Schloss Hetzendorf, Baroque château in Meidling, Austria.

Schloss Hetzendorf is a baroque palace on Hetzendorfer Straße in Meidling, southwest Vienna, now housing the city's fashion school. Its main hall has a ceiling painted with figures in clouds, white and gold stucco moldings and a crystal chandelier; pale walls with pilasters and arched openings carry a fireplace with a painted panel, and white statues stand in niches beneath tall wooden-framed windows. The floor is parquet laid in squares and triangles.

Prince Maria Piccolomini bought a farmstead here in 1675; from 1694 Franz Sigismund Count von Thun und Hohenstein built the single-storey Thunhof hunting lodge, probably designed by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach. Around 1719 Anton Ospel and Antonio Beduzzi rebuilt it as a baroque garden palace with a cour d'honneur. In 1743 Nikolaus Pacassi enlarged it for Maria Theresa's mother, Elisabeth Christine, who lived here until 1750.

The central Festsaal has ceiling frescoes designed by Antonio Beduzzi, with figures by Carlo Carlone and painted architecture by Francesco Messenta. Above the fireplaces hang allegories of the four elements by Daniel Gran. Since 1946 the palace has housed Vienna's fashion school, the Modeschule Hetzendorf.

The château is easily reached by public transportation from Vienna's main railway stations. Keep in mind that it now serves as a school, so visitor access may be limited.

In 1762 Maria Theresa introduced smallpox inoculation and had it first tried on noble children at Hetzendorf. The children and their families lived in the palace for four weeks at the court's expense, under medical supervision.