Schönborn park

The City of Vienna acquired the Schönborn estate on Laudongasse dur-ing its great phase of expansion. The suburbs were annexed, with theoverall city being divided into municipal districts. During the mid- 17thcentury, Laudongasse had still been known as" Hintere Alstergasse".

The old gardenpaths take parkvisitors to thePark Gate of theSchönborn Garden

Palace

In 1778, it was given the name" Herrn- Gasse";at that point, it still belonged to the suburb ofAlsergrund. Since 1862, it has been named forField Marshal Baron Gideon Ernst von Laudon andbeen a part of Josefstadt, Vienna's 8th district.

The 1863 administrative report by Vienna'smayor at the time, Andreas Zelinka, emphasisesthe following objectives: the extension of LangeGasse and the creation of a green recreationalspace for Josefstadt district's residents. That same year saw an openingmade between Floriangasse and recently renamed Laudongasse. In theprocess, an outbuilding of the Schönborn complex- the little palacethat had belonged to the Imperial Army Paymaster Wisendo von Wisen-burg- was razed along with its garden. The recovered area along thenewly opened extension of Lange Gasse was used to build multi- storeyapartment buildings. And the remaining garden area( around 10,000m²) was opened to the general public as the Schönbornpark. Sincethen, this name has served as a lasting reminder of the man who builtthe adjacent palace- Count Friedrich Karl von Schönborn- Buchheim.

During World War II, the park's western side saw the installa-tion of an air raid shelter that now serves as a storage area for partof the museum's extensive collections. The park itself is currentlyused in diverse ways for a range of cultural and athletic activities.But the old garden paths still take park visitors to the Park Gateof the Schönborn Garden Palace- and in 2014, a passage throughthe palace was opened so that, during museum hours, park visi-tors can use this passage through the palace's main entrance freeof charge to access the park from Laudongasse, as well.

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