The Anif Palace also know as water palace Anif stands
beside an artificial pond within the Austrian county of Anif at the
southern edge of the city of Salzburg. Anif is most famous for its
use in several movies including; The Sound of Music and Frederick
Forsyth's The Odessa File.
History
Its origins
cannot be exactly dated but there is a document from around 1520
showing that a palace called Oberweiher existing at the this
location. Its owner was the dominion directory bailiff Lienhart
Praunecker.
From 1530 the
water palace is mentioned regularly as a fief given by the
respective Archbishop of Salzburg. In this way it was given to the
bishops of Chiemsee after a restoration by Johann Ernst von Thun in
1693 who from then on used it as a summer residence.
When Salzburg
fell to Austria in 1806, the palace and the pond came into public
ownership. Although the palace was leased from that point on, the
respective users did not undertake any rebuilding or restoring
measures worth mentioning.
This changed
when the property was sold to Alois Count Arco-Stepperg in 1837. He
rebuild Anif palace between 1838 and 1848 in new Gothic
romanticizing style and gave it its present day look. Up to that
time, the palace had simply consisted of a plain, four-story
dwelling and a two-story connecting building to a
chapel.
After the
death of the Count in 1891 the property fell to his nearest female
relative Sophie who was married to the Count Ernst von Moy de Sons
and therefore the palace ended up in the hands of his old, French
noble family.
In 1918, the
palace attracted the public attention when King Ludwig III of
Bavaria and his family and entourage fled to escape the November
Revolution. With the Declaration of Anif on the 12/13 November
1918, Ludwig III refused to abdicate, however, freed all Bavarian
government officials, soldiers and officers from their oath because
he was not able to continue the government.
During the
World War II German Wehrmacht units were accommodated in the
palace, followed by American units in
1945. |