Eastern and Central Europe (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

Keszthely: Festetics Palace

Festetics Palota

Originally the home of the Festetics family,
the stately Neo-Baroque Festetics Palace
is the magnum opus of little-known archi-
tect Viktor Rumpelmayer, who rede signed
the palace in the 1880s. It was requisitioned
by the Soviet Army in 1944. Today, the
palace houses the Helikon Palace Museum,
which is a popular day trip from Lake
Balaton (see p368–9). More than half of the
palace’s 101 rooms are open to the public,
and feature fine examples of exotic art,
furni ture and arms gathered on the family’s
many foreign expedi tions. The palace is
famous for its 100,000-volume library and
its fine English gar dens, which cover over
42 ha (104 acres).

372 CENTRAL EASTERN EUROPE

STAR FEATURES

. Baroque Tower
. Mirror Room
. Library
. Baroque Tower
This Neo-Baroque
façade is based on the
French stately homes
of the same era. The
central tower’s dome,
however, evokes an
earlier Baroque style.

English Gardens
English stately homes
were the inspiration for
the beautiful palace gar-
dens. These were laid out
by the English landscape
artist Edward Miller.

The World of Islam

The Festetics family filled the mansion

with treasures brought back from their

travels to North Africa and the Middle

East. The collection has been

enhanced with loans from the

Tareq Rajab Museum, Kuwait.

Carriage Museum
In the palace’s former stables, the
Carriage Museum is home to a
priceless collection of hunting and
parade coaches and carriages from
the 18th and early 19th centuries.

Main

entrance

Weapons

display

For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp390–93 and pp394–7