The glimmering white, 100-room Festetics Palace was begun in 1745; the two wings were extended out from the original building 150 years later. Some 18 rooms in the baroque south wing now contain the Helikon Palace Museum . Here too is the palace’s greatest treasure, the Helikon Library , with its 100,000 volumes and splendid carved furniture. Behind the palace in a separate building is the Coach Museum , which is filled with carriages and sleighs built for royalty
Many of the decorative arts in the gilt salons were imported from England in the mid-1800s The museum’s rooms, each in a different colour scheme, are full of portraits, bric-a-brac and furniture, much of it brought from England by Mary Hamilton, a duchess who married one of the Festetics men in the 1860s. The library is known for its 100,000-volume collection, but just as impressive is the golden oak shelving and furniture carved in 1801 by local craftsman János Kerbl. Also worth noting are the Louis XIV Salon with its stunning marquetry, the mirrored dining hall, the Long Gallery with its painting, the oaken staircase and the private chapel (1804).
