Hellbrunn Palace

Austria conjures up different thoughts for different people …. Mozart, Goethe, Beethoven, Freud,  Schwarzenegger ….. all have deep connections with Austria , let alone the most infamous Hitler.  For all, the one thing that connects us to Austria is the Sound of Music ……. the breathtaking landscape it showed.  “When the hills come alive with the sound of music …” , we can almost feel the cool breeze , and the grass.  Today let me put to words my unplanned, un-expected discovery of a marvel.

In the country side of Salzburg, there lies a village called Grodig, at the foothills of Mount Untersberg of the Alps.  A quaint, quiet, fairly wealthy village with its tolling church bells and women in their traditional Dirndl dresses.   We stayed put in an excellent B&B managed by the Sallerhof family.   My son, who was yet to turn eight then, is a cycling fanatic, and given that cycling on Indian roads are off- limits for him, he viewed this place as perfect place for cycling.  So off we went one morning , on our rented bikes (the junior Sallerhof was very kind to loan his bike helmet to my son), with our backpacks full of cakes, chips, juices and sandwiches.  

In about five minutes we were out of the village center in midst of rolling fields, among hay stacks and Austrian cows.  We were wowed into silence by the serenity and the picturesque view of the fields with the Alps as the backdrop.  Farmers and their family waved as we cycled by. Little makeshift shrines of Mother Mary dotted the bike trail.  So mesmerized we were by the beauty of the landscape that we got lost.  We had plans of biking to the Lake Leopoldskron ( this is where the famous boat ride was shot for Sound of Music)…. a 15 kms round trip.  But here we were on a trail we could not place on the map.  Soon we came across a direction sign to Hellbrunn Palace. Partially out of curiosity and partially thinking that it may give us a geographical bearing we headed for it and soon we wheeled through the gates of this classical Baroque Palace.  

Hellbrunn Palace was the summer palace of the Archbishop of Salzburg, Markus Sittikus, around the early  1600 AD.  The Archbishops of the Salzburg made a lot of money from the salt mines of Salzburg and Markus ordered the construction of this summer palace.  He got artisans and engineers over from  Italy , as at that time art and culture thrived there.  It was created in a fairly short time.  This palace was a center of art, theatre, games, and yes, parties !!!

Well laid out gardens with open air “Steintheatre” ( stone theatre)  to stage plays,  frescoes and sculptures dot the estate.   But as we walked through the gardens we were taken aback and surprised with marvelous fountains and grottos.  There were hidden water spouts ….. they will spurt  water from the strangest part of the garden or sculpture when you least expected.  Its almost as though someone is playing school tricks on you.  The magnificent trick fountains !!  

The Archbishop must have been a errant child and he carried that prankster self into adulthood …. Very unlike the  image we conjure up of any Archbishop !!  He had an elaborate open air dining area built, with carved stone chairs and wine coolers and facing an amphitheater.  Imagine all the wealthy nobles, eating, dining, watching shows and making merry on a beautiful sunny day .. when suddenly,  the fountain will erupt on the table .  And there is the Archbishop sitting at the head of the table without a drop of water on him, I can almost see him throwing back his head and cape and laughing at the prank. 

Another fascinating sight in this garden is the Small City Scene .  Here a complete Baroque city scene is re-created in miniature version.  It features over 150 + people and numerous animals and artifacts all in action.  There are lovely scenes of a potter man making his wares, a man taking his harvest on his horse carriage, mother and child scene, and village belle waving to her lover, a man tolling the church bell, the iron smith in action ………… and remarkably all managed by the flow of water.  Those days there was any electricity, so these calibrated movements  and accompanying music were all created using hydraulic pressure.  And they had to be all hand made ……… sheer ingenuity of hydraulic engineering !!  And is it still maintained in the same way .  I just stood there taking in the sights and admiring what engineering skills Rome had  in those days.  

(Check out : www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uKfW_-PvQY)

There were numerous other interesting nooks and corners and shows in this garden all using water as the force. Like the lovely  music created in the cave exhibit made from water flowing over different bellows and drums at different speed or force.  Just mind blowing !!

We ended up spending most of the day discovering this vast palace …..  boy, was I glad to be lost that day!! 

If you do happen to travel by Saltzburg, do drop into Hellbrunn Palace .  

http://www.hellbrunn.at/en/