Part of the Lainzer Tiergarten and surrounded by towering trees, the Hermesvilla was built by Karl von Hasenauer between 1882 and 1886 in late Romantic style. The palatial villa was a gift for Empress Elisabeth from Franz Joseph I, commissioned in the hope that she may be more inclined to stay in Vienna with a 'little' place of her own. Murals by Klimt and Makart grace the interior, including Makart's beautiful rendering of A Midsummer Night's Dream in Sisi's upstairs bedroom.
The fitness-obsessed empress's gym room has sporting motifs, if not her original exercise equipment, and her stables – she was also a keen equestrian – have been left almost as they were in her day.