New Year`s Eve Ball by Cirque Rouge

For the last night of the year, the opulent halls of the Palais transform into a world of champagne, crystal and intoxicating decadence. Cirque Rouge invites you to a New Year’s Eve Ball that bids farewell to the old year with grand gestures and welcomes the new one with a wink.

From 6:00 PM, the evening begins with a festive dinner for those who have secured one of the limited dinner tickets. The dinner option must be booked separately as an add-on to the admission ticket. From 8:00 PM, the salons and ballrooms open for all guests.

Program

Across several dance floors and hidden salons, a night of burlesque, cabaret and variety awaits: live music and DJs playing everything from swing to tango – whatever keeps the night moving.

Das Nackte Wort tells stories of broken resolutions and everything one still allows oneself before midnight. A Kinky Cabinet awaits those who know what lies behind the curtain. In the Piano Lounge, time seems to stand still for just a moment.

At midnight, the grand countdown in the ballroom leads into a sea of confetti – and after that, the night truly begins, continuing into the first hours of the new year.

Let the night carry you – the new year will find you all by itself.

Dress Guide — Nuit de la Décadence

An evening of sparkling glamour and unapologetic extravagance: champagne, gold, silver and deep black, sequins, velvet, silk and feathers.

Floor-length gowns and corsets, elegant tuxedos and dramatic capes, tiaras, opera gloves and expressive make-up. A touch of burlesque is highly encouraged – opulent, theatrical and deliberately staged rather than simply festive. More is more.

Dress to enchant. To seduce. To bid farewell to the old year in style – and welcome the new one with a bang.

VIP Royal Dinner Table

VIP table right on the main floor in the Rosenkavalier Hall, dinner included – the table is yours for the entire night.

Grand Dinner Table

Dinner at a reserved table in an elegant hall right next to the main floor. Your table is yours for the entire night.

Dinner & Salon Experience

Dinner at your table right on the main floor in the Rosenkavalier Hall. At 8:30 pm, the table will be cleared to make room for the dance floor. After that, you'll have exclusive access to the Botanical Salon as your own private area for the rest of the evening.

Promenade Ticket

Exclusive entry to the Cirque Rouge New Year's Eve Ball from 9:00 pm

DINNER MENU

A glass of champagne on arrival is included.

Classic Menu

Bread Service
Organic crusty bread and traditional Austrian breadsticks, served with salted alpine farmhouse butter and a duo of spreads

Starter
Delicate tartare of avocado and cured organic salmon with dill, honey and mustard sauce

Main Course
Pink-roasted Angus sirloin with creamy polenta and brandy pepper sauce

Dessert
Plum and curd cheese dumpling in nut crumbs, served with vanilla ice cream

Vegetarian menu

Bread Service
Organic crusty bread and traditional Austrian breadsticks, served with salted alpine farmhouse butter and a duo of spreads

Starter
Delicate tartare of avocado and smoked carrot with dill, honey and mustard sauce

Main Course
Cauliflower and broccoli steak, gently cooked and seared, served with crispy Hasselback potato and fresh chimichurri

Dessert
Plum and curd cheese dumpling in nut crumbs, served with vanilla ice cream

Place

The Palais Auersperg, earlier called Palais Rosenkavalier, is a baroque palace at Auerspergstraße 1 in Vienna\'s Josefstadt district.


HISTORY

The Palais Auersperg was built in the years between 1706 and 1710 on the plot of the former Rottenhof with the plans of the two well-known architects Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt for Hieronymus Capece de Rofrano, to whom the former name \"Rosenkavalier\" refers. The middle part of the Palais was altered between 1720 and 1723 by Johann Christian Neupauer.

In 1749 Prince Joseph of Saxe-Hildburghausen started to use the Palais as his winter residence. He hired Giuseppe Bonno as musical conductor of the palais. Between 1754 and 1761 weekly music courses were held during the winter months. From 1759, he rented the Palais and hired Christoph Willibald Gluck as head conductor of the concerts held there.

In 1777 Prince Johann Adam of Auersperg, friend and confidant of Emperor Francis I and Maria Theresia, bought the Palais, at that time still called Palais Rofrano. From 1786 the Palais was renamed Palais Auersperg and was the setting for a series of important and well-known musical events, notably Idomeneo by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Sieben Worte des Erlösers am Kreuze by Joseph Haydn were performed there. As Johann Adam of Auersperg\'s second marriage stayed childless and the children of his first marriage had already died, he adopted his nephew Carl Auersperg (1750–1822). Carl accepted his inheritance in 1795. Unforunately, the marriage of Carl and his wife Josepha also remaineded childless, so in 1812 they adopted Prince Vinzens Auersperg, who accepted his inheritance in 1817. In the time between 1827 and 1837 Prince Wasa stayed at the Palais Auersperg with the Swedish Royal Family because his inheritance had been contested in Sweden. In 1864, on the orders of Vinzens Auersperg, a ballroom building was built along the Lerchenfelderstrasse. After his death in 1872 his widow Wilhelmine commissioned further alterations to the ballroom building in order to rent the facilities to the Geometric Institute. In 1878 Franz Joseph Emanuel (1856–1938), son of Wilhelmine Auersperg, and his wife Wilhelmine Kinsky took possession of the Palais Auersperg. Wilhelmine Kinsky organized many charity events for the benefit of the organization called Vereinigung zur Errettung verwahrloster Kinder. Pieces of theatre and music were performed in the Rosenkavaliersaal, partially with the participation of members of the aristocracy. In 1901 Franz Joseph Auersperg returned the ballroom building to its initial use. Unfortunately, in the course of the Second World War the ballroom building was completely destroyed and the remains were therefore removed.

Between 1923 and 1935 the Palais Auersperg was temporarily rented to the Bundesdenkmalamt and a film company. In 1940 Ferdinand Auersperg (1887–1942) inherited the Palais and in 1942 his sister Christiane Croy accepted her inheritance. She lived with her family in the upper rooms of the Palais during the Second World War. They also hid members of the resistance there during the Second World War and there is a sign near the entrance of the Palais which commemorates this. In 1944 the organization „Provisorische österreichische Nationalkomitee“, better known as O5, was established in the Palais. In 1945 the Palais was seized by the Alliierte Kommandantur, the police force of the Allied Control Council, and was subsequently used as their headquarters.

Konsul Alfred Weiss, founder of Arabia Kaffee, bought the Palais in 1953. In 1953 and 1954 it was extended by the architect Oswald Haerdtl who added the orangery, the winter garden and more functional rooms. Alfred Weiss opened a large café for 600 guests in the Palais, with a terrace next to it. After his death, his descendants sold the Palais to a company called General Partners A.G..

In the beginning of 2006 the Palais was sold again to an old European family. The State Apartments remained the same and are still used for musical purposes. In the upper floor most areas have been changed into office rooms. In the next few years the Palais will be restored and a small museum is planned. Currently the Palais is used for balls and musical events of various kinds; it has eleven rooms and can accommodate up to 1000 guests.