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 | Forchtenstein Things To Do | Tips 1 - 10 of 19 |  |
Popular Things To Do | Miscellaneous Things To Do Tips | All Tips (19) Inside of Burg Forchtenstein you will find 3 different museums:
1) The "Ahnengallerie" is a collection of great paintings of the most important members of the family-tree of the Esterhazy-Clan and in addition you will see great exhibits like ornate clocks, the silver-room, great furniture etc.
Invest another 1 Euros for the small booklet that will give you the ONLY infos you may get about these exhibits !!! Nothing will be explained in that museum, except that you find the numbers, where to find the infos in that booklet !
You can visit that part of Burg Forchtenstein on your own !
or by guided tour Mon-Fri 12.30 + 02.30 p.m.
Sat+Sun+Holidays: also at 10.30+11.30+01.30p.m.
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2)The great collection of arms, weapons, iron armouries, the kitchen, the castle-well, the Pottendorfer Altar, the chapel and a lot more can be visited only by a guided tour, that is mostly held just 3 times a day:
Monday-Friday at 11.00a.m. + 01.00 + 02.00p.m.
Sat+Sun+Holidays : additional tours at 10.00a.m. + 03.00p.m.
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3)Esterházy Schatzkammer / the treasury
Die Kunst- und Wunderkammer der Familie Esterházy
can also be visited only by a guided tour. Such treasuries could be found in almost all renaissance-castles, but while in most other places the exhibits had disappeared, a big part of them stayed in Forchtenstein : precious works of art made of ivory and bones, animals, seashells, gems and other exhibits from all parts of the world Leave a Comment |
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This crocodile is hanging down from the ceiling of the entrance-hall of "Hochburg" and it has its mouth open towards the east, from where the turque-troops tried 2 times to invade Vienna and the rest of Austria.
Fuerst Esterhazy did not only help in this symbolic way to defend Vienna, BUT in fact he also sent some of his troops to defend Vienna and still today there is a restaurant in Vienna called Esterhazy-keller, where Count Esterhazy gave free wine and beer to the soldiers defending Vienna in 1682 Leave a Comment Directions: This crocodile is shown in a place of Hochburg, where you dont need to pay an entrance-fee. |
Also the person on this painting is only a fake family-member of the Esterhazy-dynasty: Vlad III. Tepes Dracula
The painting in Burg Forchtenstein is the only existing contemporary painting of the real person that gave the name for all of the Count Dracula-stories.
In a weekend in summertime there is a "Draculade" , a summer-cinema with movies like Nosferatu between friday and Sunday night, maybe it was just in 2007 or maybe it is held every year, check at their webpage for later years !
You can reserve tickets under tel. +43(0)2626-812 Leave a Comment |
In the Ahnengallerie you can see not only the paintings of the family-tree of the Esterhazy-family, but also lots of precious works of art, like this giant plate made of gold, a fine work of art showing a battle-scene. On my last 2 photographs you can see an oversized jug with ornate decorations and gems.
I made the mistake, not to buy the small guide-booklet for the Ahnengallerie at the entrance and unfortunately all you can see in that museum is the numbers refering to that booklet, not any further infos are given. Once that you are inside the museum you cannot get back and get it, so maybe you better get that booklet with your ticket right away ! Leave a Comment Directions: This is shown in the Ahnengallerie, in the Hochburg. |
When arriving outside of the official opening-times , this is what you can see any time of the day : The giant castle on top of the small village, a wide moat around the castle and of course you can the strong castle-walls and fortifications, that were ment to protect this castle from invading enemies.
Closeby there is a large parking, where you can even spend the night in your motorhome free of charge Leave a Comment |
The Schatzkammer / treasury of the Esterhazy-family did not only consist of precious works of art, but also of rare animals from overseas and the most unique of them are hanging down from the ceiling in one of the large halls of the treasury - see that "chandelier of rare animals" on my last picture !
My main picture shows a painting by Archimboldo - it is a fake Archimboldo of course, but who could have told the difference in the 17th century ;-)
All of these treasuries were shown to special guests only and for many of them it was their first and only chance to see such rare animals during the 16th or 17th century. Leave a Comment Directions: This part of Burg Forchtenstein can be seen only in the guided tour through the Schatzkammer / treasury. |
The so-called Pottendorfer Altar used to be in the chapel of a closeby castle in Pottendorf and dates back to the year 1453. Pottendorf castle was destroyed in WW II and the precious altar could be saved and is nowadays shown during the guided tour through the Burg Forchtenstein. All sides of this altar are decorated with great paintings and according to certain times of the year, the altar could be closed and the paintings of the backside were shown. Leave a Comment Directions: Take the guided tour and Pottendorfer Altar will be a part of it ! |
All of these places and buildings on this tip are places that you can see without paying entrance-fees, so when you are in a hurry or on a budget you can still see a lot of this great castle, consisting of various courts, towers and buildings inside of the strong castle-walls. Also the castle-restaurant is in the area open to all visitors.
All of these parts of the castle will be open during the day, according to the opening-schedules of the various museums inside the castle:
From April 1st till October 31st
between 10.00a.m. and 06.00p.m. Leave a Comment Directions: Burg Forchtenstein is high above the village of Forchtenstein ! |
In the museum called Ahnengallerie you can see lots of precious clocks, all of them made in a different way and each of them is a masterpiece of its time. Wrist-watches were not known in the 16th century, so it made sense to have a clock for each room and of course it was also a way to show someones prosperity.
Some of these clocks are open in the backside and you can take a look inside for the mechanical part of these works of art, that was very interesting. Leave a Comment Directions: You will find these clocks in the Ahnengallerie in Hochburg Forchtenstein |
Ahnengalerie is the name of one of the 3 museums that you can visit in Burg Forchtenstein and you will do that by a self-conducted tour and with the help of a little booklet,that you can get for 1 euro extra at the cashier. The meaning of "Ahnengallerie" is "gallery of the family-tree" and it was a lot of fun to learn, that the noble family of Esterhazy became aristocats quite late in history and when-ever they did not have or know a noble member of their family for a certain period in the past, they had a lot of phantasy to "create" members of the family and were even adding a painting showing him or her. this is something that was done quite often also by other dynasties... Leave a Comment Directions: Ahnengallerie is a part of Burg Forchtenstein that you can enter only in a self-conducted tour.Website: www.forchtenstein.at |
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on September 22, 2007
