Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach (1656-1723) was Austria's greatest baroque architect and a significant garden designer, drawing inspiration from France and Italy. Fischer was born in Graz. He was the son of a sculptor and trained as a sculptor. This led to a number of imperial commissions. The most important was for the new Hapsburg palace at at Schonbrunn outside Vienna, and
Lednice Valtice in the Czech Republic. The great garden linked the palace to a gloriette at the top of the hill. He also designed the popular garden of Mirabell in Salzburg. Fisher wrote a book called Entwurf einer historischen Architektur (A Plan for a History of Architecture).
