Mürzsteg Hunting Lodge

Geschichte

The Mürzssteg Hunting Lodge is a small lodge in Mürzsteg, Styria which has served as the summer residence of the president of Austria since 1947.HistoryFranz Joseph I built a small lodge in the imperial hunting grounds in Neuberg an der Mürz in 1869 using his own funds. The plans for the lodge, which was built in a Swiss style, came from and his partner, the court architect. The lodge soon proved to be too small, and was expanded in two phases, first in 1879 and then again in 1903.In 1883 a riding trail was established for Empress Elisabeth between Kuhhörndl and Hocheck. Elisabeth was a good and enthusiastic rider, but did not take part in the hunting activities at the lodge. Three years later in 1886, the park around the hunting lodge was established and water pipes were built into the house.The hunting lodge was established not for appearances but for the local hunting groups. It was only after the last expansion that the lodge became a political hub. Czar Nicholas II was a guest of the emperor at the lodge in 1903. The two leaders signed the Mürzsteger Protocol there on October 3, 1903, concerning the future of the Balkans.The lodge, which was Habsburg private property, was seized after World War I and was taken up by the Austrian Republic. A small museum was furnished in the official rooms, with some mementos of the Emperor as a hunter. The other rooms were rented out to summer guests.