Since Lednice/Eisgrub first passed into the hands of the House of
Liechtenstein in the mid-13th century, its fortunes had been tied
inseparably to those of that noble family. The palace of Lednice began
its life as a Renaissance villa; in the 17th century it became a summer
residence of the ruling Princes of Liechtenstein. The estate house —
designed and furbished by baroque architects Johann Bernhard Fischer von
Erlach, Domenico Martinelli, and Anton Johan Ospel — proclaimed rural
luxury on the grandest scale. In 1846-58 it was extensively rebuilt in a
Neo-Gothic style under the supervision of Georg Wingelmüller.
The
surrounding park is laid out in an English garden style and contains a
range of Romantic follies by Joseph Hardtmuth, including the artificial
ruins of a medieval castle on the bank of the Thaya/Dyje River (1801)
and a solitary sixty-metre minaret, reputedly the tallest outside the
Muslim world at the time of its construction (1797–1804)
