Festetics Palace stands in Keszthely, in Zala County, Hungary. Construction began in 1745 on the foundations of a ruined castle and lasted more than a century, tripling the palace's size. It is ranked among the three largest country houses in Hungary.
The palace was Baroque at first. Viktor Rumpelmayer of Vienna designed the elaborate expansion of the 1880s for Count Tasziló Festetics. After he died in 1885, Gusztáv Haas and Miksa Paschkisch completed it, adding neo-Baroque features such as mansard roofs.
The library wing holds the only substantial aristocratic library that survives in Hungary. Communists nationalized the palace in 1949, and the Helikon Palace Museum opened there in 1974. About 200,000 people visit each year.
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