The article focuses on Classical German philosophy’s impact on Austrian culture and philosophy during the short period of the Enlightenment. It was the reign of Maria-Theresia’s son Joseph II who was so eager to present himself as an “enlightened monarch” that his anticlerical policies prompted the papal visit to Vienna and the pope Pius VI’s attempt to dissuade the emperor from further reforms. The Austrian educated public regards German philosophers (Leibniz, Kant, Herder) as symbols of the Enlightenment and fell under their works’ spell. However the degree of the influence that German philosophy exerted depended on the particular political and cultural circumstances, the adopted concepts and theories were often reinterpreted by Austrian philosophers. The major and longest influence proved to be that of Leibniz whereas rejection of Kant’s ideas is today considered as a peculiarity of Austrian philosophy.