Palais Schwarzenberg

** Closed for renovation until c. 2008!**
The Schwarzenbergs renounced Austrian citizenship when Hitler came to power, but such idealism didn't save the family treasures from Allied devastation. Their Vienna seat was struck by twenty-two bombs during the last days of the war (twenty in the park, two on the palace itself) although you'd never know it today. Prince Schwarzenberg is said to have wryly thanked Queen Elizabeth for 'bombing my palace into a profitable hotel,' and if you can cough up the cash, it really is a fantastic one. A world in itself.