:
"Schönbrunn Palace (German: Schloss Schönbrunn ... is a former imperial 1,441-room Rococo summer residence in modern Vienna, Austria. One of the most important cultural monuments in the country, since the 1960s it has been one of the major tourist attractions in Vienna. The palace and gardens illustrate the tastes, interests, and aspirations of successive Habsburg monarchs...
In the year 1569, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II purchased a large floodplain of the Wien river beneath a hill, situated between Meidling and Hietzing, where a former owner, in 1548, had erected a mansion called Katterburg. The emperor ordered the area to be fenced and put game there such as pheasants, ducks, deer and boar, in order to serve as the court's recreational hunting ground. In a small separate part of the area, "exotic" birds such as turkeys and peafowl were kept. Fishponds were built, too.
The name Schönbrunn (meaning "beautiful spring"), has its roots in an artesian well from which water was consumed by the court."