Alois Pichl

He worked mainly in Northern Italy, Vienna and Hungary for members of the House of Habsburg and other aristocrats.

His father, Wenzel Pichl, was a violinist, composer and court music director in Milan, for Ferdinand Karl, Archduke of Austria-Este.

He began his architectural studies in Italy then, in 1802, enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna.

In 1803, he was hired as an architect by his father's former employer, Ferdinand Karl, and his wife, Maria Beatrice d'Este, Duchess of Massa, who were then residing in Vienna.

His major project there came from János Graf von Keglevich de Buzin (1786–1856), for whom he worked on the Kistapolcsány Castle in Topoľčianky from 1818 to 1825.