Schloss+Hellbrunn

One of the most popular tourist attractions in Salzburg is Schloss Hellbrunn, also called the Wasserspiele. This place is known for having hidden fountains everywhere! These secret water fountains have been the reason travelers visit the house for over four hundred years! This massive summer building was built for the Prince Archbishop of Salzburg named Markus Sittikus von Hohenems. He wanted it to be like something never seen before and that's how he came up with the idea of hidden water sprinklers. The building was constructed at the end of the Hellbrunn mountain, which is how the building got a part of it's name even though it isn't ordinarily called Schloss Hellbrunn. The prince ordered for a summer house to be built in the year 1612 and it was finished only three years later. If you are familiar with the film "The Sound of Music" you have already seen a part of the Schloss Hellbrunn without even knowing it! A short part of the movie was shot by a gazebo in the gardens of the house. The gazebo originally stood in the gardens of Schloss Leopoldskron, but it was moved over to the Schloss Hellbrunn before the movie was filmed. The prince actually stayed within the house a couple times on certain occasions. Other than that there were no bedrooms built because the building itself wasn't meant for people to stay there. Today all of the secret water fountains are still in their place. At times the prince would invite people over and they would eat outside at a table. Markus set up the water so when he pressed a button, and random sprinklers came from all directions soaking everybody except for him. Now the tour guide stands where the archbishop once stood to stay dry while any visitors got drenched with water coming from everywhere. The building has a two hundred piece theater where different things are in motion powered only by water which was added in 1750, about a hundred years after the prince had died. Other than water, the building in general is definitely a site to see. Markus admired the Italian's style for their buildings so he took somethings and incorporated them into his summer fun house. The house itself is a mix between the Italian and baroque style. Around 1730, a guy named Franz Anton Danreiter came and updated some aspects of the house making it slightly newer at the time. The building consists of beautiful ballrooms, glorious gardens, and lots of trick fountains. Inside the house they were room for entertainment like music rooms and rooms for art. All of these specialties were only used for very special festivities, serving as a giant house of fun for the prince.