The Fake Roman Ruins

 In Vienna's famed Schloss Schonbrunn (the palace on the west end of town)....there's this nifty thing in the far remote part of the gardens there, which most people end up missing.  It's a fake Roman ruins.

Yeah....fake.

It's generally referred to as the "Ruin of Carthage".  In actuality, it was planned and erected in 1778.

If you were looking for it....it's on the far southeast point of the gardens....maybe a thousand feet from the magnificent fountain in the backyard of the palace.

The Hapsburgs tended to be a bit obsessive over art, culture and anything Roman in nature.  So it simply made sense to build this fake ruins into the garden.

I would imagine as guests and visitors came up....there'd be some story told by the Hapsburg escort and they'd indicate how this piece relates to this Roman story, and that piece relates to another story.

I stood there for around five minutes observing the planned ruins.  It had to require an awful smart guy to sit there in 1778.....plotting the design and intended impact of the ruins.

Anyway.....if you get to the palace.....ensure you take ten minutes to walk over and check out the ruins.