Augarten Palace & Porcelain Manufactory
Why is it significant?
In front of you stands a modest Baroque palace at the edge of the park, its windows looking out over lime avenues and lawns. Inside, behind those windows, people are sitting at long tables with fine brushes, painting flowers on cups by hand, as they have done in Vienna for three centuries.
Key Facts
| Place | Augarten Palace & Porcelain Manufactory |
|---|---|
| Address | Obere Augartenstraße 1, 1020 Wien, Austria |
| Geo Coordinates | 48.22380, 16.37930 |
| Part of Walk | The Island Across the Canal: Vienna's Leopoldstadt, Augarten and Prater |
| Generated | Generated |
In front of you stands a modest Baroque palace at the edge of the park, its windows looking out over lime avenues and lawns. Inside, behind those windows, people are sitting at long tables with fine brushes, painting flowers on cups by hand, as they have done in Vienna for three centuries.
In the early eighteenth century, porcelain was a European obsession. Only China and Japan knew how to make true hard porcelain, until Meissen in Saxony cracked the secret in 1710 and guarded it fiercely. Then, in 1718, a Viennese court official named Claudius Innocentius du Paquier received a privilege from Emperor Charles VI and opened the second porcelain manufactory in Europe. The story goes that he managed it by luring away workers from Meissen who knew the recipe... and that one of them, before returning to Saxony, tried to sabotage the kilns.
In 1744 Empress Maria Theresa took the factory over for the state, and Viennese porcelain became famous for its colours and its gold. Every piece was marked with a little blue shield, the Austrian coat of arms, and that shield is still the mark today. The state factory closed in 1864, unable to compete with cheaper industry, but in 1923 the craft was revived here in the Augarten, in this palace, where it has stayed ever since.
Look out for the gate on Obere Augartenstraße. In 1775 Emperor Joseph II opened the Augarten to everyone, and over the main portal he placed an inscription dedicating the park to all people as a place of pleasure, from one who esteems them. It was an unusual thing for an emperor to say. Mozart gave morning concerts in the Augarten in the 1780s, and the Viennese came to stroll, flirt and be seen.
The neighbouring palace has young residents: the boarding school of the Vienna Boys' Choir. Now walk south down the park to its very tip, where the two Augarten streets meet, and you will find the choir's own concert hall.