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Schloss Leopoldskron
Salzburg, Austria · Independent · Near Luxury
Prince-Archbishop Leopold von Firmian raised this rococo palace beside a private lake in 1736, and in 1918 Max Reinhardt, co-founder of the Salzburg Festival with Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Richard Strauss, bought the ruin, restored the Marble Hall, and walked audiences from room to room. The Nazis seized the house in 1938 as Jewish property, and Reinhardt died in New York in 1943 without seeing it again. In 1965 the lake terrace played the von Trapp garden in The Sound of Music, and breakfast is still served under the painted ceiling of the Marble Hall.
- 67 rooms
- Opened 2014
- Neighborhood: Leopoldskron
About Schloss Leopoldskron
- Twelve suites in the palace look over the lake, the park, or Hohensalzburg. Fifty-five quieter rooms fill the Meierhof beside it, the older estate building of stables and servants' rooms, and the two together reopened as a hotel in June 2014.
- The gilt Venetian Room was copied on a Hollywood soundstage for the ballroom. A white music pavilion that stood in the park later moved to Hellbrunn, once the film had drawn too many visitors onto the grounds.
- Reinhardt had a Salzburg craftsman make the seahorses that still guard the lakeside door. Karl Lagerfeld staged the Salzburg chapter of his 2014 Métiers d'Art show here, and said the palace belonged to German-language theater between 1920 and 1938.
- Salzburg Global Seminar has worked in the palace since 1947, bought it outright in 1959, and added the Meierhof in 1973. In 2015 the hotel was named Best Historic Hotel of Europe Ambassador.
History
Prince-Archbishop Leopold Anton von Firmian built Schloss Leopoldskron in 1736 as a summer palace on the Leopoldskroner Weiher. The Meierhof next door is older and began as the farm, stables, and servants' quarters. Max Reinhardt bought the ruined palace in 1918, restored the staircase, Great Hall, and Marble Hall, built a garden theater, and with Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Richard Strauss co-founded the Salzburg Festival. The Nazi government confiscated the palace in 1938 as Jewish property. Reinhardt died in New York in 1943. Salzburg Global Seminar has used the house since 1947, bought the palace in 1959 and the Meierhof in 1973, and in June 2014 reopened the pair as Hotel Schloss Leopoldskron: 12 palace suites and 55 Meierhof rooms. The Sound of Music filmed the lake-terrace scenes here in 1965. The front of the film's villa is Schloss Frohnburg, and the park's white music pavilion later moved to Hellbrunn.
The setting
The palace sits on a private lake in the Leopoldskron district, about a twenty-minute walk from the old town and about two miles from the station and the airport. The Untersberg closes the view from the terrace. The grounds are for guests. Everyone else sees the facade from the public path across the Leopoldskroner Weiher.
Experiences
- Exhibitions and cultural programme — Changing exhibitions and cultural formats shown throughout the palace and Meierhof.
- BioDigital Organisms — Current exhibition at the palace.
- The Elder Series — Current exhibition at the palace.
Awards
- Best Historic Hotel of Europe Ambassador (2015)
Open Schloss Leopoldskron in the atlas for live weekend rates, photos, and the full folio.
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