Special Exhibition: The art of perfect order – The Baroque garden

Perfection, splendor, and staging. The gardens of the Habsburgs were far more than places of leisure. They were stages of power, settings for courtly amusements, and artfully designed reflections of an entire era.

The 2026 special exhibition invites visitors to discover the Baroque garden as a total work of art. Using the garden complex at Schloss Hof Estate as a starting point, the exhibition explores what defines Baroque gardens and how they differ from those of the Renaissance or Romantic periods. Sculptures, characteristic Baroque design elements, and plants are impressively combined with technical innovations such as water features and fireworks.

Baroque gardens served pleasure and recreation, but at the same time functioned as powerful demonstrations of wealth and authority. The exhibition also addresses stylistic influences and fashions in garden design, international models, and the competition for Europe’s finest gardeners, artists, and engineers.

At the same time, the exhibition offers a glimpse behind the scenes of these magnificent ensembles. “Pleasurable gardening” was a costly pursuit, requiring vast financial resources and the labor of many workers—an unmistakable mirror of Baroque society.

The special exhibition extends across nearly the entire grounds of Schloss Hof Estate and invites visitors to experience the Baroque garden with all their senses—true to the spirit of a Baroque total experience.