Dunamente Turisztikai Térség

Esterházy Summer Residence / English Garden - Tata

When the park was built, the Summer Residence was in the center - the paths of the park flowing radially from here. The foundation was laid in the presence of Ferenc Esterházy on October 11, 1783. The plans were made by József Grossmann, who was an assistant to Jakab Fellner, and then became his successor to the estate architecture office, and the Summer Apartment is his only surviving significant work due to his early death. The one-storey, late baroque-style building was created by Antal Schweiger. The Herend porcelain exhibition is downstairs and the exhibition of English parks in Hungary is upstairs. In 1934, Count Ferenc Esterházy created an open-air stage in the English Park. On the edge of the area in May 1948, the location of the Olympic Training Camp was designated, as the climate of the town best resembled London. After the successful Olympic Games, the camp was fully built and handed over to the athletes in 1951, and to this day it is one of the strongholds of Hungarian sport.

Esterházy Mansion – Tata

 Miklós Esterházy, commander of the Hungarian Bodyguards, was granted the estate of Tata and Gesztes in 1762. It was in the same year that he commissioned Jakab Fellner to make the designs of his residence in Tata. Construction work began in the 1760’s. The full complex was completed after about 16 years of hard work. The two corner towers are joined to the main building around a courtyard by an ornamental portal. There is also a single-storey small mansion, which used to serve as the residence of the bailiff. On the ground floor there used to be the chapel and the dining room, while the banquet hall overlooking Öreg-tó (Old Lake) was to be found on the first floor. It was in the northern tower room that in 1809 Francis I, Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, signed the Schönbrunn Treaty, putting an end to Austria’s inconsiderate war against Napoleon. During the military exercises of 1897 the mansion once again had a reputed guest, accommodating Kaiser William II of Germany. On 24th October 1921 it was here that Charles IV, Hungary’s last king, and Queen Zita were taken into custody, after the dethroned king had wanted to seize power from Governor Miklós Horthy for the second time by setting up a counter-government. From here the royal couple was first taken to Tihany, then finally sent into exile on the Madeiras. Following the second world war the building functioned as a hospital before it was abandoned. Since then its condition has gradually declined, and now it is silently waiting for full-scale renovation. The one-time splendid mansion boasting elegant baronial life is only open to visitors temporarily, during events of special importance.