Festetics Palace

The baroque Festetics palace, located in the town of Keszthely, was completed in the 1880s after a 135-year construction period due to many revisions during which the original building plans were tripled. As one of Hungary’s most significant aristocratic families, the counts of the Festetics family were progressive, wealthy landowners who also founded several hospitals and schools. This stunning, grandiose palace, which they chose as the center of their lordship, consists of 101 rooms and has its own theatre and congressional centre. It has a vast English-style garden around it. The family’s most significant figure, György Festetics, had a library wing added to the palace where he began to hold the so-called Helikon festivities, which entertained the country’s most famous writers and poets, earning the palace the nickname ‘Little Weimar’. The Festetics family even entertained Edward, Prince of Wales several times. To this day its great book collection is still located in the palace, which makes it Europe’s largest remaining aristocratic library. The palace is surrounded by a gorgeous, French and English style, 42-hectare naturalistic park.