Salzburg's first luxury chalet: Markus Sittikus' Villa Suburbana as an exclusive hideaway

Fabulous party scene in the villa suburbana

Our event location is a luxurious country estate on the periphery of the town – a villa suburbana with extensive grounds designed purely for entertainment, recreation and relaxation. Around 1613, Salzburg Prince-Archbishop Markus Sittikus, one of Europe's most powerful rulers at the time, had this summer residence built in its own specially landscaped garden. The exquisite interior was elaborately composed of priceless pieces brought from the recently discovered New World and the Far East. One example is sunflowers, a plant that had travelled all the way from South America and was still entirely unknown in Europe. Markus Sittikus proudly displayed them in his ornamental garden and in a specially created painting. Imported from the same continent, Muscovy ducks mingled in the pools, accompanied by Mandarin ducks from remote China. Apparently there was also a pelican swimming in their midst – who was later depicted in the gallery of paintings. On display were not only curious hunting trophies, but also representations of grotesque wonders of the natural world: an eight-legged stallion or a life-sized painting of a miniature horse – and that's why here we can marvel at a genuine unicorn.

Today's party hotspots and brand-new sound systems are one. Even event manager Markus Sittikus opted for state-of-the-art technology in the equipment for the banquet halls for optimum acoustics. Only guests befitting their rank were admitted to the latest musical performances of early baroque singspiele, the predecessors of opera.

Bring on the water

The gardens were open to the public, and onlookers were astonished at the technical sophistication displayed in the archiepiscopal estate. The sensational highlight is of course, as ever, the water-garden with its trick fountains – dragons, dolphins, antlers, all spouting water from every direction. One grotto is filled with birdsong, in another a golden crown bobs wildly around on a vertical jet of water – all driven by Hellbrunn spring water. Fish, mermaids and water-sprites swim elegantly round a castle, and as we watch in fascination, we are targeted by a sudden squirt of water. We have the last laugh, however, when the delighted onlookers are doused in their turn – as the guests sitting comfortably at the archbishop's banquet table were soon to find out. Then, as now, there was no shortage of laughter and refreshment.

From show to flow

Back on dry land, we are greeted by an Italian Renaissance-style park: a water parterre with geometrically arranged fishponds, elegant footbridges and graceful statues, in the centre of which Markus Sittikus commissioned a strawberry hill, symbolising paradise. Today, in the adjacent English landscape garden, the original hunting ground, children frolic around under the huge willow-trees on the extensive adventure playground. Anyone still looking for water can cool off – voluntarily this time – in the nearby Kneipp facility.

Meanwhile, the more athletically minded among us make for the Hellbrunn Hill. Visible from afar is the Monatsschlössl, a palace with a legend that persists to this day: when Archduke Maximilian of Austria was travelling through Hellbrunn in 1615, Markus Sittikus made a bet with him that he would build a small palace within a month when he was due to return. Fact is that Waldems Palace, as it was originally called, was completed in a very short time. The Folklore Museum has been exhibiting artefacts from everyday life in Salzburg in these rooms for one hundred years. The reward for the steep ascent next to the palace is a breathtaking view: below, our gaze sweeps across the palace grounds with its gardens and fountains until it wanders along Hellbrunner Allee all the way to Hohensalzburg Fortress. We are delighted and carry on. On the shady forest path, we follow the Watzmannblick sign and suddenly a mountain panorama opens up in front of us, from which the Watzmann with its seven peaks stands out majestically.

A surprise awaits us on the descent: the stone theatre. Glacial polishing and quarrying have created a kind of natural theatre here. Markus Sittikus had the caves and rock formations moulded into a fantastic backdrop for pastorals, musicals and operas. How wonderful it would be to witness a performance lit by candles and torches.

From the botanical to the zoological garden

For locals, Hellbrunn has always been synonymous with the zoo. In the former hunting grounds of the prince-archbishops, natural enclosures have been created on Hellbrunn Hill, providing an insight into the fauna of the whole world. Some species can also be petted and fed. Others watch their visitors from the niches and caves in the rock-face. See and be seen – vanity is obviously not limited to the human world.

Local recreation area for everyone

Back in Markus Sittikus' time, his horticultural work of art was open to everyone – as can be seen from the inscription on one of the fountains:

"These lovely hills here – you can see meadows rich in herbs [and] bright springs –
Markus Sittikus, Archbishop and Prince of Salzburg –
admiring the unappreciated gifts of nature not without affection –
surrounded them with walls and adorned them with theatres.
From the marshy ground he congregated manifold springs
and dedicated [them] to a worthy posterity in 1613."

We pause for a moment and thank this far-sighted, former father of the country for his gift of joie de vivre.