There is a wonderful palace in Hungarian town of Keszthely. Built in18th century and now reconstructed, it attracts visitors again. Nowadays, it serves as a museum but also as a place where international conferences, concerts and other events take place.
The Festetics Palace is a palace built in neo rococo style and located in the town of Keszthely on the northwest coast of Lake Balaton. The palace complex is open to visitors as the Helikon Castle Museum.
As a Slovak web Dromedar.sk reports, aristocrats of the Festetics house lived here since 18th century. They were not only noble by birth but also by their deeds. They built a hospital, a pharmacy, a grammar school but they also founded the first European agricultural college Georgikon in 1797. They supported national literature, art, museums and even had the first steamboat for the Lake Balaton built.
The museum presents various things the Hungarian aristocrats used in 18th and 19th century. Visitors can for example admire the most beautiful and most valuable Hungarian weapons, which are on display here. They were lended to the castle museum by the Hungarian national museum. However, it is the library, which is the most valuable part of the exhibit. It is the only preserved private aristocratic library in Hungary and it includes almost 100 thousand books among which one can find even original Hayden's manuscripts.
Visitors can once more use the original palace wing for guests and its dining room as well as ballrooms. The wing also serves as a conference center. The luxurious rooms host scientific debates, international conferences, courses for musicians, concerts as well as balls. The participants of smaller events can stay at 15 rooms and 4 apartments in the palace.
There are beautiful gardens that belong to the palace. They were planted as the palace was built. An English landscape park and a fountain that covers 40 hectares are part of the gardens.