Schönbrunn Palace, where Princess Sissi once resided, and Schönbrunn Zoo announced its first official WeChat account at a news conference held at the Summer Palace in Beijing on Thursday.
Officially known as Empress Elisabeth of Austria (1837 – 1898), Sissi, a dual monarch of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, has been a big reason for Chinese tourists to visit Schönbrunn Palace, Klaus Panholzer, managing director of Schloss Schönbrunn Kultur- und Betriebsges.m.b.H. (SKB), told China Daily website during an interview.
"Last year was the first time that Chinese tourists ranked No 1. Before it was always Germany or other countries in Europe," Panholzer added.
In total, more than 4 million tourists visited the 1,441-room baroque palace in 2018.
The WeChat account offers a convenient way for people to obtain relevant tourist information and purchase tickets. In addition, group ticket booking is available on the platform for both palace and zoo visitors.
UNESCO catalogued Schönbrunn Palace and its gardens on the World Heritage List in 1996 as a remarkable baroque ensemble and example of a synthesis of the arts.
An art exhibition about Sissi is expected to be held in China in late 2019, said Panholzer at the news conference.
Personal belongings and paintings of the princess will be exhibited in cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Shenzhen.
2021 marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Austria.
A cultural exhibition on the Habsburg monarchy will be held in the Forbidden City in Beijing, said Friedrich Stift, Austrian ambassador to China, at the news conference.
Schönbrunn Palace and Zoo hold a news conference at the Summer Palace in Beijing, June 6, 2019. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
Founded as an imperial menagerie in 1752, Schönbrunn Zoo is the oldest continuously operating zoo in the world, and has been named Europe's best zoo five times in a row.
Since 2006, the Schönbrunn Zoo has attracted over 2 million visitors every year.
Spread across a 17-hectare site, visitors can see 700 different species, including critically endangered animals such as giraffes, orangutans, Siberian tigers, koalas, African elephants and meerkats.
The zoo's most popular residents are the giant pandas. It is the only zoo in Europe with a proven track record of successfully helping this endangered species breed naturally.
After the births of Fu Long (2007), Fu Hu (2010) and Fu Bao (2013), in 2016 Yang Yang became the first panda in captivity to raise twin cubs without human intervention.
Yang Yang first arrived at the zoo in 2003 with a male panda, Long Hui, who died of bile duct cancer in late 2016.
The zoo welcomed male panda Yuan Yuan in April as the latest addition to its family. The new panda will be the breeding partner for female Yang Yang.
The QR code for the official WeChat account of Schönbrunn Palace and Zoo. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
