The Esterházy Palace building complex in Fertőd, near the Austrian border, is the main landmark of the town of Fertőd and also one of Hungary’s key tourist attractions. The palace’s site was originally where the U-shaped Sarród hunting lodge stood, built in 1720 by another of the great lords of the Austro‑Hungarian Esterházy family. The Esterházys had a major impact on Hungarian history since the 17th century: prominent among them are an archduke, an archbishop, a chief justice, a prime minister and a Kossuth Prize winning author.
„Hungarian Versailles”
Miklós Esterházy had the grand palace designed, and it took almost 20 years in the late 18th century for it to take on its current form. The baroque building complex is considered to be a worthy match of the Schönbrunn Castle in Vienna or Versailles in Paris, from where the name „Hungarian Versailles” originates. Its glory days were 1768–1790, when it was one of Hungary’s main cultural centres. 126 rooms furnished and decorated in the Rococo-style line the building. The palace’s centre point is the upstairs banquet and music hall, the grandiose walls of which are divided by ionic half-pillars. The summer dining room below the banquet hall connects the baroque garden with the building, with the reception rooms to its sides. On the ground floor, next to the count's and countess' suite, is the library, while the east wing houses the famous Esterházy Gallery, which boasted more than 300 paintings.