Schönbrunn began as a hunting ground. Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II bought a floodplain of the Wien river in 1569, and the name, meaning beautiful spring, comes from an artesian well used by the court. Eleonora Gonzaga added a palace to the existing Katterburg mansion between 1638 and 1643.
The Baroque palace seen today, with 1,441 rooms, was built and remodeled in the 1740s and 1750s under Maria Theresa, who received the estate as a wedding gift. Franz I later commissioned a neoclassical redecoration of the exterior. Franz Joseph was born here and died here in 1916.
The grounds include the Gloriette, a palm house, the Tiergarten zoo and a maze. UNESCO listed the palace and gardens in 1996 as a Baroque ensemble. Schönbrunn is Vienna's most popular tourist destination, with almost 4 million visitors in 2017.
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