In 1614, Emperor Matthias had a small hunting lodge built in what was then called the Wolfsau, at the time a flood-plain (Au is an Austrian and southern German term for a riparian forest or flood-plain). Around 1650, Ferdinand III bought up the area around the nearby Tábor (which is a Czech word used here for a fortified checkpoint outside the city's walls) at a branch of the unregulated Danube. He established a formal Dutch garden and expanded the hunting lodge into a small mansion. In the 1660s, Leopold I acquired the adjacent gardens from the noble Trautson family and had it transformed into an all-comprising pleasure park. In 1677 he converted the Trautsons' garden mansion into a small palace (a so-called Lustschloss, a palace for pleasure only), to which he gave the name "Imperial Favorita". Later on instead of this one the name Old Favorita became established, since in today's 4th district a New Favorita (today: Theresianum) had been built.
