Underground Car Park @museum.de

What a contrast! Tucked away beneath walls that have stood for more than two centuries is an ultra-modern underground car park with electric charging stations.

The car park extends beneath the west wing and the entire courtyard of Palais Wunderlich. The entrance is on Tiergartenmühlgasse.

To ensure that all twelve available parking spaces can be used, the owners installed an elevator that takes the cars underground, making the best possible used of the space.

During the excavation work, a deep well was found. It apparently dated back to the time when the mansion was built and had been sunk ten metres deep into the ground – equivalent to almost 33 feet. Unfortunately, it was on the courtyard side, right in front of where the new lift shaft was meant to go, so it had to be dismantled. The well was right next to the old column in the courtyard. That column probably supported a shaft, allowing water to be drawn from the well.

The curved sandstones from the well shaft have been used elsewhere in the grounds. Take a look at the small dry stone wall that separates the terrace from the garden. Those are some of the slightly concave stones that lined the well ... and the native lizards feel very much at home among them.

Incidentally, when the underground garage was being built, there was almost a minor disaster. The excavation work led to rainwater penetrating the foundations of the east wing, softening the ground and causing subsidence. The building subsided by several centimetres. Fortunately, it was quickly made safe, and the foundation for the garage was poured to stabilise the building!