a-l-ancien-regime:

Bergl Rooms in Schönbrunn Palace : A strange, exotic world awaits in these rooms. Walls and ceiling are covered in landscape painting which conveys the illusion of a remote world alive with exotic birds and animals. The murals in the rooms display a succession of landscapes, starting with an untouched exotic landscape and ending with a formal Baroque garden.

“Bergl Rooms”  mural paintings are trompe l’oeil landscape murals commissioned by Empress Maria Theresa and executed by Johann Wenzel Bergl around 1766. A native of northern Bohemia, Bergl was one of Maria Theresa’s favourite artists. She commissioned Bergl to decorate her summer apartments on the ground floor of Schönbrunn Palace together with two other suites. These murals have been preserved and are unique of their kind in Europe.