The history of Schönbrunn and its predecessor buildings dates back to the Middle Ages. Since the beginning of the fourteenth century, the entire complex had been known as “Katterburg”. In 1569, the estate came into Habsburg possession through Emperor Maximilian II. However, it was not until the 17th century that the name “Schönbrunn” first appeared, when, according to legend, Emperor Matthias, who used the area for hunting, discovered a spring in 1612 which he named “Schöner Brunnen” (“beautiful fountain”).
His successor Emperor Ferdinand II and his wife Eleonora di Gonzaga also chose the estate as a venue for their hunting parties. After Ferdinand’s death in 1637, the estate became his widow’s residence, where she led a lively social life, for which she needed a prestigious architectural setting. She had a pleasure palace built, which was accompanied by the renaming of the estate to “Schönbrunn”.

The palace was not spared the devastation caused by the second siege of Vienna by the Ottomans in 1683. Emperor Leopold I, who had owned the palace since 1686, decided to leave Schönbrunn to his son Joseph, heir to the throne, and to turn it into a prestigious new residence for him. In the spring of 1700, the central wing of the palace was completed and habitable. The expansion of the side wings came to a standstill due to the War of the Spanish Succession and the associated financial difficulties, and the construction work came to a complete standstill after Joseph’s unexpected death in 1711. In 1728, Emperor Charles VI took over the unfinished palace from Joseph’s widow and subsequently passed it to his daughter Maria Theresa. Under her personal influence and under the direction of the architect Nikolaus Pacassi, the former hunting lodge was finally extended into a grand summer residence.