Begun in 1856, it was finished in 1870, four years after the death of Archduke Maximilian of Hapsburg, husband to princess Charlotte of Belgium, the younger brother of emperor of Austria Franz Joseph, Commander-in-Chief of the Austrian Navy and later Emperor of Mexico.
The project was followed by architect Anton Hauser on a design by Carl Junker, the inside architecture and decorations were the work of architects Franz and Julius Hoffmann. The mansion was surrounded by 22 hectares of Italian-style gardens, with rare trees, sculptures, fountains and ponds.
More a historical mansion than a "castle", it was actually almost never inhabited, functioning as holiday villa for the Austrian royals. Since 1955 it has been a museum, entrusted to the Italian BAAAAS (superintendence for the environmental, architectural, archaeological, artistic and historical resources) of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, hosting cultural events and shows that usually re-enacting the tragic story of Maximilian and Charlotte.
More info on the city of Trieste
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