Elizabeth of Austria-Hungary

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Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Portrait of Franz Xaver Winterhalter , oil on canvas, 1865; the artist created a portrait of Emperor Franz Joseph I at the same time ). In what is probably the best-known portrait, the empress wears the so-called edelweiss stars in her hair.

Elisabeth of Austria , born Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie von Wittelsbach, Princess in Bavaria (  December 24, 1837 in Munich , Kingdom of Bavaria – †  September 10, 1898 in Geneva , Switzerland ) was a duchess of the Palatinate-Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld collateral ducal line -Gelnhausen of the House of Wittelsbach , through her marriage to her cousin Franz Joseph I. Empress of Austria from 1854 and Apostolic Queen of Hungary from 1867. The siblings called her "Sisi"; she has also been known as "Sissi" since the Ernst Marischka films.

The Empress' coat of arms with griffins as shield holders

Life

childhood and adolescence

Sisis' siblings, from left: Sophie , Max Emanuel , Karl Theodor , Helene , Ludwig , Mathilde and Marie
Eleven-year-old Elisabeth with her brother Karl Theodor and their dog "Bummerl" in Possenhofen

Elisabeth comes from the line of dukes in Bavaria . She was the second daughter of Duke Max Joseph in Bavaria (1808-1888) and Princess Ludovika Wilhelmine (1808-1892). Her maternal grandparents were the Bavarian King Maximilian and his second wife, Princess Karoline .

Elisabeth was born on Christmas Eve 1837 at a quarter to eleven in Munich in the Herzog-Max-Palais on Ludwigstrasse . The fact that she already had a visible milk tooth at birth was considered a happy omen. Two days later, on December 26, 1837, she was baptized in the chapel of the Herzog-Max-Palais. Godmothers were her aunts, Crown Princess Elisabeth Ludovika of Prussia and Crown Princess Amalie of Saxony , both her mother's sisters, as well as her cousin Eugénie von Hohenzollern-Hechingen , who held the girl over the baptismal font. Elisabeth was only a few days old when her father left for a journey of several months to the Orient .

Elisabeth grew up with her growing siblings in Munich and on Lake Starnberg , where the family had owned a country estate in Possenhofen Castle since 1834. The narrative that the father, Duke Max, had a more intimate relationship with his children than the mother established itself through the depiction in the Sissi films. In the biography of Duchess Ludovika, historian Christian Sepp works out that the father rarely spent time with his family and showed little interest in his children. Even contemporaries noticed that "the Duchess [...] almost always takes care of the children and the house alone". Elisabeth is said to have had little interest in the subject matter as a child and teenager. She is said to have been restless and could only sit still for a short time. Her hobbies included horseback riding, drawing and writing verse.

Elisabeth was brought up with her sister Helene , who was three and a half years her senior . Duchess Ludovika had appointed an Englishwoman named Mary Newbold as governess for the two girls, who looked after the girls for four years. How formative this time was is shown by the fact that the sisters used English as their secret language until the end of their lives. When Mary Newbold left the service due to marriage in 1846, Duchess Ludovika decided to have her eldest daughters raised separately by two governesses, having observed that the older Helene dominated the gentle and kind Elisabeth. Luise von Wulffen took over the upbringing, to which Elisabeth developed a close bond.

Elisabeth had a good relationship with her siblings, which, however, cooled off over the course of her life. She fell out with her younger sister Marie when she heard that she was spreading the rumor of Sisi's secret love affair. She also initially had a very close relationship with her youngest sister Sophie , which, however, broke down when Sophie wanted to get a divorce in order to marry a middle-class doctor. When the family then sent Sophie to a sanatorium for alleged mental illness, Elisabeth commented on this with two poems full of "wickedness and malicious joy". She had a special relationship with her brother Karl Theodor , whom the family called Gackel .

Engagement in Ischl and marriage in Vienna

In 1853 Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria was 23 years old and unmarried. His mother, Archduchess Sophie , was looking for a suitable bride for her son. She first wanted to marry him to Princess Maria Anna , the niece of the Prussian king, and then to his cousin, Princess Sidonie of Saxony , but failed in the first case because of Berlin's resistance and in the second case because of Franz Joseph's negative attitude.

Historical literature has repeatedly claimed that Archduchess Sophie and her younger sister Ludovika then hatched a plan to marry Duchess Helene in Bavaria , Ludovika's eldest daughter, to the Emperor. However, source investigations have revealed that contemporary sources are lacking to support this claim. Gabriele Praschl-Bichler, who evaluated private letters from the Habsburgs at the time, came to this conclusion, as did the historian Christian Sepp, who evaluated the existing correspondence of Duchess Ludovika.

In August 1853 Emperor Franz Joseph celebrated his birthday in Ischl in the Salzkammergut . Many relatives were invited to this event, including Duchess Ludovika in Bavaria with her two eldest daughters, Helene and Elisabeth, who arrived in Ischl on the evening of August 16th. The Austrian Emperor fell in love with his 15-year-old cousin Elisabeth that same evening and two days later, on his birthday, he asked Duchess Ludovika via his mother whether she wanted to marry him. The following day, the Emperor received Elisabeth's approval and the engagement was publicly announced. On the day of the engagement, Ludovika expressed her concern about her daughter's young age in a letter to a relative: "She is so young, so inexperienced, but I hope you will bear with such a young age!"

Duke Maximilian in Bavaria, the bride's father, gave his daughter a dowry of 50,000 guilders, along with clothes and jewellery. On April 20, 1854, Elisabeth left Munich and traveled to Straubing on the Danube, where the bride and her mother boarded the Bavarian paddle steamer Stadt Regensburg for the journey to Linz in Upper Austria . After an overnight stay, the journey continued on the Danube to Vienna on a new Austrian express steamer . On April 24, Archbishop Joseph Othmar von Rauscher married the couple in Vienna's Augustinian Church in front of 70 bishops and prelates .

children and upbringing

Elisabeth as a young empress
The Imperial Family in Gödöllő , around 1870

Barely a year after the wedding, Elisabeth was now 17 years old, the young empress gave birth to a girl who was christened Sophie Friederike after Franz Joseph's mother. The following year daughter Gisela was born. On a trip through Hungary, both daughters fell ill with diarrhea and fever, from which two-year-old Sophie died.

In 1858 Crown Prince Rudolf Franz Karl Joseph was born. Elisabeth had a hard time recovering from the birth. After the death of her first-born daughter, she also showed little interest in Gisela and Rudolf. Her mother-in-law arranged for the crown prince to receive military training from an early age. The sensitive Rudolf suffered greatly from this. Elisabeth campaigned to end this type of training, but was initially unsuccessful.

Their fourth and last child, a girl, was born in Buda , Hungary in 1868 . The "Hungarian child" was named Marie Valerie Mathilde Amalie . In contrast to her two older children, Elisabeth looked after the little Archduchess more intensively. Marie Valerie was therefore also called “the only one” in the Vienna Hofburg . It was rumored that the child's father was not Franz Joseph, but the Hungarian Count Gyula Andrássy . However, there are no doubts about Franz Joseph's paternity, because Marie Valerie was very similar to the Emperor in appearance and character. Throughout her life, Elisabeth had a close relationship with her youngest daughter. Marie Valerie accompanied her mother on many trips and was also free in her choice of bridegroom. It is believed that Elisabeth was trying to catch up on what she had obviously failed to do with the other children.

In 1889 Rudolf committed suicide together with his young lover Mary Vetsera at Mayerling Castle . This stroke of fate hit Elisabeth hard, from that point on she only wore black.

Travels of the Empress

In 1860 Elisabeth suffered from a severe cough. She used the official pretext for the Empress' renewed journey, the diagnosis of a lung disease and the recommendation of a cure in Madeira , to break out of court life and to undertake the first of her trips abroad, which she undertook alone. Hardly back in Vienna, she suffered a severe relapse. The doctors suspected “ pulmonary consumption ” (tuberculosis). This time the Empress went to Corfu in the Ionian Sea . She liked the island very much.

When Elisabeth returned to the Viennese court after an absence of almost two years, she had gone from being a shy and pale young woman to a more self-confident monarch who also made demands. The portraits of Franz Xaver Winterhalter were created during this period . The best-known is the painting from 1865 showing Elisabeth in a court gala with diamond stars in her hair (see image at the top of the article). She never felt comfortable at court in Vienna and used every opportunity to avoid etiquette. The contemporary Princess Nora Fugger described the empress in her biography: “The duties of representation weighed heavily on the empress, the diamond crown weighed heavily on her head. Every pompous event, every court festival was anathema to her. There was always something forced about her when she took part in court festivities. […] The empress withdrew more and more from society, including from the eyes of the people.”

The Achilleion on Corfu 2005

Over the years, Elisabeth was increasingly absent. She then undertook numerous other journeys. In addition to Europe, she traveled to Asia Minor and North Africa , and from 1867 particularly frequently to Hungary, her favorite island of Corfu , and Great Britain . She also traveled to the Ottoman Empire in 1885 to see the remains of ancient Troy discovered by Heinrich Schliemann . At the beginning of the 1880s she began to focus more on Greece. After reading Alexander von Warsberg 's "Odyssey Landscapes" (Book Two, Chapter 1), Empress Elisabeth was probably inspired to have the Achilleion built on Corfu. Between 1889 and 1891 her Greek castle was built in the Pompeian style on Corfu , the Achilleion. In addition, she completed numerous spa stays at well-known health resorts ( see below ).

Franz Joseph had long since got used to his wife's absence. In 1885, to alleviate his loneliness and to tone down the expectations placed on her, the empress arranged for her husband's acquaintance with the actress Katharina Schratt . From then on, Schratt became the Emperor's contact and confidant. The Empress protected this friendship from any scandal and expressly encouraged it. Even after Elisabeth's death, the emperor's friendship with Katharina Schratt remained intact, but it was never as intense as it was during Elisabeth's lifetime.

Emperor Franz Joseph enjoyed every rare visit from Elisabeth to court and remained friends with her throughout her life. While she was traveling through Europe, an extensive correspondence developed between the imperial couple, some of which has been preserved. On the part of the emperor, his concern for Elisabeth's health and safety becomes particularly clear. He, who disliked sailing, never visited her at her palace, the Achilleion , but traveled mostly in civilian clothes to Cap Martin , one of Elizabeth's favorite places to stay on the French Riviera. Countess Irma Sztáray reports on the harmonious get-together of the Majesties, on numerous excursions, breakfasts in hotels and a visit by Emperor Franz Joseph to the Monte Carlo Casino .

In the Emperor's absence, Empress Elisabeth went on with her usual life: long hikes in the most remote areas and day-long voyages across the Mediterranean on her yacht. Her ladies-in-waiting and her Greek reader kept her company, entertaining her with works by ancient authors as well as French and English literature. Elisabeth took the study of ancient and modern Greek very seriously and, according to contemporaries, spoke Greek better than all the German queens of Greece. Among other things, she translated plays such as those by Shakespeare into modern Greek. According to her reader Constantin Christomanos , Greece became “the home of her soul”. In 1888 she had an anchor tattooed on her shoulder .

Elisabeth loved the music of Richard Wagner , in Vienna she attended a concert he conducted . In the summer of 1888 she attended a performance of the festival play Parsifal in Bayreuth . There she also met Wagner's wife Cosima , who was born on the same day as the empress and who has directed the festival since the composer's death .

Coronation as Queen of Hungary

Coronation of the imperial couple in the Matthias Church in Ofen. Emperor Franz Joseph and Elisabeth were dressed in Hungarian magnate costumes.
Castle Gödöllő

One of the few political activities of the empress was her efforts to reach an agreement with Hungary , which she energetically pushed through at the beginning of 1867 against the will of her mother-in-law and large parts of the court. Hungary regained its 1848 constitution. On June 8, 1867, Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elisabeth were crowned King and Queen of Hungary in the Matthias Church in Ofen (from 1873 Budapest ) . The coronation was performed by the Archbishop of Gran and Prince Primate of Hungary , János Simor .

Gödöllő Castle , which was given to the royal couple by the "Hungarian people" on the occasion of the coronation , became a popular place of refuge for the empress in the years that followed. Elisabeth learned Hungarian and preferred to choose Hungarian court ladies - including Marie Festetics  - who were rejected at the Viennese court because of their origin and remained isolated. In 1864, the Hungarian Ida von Ferenczy became her reader, with whom she developed a friendly relationship and who became the Empress's closest confidant. In 1868 Franz von Nopcsa , also a Hungarian, was appointed chief steward, who served Elizabeth for 36 years.

Gyula Andrassy

The Hungarian Count Gyula Andrássy was exiled in 1848 because of his involvement in the Hungarian Revolution . After an amnesty , he met the empress in 1866 at an audience. As a result, Andrássy played an important role in Sisi's life and became her closest friend and personal adviser. Both were accused of having an affair – which has not been proven to this day – and also that Sisi's youngest daughter was Marie Valerie Andrássy's daughter.

Trip to Geneva

Hotel Beau-Rivage in Geneva, in front of the Elisabeth monument on the quay

Elisabeth stayed in Bad Nauheim from July 16, 1898 to cure a heart condition with a spa treatment. The empress was said to have had anorexia for a long time and was physically very weak. However, on August 29, she fled the city with no luggage and no entourage. After a brief visit to Homburg vor der Höhe , she continued to travel incognito to Lake Geneva .

On September 9, 1898, she reached Geneva, where she accepted an invitation from the Rothschild family . Accompanied by her lady -in-waiting Irma Sztáray , the Empress visited Baroness Julie Rothschild in her villa in Bellevue on Lake Geneva. The meeting went well, the ladies chatted animatedly in French , and even at dinner, Elisabeth had a surprisingly good appetite given her eating disorder. According to Irma Sztáray, when they finally visited the Baroness's world-famous orchid nursery , Elisabeth is said to have said: "  Je voudrais que mon âme s'envolât vers le ciel par une toute petite ouverture de mon cœur  " (English: "I wish my soul could get through a very small opening in my heart to slip into the sky") - a poetically intended statement, which was subsequently reinterpreted by Countess Sztáray as a premonition.

death

attack

On September 10, 1898, at around 1:30 p.m., the Empress left the Hotel Beau-Rivage in Geneva to board the paddle steamer Genève , on which she intended to continue her journey to Caux . As she was walking along the Quai Mont Blanc , accompanied by her lady-in-waiting, Irma Sztáray , the Italian anarchist Luigi Lucheni threw himself on her and stabbed her in the heart with a sharp file. The puncture of the stiletto-shaped blade was so small that the empress did not notice it and thought that the attacker had only punched her. She got up again, thanked all the passers-by who had rushed to help, and chatted with Irma Sztáray about the incident. Elisabeth walked on for ten minutes. Shortly after the steamer cast off, she finally collapsed. Her last words were said to be, "But what happened to me?" The ship returned to the dock and the Empress was carried to her hotel on a makeshift stretcher . All attempts at resuscitation were in vain. A priest administered the last sacraments at their hotel. The death certificate noted that Elisabeth had died at 2:40 p.m. She was 60 years old.

According to his own statement during interrogation, Lucheni originally wanted to murder Prince Philippe d'Orléans . However, since he had changed his travel plans at short notice and did not arrive in Geneva, Lucheni chose Elisabeth as his victim after he found out about her presence in Geneva. Lucheni was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder. On October 19, 1910 he was found hanged with a belt in a dark cell .

autopsy

The last two pages of Empress Elisabeth's autopsy report (French)
Last resting place of Elisabeth in Bavaria, Emperor Franz Josef I and Crown Prince Rudolf in the Franz Joseph Crypt, Imperial Crypt, Capuchin Church in Vienna

The Empress' inquest was scheduled for September 11, 1898. From the outset, the representatives of the monarchy in Geneva had made their consent dependent on the approval of the court, which arrived by telegraph at noon only for a partial autopsy, although the court would have liked to avoid such an operation altogether. The autopsy was carried out by Hippolyte Jean Goss, professor of forensic medicine at the University of Geneva , Auguste Réverdin, professor at the Geneva Medical School, and Louis Mègerand, associate professor at the Geneva Medical School. They had been commissioned by M. Lèchet, investigating magistrate of the Republic and Canton of Geneva. Present were Countess Sztáray, Her Majesty's lady-in-waiting, Count von Kuefstein, Permanent Representative of Austria in Bern, General Berzeviczy, Her Majesty's Chamberlain, Navazza, Attorney General of the Republic and Canton of Geneva, Mayor, Professor at the Medical Faculty in Geneva, and the doctor Etienne Golay. The latter two had been declared dead the day before.

The autopsy report shows that the murder tool had penetrated to a depth of 8.5 centimeters. There was a small, triangular wound in the upper area of ​​the left breast that barely shed three or four drops of blood. The weapon had broken the fourth rib and entered the chest cavity through the fourth rib space . It had pierced the lower edge of the upper lung , which covers the heart, and struck the anterior surface of the left ventricle one centimeter from the descending branch of the coronary artery (coronary vessel). The left ventricle was completely perforated, the posterior septum of this ventricle revealed a triangular opening approximately four millimeters in diameter. There was a large effusion of coagulated blood in the pericardium . Because only a partial autopsy was allowed, the heart itself was not opened. The cause of death was undoubtedly cardiac tamponade caused by a hemopericardium.

The general remarks describe the corpse, according to which the face was calm and without muscle tension. “The skin was still lukewarm, rigor mortis had not yet set in. Pale yellow complexion. The hair is chestnut brown. Gray-blue eyes . good bite . The subcutaneous fatty tissue is poorly developed with a thickness of 1.72 centimeters. On the abdomen are old, mother-of-pearl colored stretch marks . At the heart of the wound, at the deepest point of the wound, there are signs of the onset of rigor mortis.” The coroners found no discharge from the nose or mouth , but edema from hunger and – to the later dismay of the court – a tattoo showing an anchor on her shoulder, which expressing affection for the sea.

burial

Her wish to find her final resting place “by the sea, preferably in Corfu ” was not granted. When the body was transported to Vienna in a coffin filled with ice in their saloon car , all Imperial officials along the route were obliged to pay their respects to the dead on the train. On September 17, the burial took place in the Capuchin Crypt in Vienna . Elisabeth 's embalmed body rests entirely in the Capuchin Crypt. This is an exception, as most Habsburg rulers had their bodies dismembered: the body was buried in the Capuchin Crypt, the heart in the Augustinian Church , and the entrails in St. Stephen's Cathedral . Elisabeth 's sarcophagus now stands alongside those of Franz Joseph I and Crown Prince Rudolf.

equestrian sport

Empress Elisabeth at the hurdle ride

From an early age, Elisabeth was an excellent and daring rider who mastered all disciplines in side saddle . She rode all her horses herself. In Vienna she regularly trained in dressage at the Spanish Riding School , followed by extensive, fast cross-country rides in Hungary. In Gödöllő she often accompanied Count Nikolaus Esterházy on his rides. He was also her preferred companion ( master ) on riding hunts in Hungary. In 1874 she went on her first fox hunt on English soil. Between 1876 and 1882 she toured England several times with a large entourage and a number of good hunters to take part in the English fox hunts in the company of the famous huntsman Bay Middleton . In 1879 and 1880 she rode not only fox hunts in Ireland, but also deer hunts.

Elisabeth became one of the most famous huntsmen of her time. It is still known as such in England, Hungary and Ireland today. When Bay married Middleton and no longer accompanied her on the hunts, Sisi gave up par force hunts , also due to back problems, because she no longer enjoyed it without Middleton. All the horses were sold and their stables in different countries were abandoned. Instead, she went on long hikes, stretching out to eight hours, much to the chagrin of the ladies-in-waiting, who were now selected for ambulatory service. Fencing also became a hobby of the now 44-year-old Empress, in addition to morning gymnastics and hikes.

Elizabeth's poems

The dying Achilles in the park of the "Achilleion", which Ernst Herter created on behalf of Sisi

Even as a young girl, Elisabeth liked to write poetry. The oldest poem that has survived from her dates from 1852, when the Duchess was 15 years old. This poem turned up at an auction in Munich in May 2018 in the estate of a lady-in-waiting who was in the service of Queen Marie of Bavaria and deals with Elisabeth's love for her Bavarian homeland.

Poems played a central role in Elisabeth's life. As a grown woman, she wrote a poetic diary. In bad times, she expressed her feelings in poetry. This was recommended to her by the Romanian Queen, Princess Elisabeth zu Wied and her favorite daughter Marie Valerie. The Empress maintained a friendly relationship with the Romanian Queen, who herself wrote under a pseudonym “Carmen Sylva”. She explained to Elisabeth that writing poetry was a good lightning rod.

Elisabeth admired the poet Heinrich Heine (1797–1856), who was no longer alive at that time, and oriented herself to his way of writing poems. The adoration went far beyond the usual love of a literary lover. She knew long passages of Heine by heart and also dealt intensively with the life of the poet, whom she valued both as a literary figure and as a critical spirit. She felt like his disciple and believed that the Master was dictating the verses into her pen. Once she even told her daughter Marie-Valerie that Heine had appeared to her in a dream. Heine's work influenced her thematically, for example, in the description of her own restlessness and in the social criticism that can be found in some of her poems. When, at a time of increasing anti-Semitic currents , she campaigned for the erection of a memorial for Heinrich Heine in his native city of Düsseldorf , she was heavily criticized (even if without naming her directly, it was unmistakably aimed at her person). Above all in the press by Edouard Drumont and Georg von Schönerer , who were attached to nationalism and the Völkisch . But she also worshiped Homer 's Iliad , which explains her passion for ancient Greece and Achilles . In 1891, in the park of her castle "Achilleion" on Corfu, she had a Heine monument erected by Louis Hasselriis . Over time, poetry became therapy for Elisabeth.

beauty cult of the empress

Empress Elisabeth, painting by Winterhalter . The existence of the two so-called "intimate" portraits was not publicly known until the end of the monarchy, as they hung in the emperor's study and were only intended for his eyes.
This second portrait of the Empress by Winterhalter was the Emperor's favorite portrait and is opposite his working desk (1864)

Men and women of her day raved about Elisabeth's beauty, but were equally drawn to her grace, charisma and mysterious aura that surrounded the Empress. Elisabeth was considered one of the most beautiful women of her time and was well aware of this. Her beauty care took up a large part of her daily routine. Elisabeth was particularly proud of her thick hair. Ahead of her time, she followed a veritable cult of the body, did a lot of sport and was very careful about her figure. Through strict diets and tight corsets , she shaped her wasp waist (46 cm) and became a fashion icon. In contrast to other women of her time, Elisabeth strictly rejected strong make-up or perfume. She attached great importance to naturalness. Only her head of hair was sprayed with scented essences.

hair cult

The master who looked after the imperial hair was called Fanny (Franziska) Angerer (married Feifalik, later Hofrätin) and was a hairdresser at the Burgtheater in Vienna . There, the Empress had noticed the imaginative hairstyles of the actresses , and she had recruited the hairdresser without further ado . Fanny Angerer was also the creator of the imperial hair crown, the so-called " wanted letter hairstyle " , which was copied by Elisabeth's sisters and at other European courts.

Washing the hair usually lasted a whole day and was done about every three weeks with new essences (preferably cognac and egg ). Elisabeth could become irascible when the hairdresser showed her a comb with "dead" (falling out) hair. So the hair artist had tape attached to the inside of the apron to hide any hair that had fallen out. Due to the strong physical resemblance of the two women, the empress occasionally used her hairdresser - especially abroad - as a stand -in .

On the occasion of her wedding, Elisabeth received diamond stars as hair ornaments, which she could wear individually or put together as a tiara . The stars had eight or ten points and were about 3.5 cm tall, domed and lavishly set with large diamonds , some with pearls . They were made in various jewelery and jewelry workshops, including by court jeweler Alexander Emanuel Köchert . The set depicted in Winterhalter's portrait consisted of a total of 27 stars. A ten-pointed star with a Mabé pearl at its center was stolen from Gerald Blanchard in 1998 and resurfaced in Canada in 2007 after the master thief was arrested . In 2008 he returned to Vienna and has been a permanent exhibit in the Sisi Museum since 2010.

dental care

Elisabeth must have spent large sums of money on the maintenance and care of her teeth. The dentist Raimund Günther (1833-1913) was the court dentist from 1867 and was knighted in 1890 to the noble of Kronmyrth. He visited the Empress of Austria at regular intervals. Some of his invoices are preserved in the Austrian State Archives . He also treated Sisi's youngest daughter Archduchess Marie Valerie . The empress obtained various products for dental care and tooth cleaning from Raimund Günther , such as toothbrushes and tooth powder . She was also treated for four years by the American prominent dentist Levi Spear Burridge (1829-1887) and by the court dentist Otto Zsigmondy (1829-1899). Although the rumor circulated that the empress wore a denture , her autopsy report of September 11, 1898 contains the entry Bonne dentition ( French : good teeth), which refutes this.

diet

Empress Elisabeth with her wolfhound, photograph by Rabending around 1869

Empress Elisabeth ate relatively little. She kept her body weight constant with an orange diet, egg diet, milk diet, salted raw egg whites instead of lunch, and the occasional violet ice cream. She had broth made from pressed veal juice. Her weight was checked three times a day and entered on a list. With a height of 172 cm, she had almost never exceeded 50 kg, so she was underweight with a BMI under 17 throughout her adult life. The circumference of the waist, thighs and calves was also precisely measured. During her hunting stay in England in 1878, the empress let her best friend Ida Ferenczy know in a letter via her lady-in-waiting Marie Festetics in a letter dated January 30, “that she now has a huge appetite and eats so much that she lies on the sofa like a boa constrictor.” . As a result of the fasting cures, hunger edema appeared. To keep her face youthful, she put pressed beef on her face overnight. This was not unusual at the time; many women resorted to these measures at the time.

Due to the diets and her fondness for sports, it is claimed that Elisabeth suffered from anorexia nervosa (anorexia nervosa). Reports according to which Elisabeth is said to have liked to eat, especially sweets that she bought at the k. u.k. Ordered from the purveyors to the court Demel or from Café Sacher , and preferred hearty food, can be considered credible, since Elisabeth is said to have rarely eaten this food and then hiked for hours and did gymnastics. Signs of depression also began to appear at the times when she refused almost all food intake . This is especially believed in the early years of marriage and the years after her son's suicide.

do gymnastics

In order to maintain her figure and because of her inner restlessness, she sometimes went on long hikes every day at a fast pace, which her ladies-in-waiting could hardly keep up with. In addition, there were gyms in each of their domiciles with various apparatus, with rings , bars and dumbbells . The gymnastics equipment can still be seen today in the rooms of the Vienna Hofburg.

spa stays

Elisabeth spent numerous spa stays in the most famous European spa towns . For example, the Empress stayed six times for a cure in Bad Gastein (in the years 1886 to 1893) and six times in the Bavarian state spa Bad Kissingen or in the state spa Bad Brückenau . She came to Bad Kissingen for the first time in 1862 as a 24-year-old on June 2, 1862, then three more times in June 1863, in June 1864 (in the year of the so-called "Kaiserkur") and in July 1865. The last two spa stays were in May 1897 and finally shortly before her assassination in April 1898. The last time she lived in the "Villa Monbijou" on Altenberg . She used the pseudonym "Countess of Hohenems" for all spa stays, although her true identity was well known in the spa town. The pseudonym only served her to escape official protocol and appear as a private person.

On her arrival in 1862, the empress was accompanied by major general Alfred Graf von Königsegg-Aulendorf (1817–1898) and his wife Pauline, the empress’ chief steward, privy councilor and chief medical officer Dr. Heinrich Fischer (1814–1874) and by her lady -in-waiting , Caroline Countess of Hunyady (1836–1907), the daughter of the First Lord Steward , Josef Count of Hunyady , and by maids of honor, house officers and servants from Vienna (25 people). At that time she stayed in the Hotel "Carl von Hess", today's " Kaiserhof Victoria ", on the spa promenade. During her spa stay in 1864, she was accompanied by the Emperor's Adjutant General Franz Graf Folliot de Crenneville , Major General Alfred Graf von Königsegg-Aulendorf and his wife Pauline, Lord Steward Prince Constantin zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst , Sisi's sister Princess Helene von Thurn und Taxis , Caroline Countess von Hunyady, ladies -in-waiting , house officers and servants from Vienna (49 people). The imperial couple lodged again in the “Carl von Hess” hotel. Her Bad Kissingen spa doctor was Alfred Sotier , whom she trusted so much that she had his recipes sent to other spa towns for local pharmacists .

Elizabeth's ladies-in-waiting

The following list contains women in the Empress' service, each listed chronologically by year of birth. The list does not claim to be complete.

court ladies

was a reader to the Empress

Personal hairstylist and confidant

reception

movies

The first Sisi film was a silent film (Empress Elisabeth of Austria) . It was filmed in 1920 by the director Rolf Raffé on original locations and came to cinemas in 1921. The main actress was Carla Nelsen. Countess Marie Louise von Larisch-Wallersee , who was already 62 at the time , was also involved in the script and in obtaining the filming permits . She nevertheless played her own role, although the actress who played her aunt Elisabeth in the film was only 23 years old, according to historical facts was. A still from this film – Elisabeth on her deathbed – was duplicated and sold as a picture postcard by the Austrian State Printing Office for decades and passed on as an original for biographies by the portrait archive of the National Library. It was not until 1979 that the author Brigitte Sokop ( those countess Larisch ... confidants of the empress - ostracized according to Mayerling. Böhlau 1985, 4th ed. 2006) discovered this error.

In 1931 the film Elisabeth of Austria was released , starring Lil Dagover in the title role. In other early films of the 1920s and 1930s, however, Elisabeth was mostly a supporting character, as the wife of Emperor Franz Joseph or as the mother of Crown Prince Rudolf.

The first film adaptation of the Singspiel was done by Josef von Sternberg , who directed the 1936 strip The King Steps Out . Popular opera singer Grace Moore played the lead role of Cissy . The film was moderately successful, but remained the exception until the 1950s trilogy, as it portrayed the empress as young and fun-loving.

Jean Cocteau addressed the dark side of her character in his play L'Aigle aux deux Têtes ( The Double -Headed Eagle ). When plans for a film adaptation arose in the late 1940s, Greta Garbo was slated for the lead role. Production was already well advanced when the money finally ran out.

In German-speaking countries, the image of Empress Elisabeth is shaped by the films in the Sissi trilogy starring Romy Schneider in 1955, 1956 and 1957. A compilation of all three films was distributed in English under the title Forever My Love in 1962 The overall response was muted.

As the only congenial friend of the fairytale king Ludwig II , Elisabeth was portrayed in 1955 by the actress Ruth Leuwerik in Helmut Käutner's monumental film Ludwig II - Splendor and the End of a King . Also in 1955, a still unmarried Sisi played Linda Geiser in a supporting role in the film King 's Waltz.

In 1973 Romy Schneider appeared again as Empress Elisabeth in Luchino Visconti's Ludwig II . There she creates a more realistic image of a capricious, distant Elisabeth who no longer had anything in common with the "Sissi" from the 1950s.

On the sidelines, Elisabeth appeared in several films that focused on the fate of her son, Crown Prince Rudolf. She was portrayed by Gabrielle Dorziat in the 1936 film Mayerling , and by Ava Gardner in the 1968 film of the same name . In Kronprinz Rudolf's last love from 1956, Lil Dagover again played the careworn empress, in the Austro-Hungarian television two-parter The Crown Prince (1989) Mijou Kovacs , in the television production Kronprinz Rudolf (2006) Sandra Ceccarelli .

A satirical examination of the cult figure Sissi are, among others, the films Sissi - Pouch Years of an Empress by Walter Bockmayer from 1989 and the film satire Sisi and the Emperor's Kiss from 1991, in which Vanessa Wagner took on the role of the empress. In 1998 the series Princess Sissi was broadcast on German television for the first time. It shows the story of Sisi in a very different way, prepared for children and with a happy ending. In 2007, Lissi and the Wild Emperor by Michael "Bully" Herbig was released in the cinemas, which according to its creator is supposed to be a homage to the Sissi films.

In 2009 Austrian director Xaver Schwarzenberger made a new film entitled Sisi with Cristiana Capotondi in the title role. In 2012 the film Sisi ... and I tell you the truth was released in cinemas.

In 2021, the series Sisi was created for RTL/TVNOW with Dominique Devenport in the title role and Jannik Schümann as Franz Josef. Also in 2021, Netflix shot the series The Empress with Devrim Lingnau and Philip Froissant as the young imperial couple. In the same year, the feature film Corsage starring Vicky Krieps as Elisabeth was directed by Marie Kreutzer .

documentary

The documentary film Sisi - Myth of a Fairy Tale Princess was shot in 2008 by Luise Wagner-Roos and broadcast at the end of 2008 as part of the ZDF television series Terra X. Mia Florentine Weiss portrayed Sisi in game scenes.

operetta

On December 23, 1932, the operetta Sissy by Fritz Kreisler , based on a libretto by the brothers Ernst and Hubert Marischka , premiered at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna .

musical

Since 1992, the musical Elisabeth by Michael Kunze and Sylvester Levay , directed by Harry Kupfer, has been performed in Vienna (Theater an der Wien) and other European cities as well as in Japan and Korea. In 2012 the musical celebrates its 20th stage anniversary. From September 5, 2012, the United Theaters in Vienna brought the original production to the stage in an anniversary version in Vienna's Raimundtheater .

2008 became Sissi. The musical by George Amade (music) and Jean Müller (lyrics) premiered in Nanjing . The European premiere followed in 2012 in the Small Festival Hall in Salzburg .

Technical Museum Vienna

In 1873, a court saloon car and a sleeping car were built especially for the Empress by the well-known Prague company Ringhoffer. After the death of the empress, these carriages were no longer used for reasons of piety and were stored in the court train depot at Westbahnhof.

The sleeping car, designated HZ0011 , was given to the k. k. historical museum of the Austrian Railways and has been preserved to this day. It can be seen in the original, complete with interior fittings and equipment, in the Technical Museum.

Sisi Museum in Vienna

Bust of Elisabeth, Viktor Tilgner

A Sisi Museum was set up in the Vienna Hofburg right next to the Kaiser Apartments. The focal point of the permanent exhibition is the private life of the Empress: Elisabeth as a mother, as a poet and as a traveller.

Until recently, the triangular file with which Elisabeth was murdered by the anarchist Luigi Lucheni in 1898 was also on display. This is now in the Josephinum, the Institute for the History of Medicine at the University of Vienna. In addition to many personal items such as her scales, one of the famous crinoid stars, pictures from her beauty album and her diet journal, a replica of her imperial saloon carriage can also be seen.

Imperial villa in Bad Ischl

Originally, the Emperor's mother Sophie gave the order to add two wings to the villa, so that the building still has an E-shaped floor plan today. The imperial couple resided in Ischl in the summer. Emperor Franz Joseph ruled Austria-Hungary from there and pursued his favorite pastime, hunting. The Empress visited the city's brine baths . The Imperial Villa is still owned by the Salvator von Habsburg-Lorraine family and is now open to the public. A monument commemorates the Empress. A guided tour of the working and living quarters of the imperial couple is possible.

Sisi exhibition in Unterwittelsbach

In the Unterwittelsbach moated castle (“Sisi Castle”), the former hunting lodge of Max in Bavaria , in Unterwittelsbach near Aichach in the Augsburg area, a Sisi exhibition with annually changing themes takes place between May and November.

Sisi Museum in Possenhofen

In Possenhofen am Starnberger See , Bavaria there is a small Sisi Museum that is open in the summer months. Possenhofen Castle, where Sisi grew up, is privately owned and can only be viewed from the outside.

Sisi path of the Wagenburg in Vienna

The carriages in the Schönbrunn Palace area show numerous objects in the form of a permanent exhibition that document Elisabeth's life from her marriage to her death, such as her entry carriage as a bride, the court train of her wedding dress, the golden imperial carriage that she used at her coronation in Budapest, her only surviving riding saddle, a black court dress from later years or the black hearse with which her body was taken to the Capuchin crypt.

Sisi will for refugees

The empress “(left) a will [..] that continues to benefit the needy and the persecuted to this day. […] According to Noel Calhoun (Deputy Director of UNHCR Ukraine), the money [check for 15,000 euros] will benefit an existing UNHCR program in Ukraine that provides refugees with language courses and vocational training to help them make a living earn.” The money comes “from the sale of a diary that Sisi wrote in the 1880s. She was critical of the little progressive monarchy and did not have the diary kept in the Austrian archives, but with the Swiss government with a publication embargo of 60 years.

"In 1980, the Swiss Federal Council decided that UNHCR would be the best recipient of Sisi's legacy, and periodically the UN High Commissioner for Refugees therefore receives the royalties from Sisi's diary, which was published by the Austrian Academy of Sciences ."

“Sisi's will is addressed 'to a dear future soul' and asks that the proceeds from her diary be donated 'to the welfare of the politically condemned and their needy relatives'. She predicts that 'in 60 years, as little as today, there will be happiness and peace, that is, freedom, on our small planet'”.

Namings

Germany

In the Schwabing district of Munich , near her birthplace, there is the Elisabethstrasse named after her and the Elisabethmarkt on Elisabethplatz.

Austria

Photograph of Empress Sisi framed by a hand-painted cartouche on an invitation from 1863 to the General Assembly of the German Railway Association in Salzburg and the portrait of Franz Joseph I.

There is hardly a city in Austria today that does not have a street or square named after her. In Vienna they are or were Elisabethstraße (1st district, named 1862), Elisabethgasse (16th district, named 1875, part of Brunnengasse since 1894 ), Elisabethstraße (21st district, named 1896, from 1901 Kaiserin-Elisabeth-Gasse ). , since 1919 Mengergasse ), Elisabethpromenade (9th district, named 1903, since 1919 Rossauer Lände ), Elisabethpromenade (23rd district, named 1908, closed in 1952), Elisenstrasse (one of her nicknames was Elise) in the 23rd district, Elisabethallee ( 12th and 13th districts, named 1918) and Elisabethstrasse (13th district, naming date unknown, since 1955 Lainzerbachstrasse ).

In her memory, the Elisabeth Chapel of the Mexico Church was built in Vienna, financed by funds raised by the Red Cross , of which she was the first protector.

In Vienna, the Empress Elisabeth Hospital and the Empress Elisabeth Maternity Home were named after her.

The largest police prison in Vienna, the Rossauer Lände police building, was popularly known as "Liesl" because it is located on the former Kaiserin-Elisabeth-Promenade , which is now called Rossauer Lände.

In 1901, the city ​​of Salzburg renamed the district of Froschheim to Elisabeth-Vorstadt in honor of Empress Elisabeth .

A part of the Austrian Western Railway (Vienna-Linz-Salzburg-Zell am See - Wörgl -Innsbruck-Bregenz-Lindau), namely the route Wien Westbahnhof -Linz-Wels-Salzburg-Bischofshofen-Zell am See-Saalfelden- Wörgl Hauptbahnhof (together with the Wels–Passau section) forms the Empress Elisabeth Railway operated by the Austrian Federal Railways . Another section of the Kaiserin-Elisabeth-Bahn, namely the Salzburg Hbf–Wörgl Hbf section, is named after its second daughter Giselabahn or Salzburg-Tyroler-Bahn .

There is an Empress Elisabeth Memorial Church on the Hochschneeberg , which Emperor Franz Joseph had built.

Spain

In the Palmeral in Elche , a special palm tree was dedicated to her, the empress palm.

Czech Republic

The Empress Elisabeth Bridge over the Elbe between Tetschen and Bodenbach was located in northern Bohemia in what is now the Czech Republic .

Hungary

In the Hungarian capital Budapest , a Danube bridge ( Erzsébet híd ), a square ( Erzsébet tér ), a district ( Erzsébetváros ), a lookout tower (Erzsébet-kilátó) and a section of the ring road (Erzsébet körút) are named after her, among others named Pest side.

The first monument to Elizabeth was erected in Hungary in a small village in Nyirád, where the village school still bears the name of the queen: Erzsébet Királyné Általános Iskola .

Other naming conventions

'Empress Elisabeth' (McGredy 1998) in the Rosarium in Baden near Vienna

The Danube excursion ships MS Kaiserin Elisabeth and Sissi as well as the cruiser SMS Kaiserin Elisabeth were named after her.

In addition to the paddle steamers DS Habsburg and DS Kaiser Franz Joseph , the DS Kaiserin Elisabeth also operated on Lake Constance . All three steamships were renamed after the end of the monarchy and no longer exist.

The asteroid (182) Elsa was named after Empress Elisabeth .

In 1998 McGredy named a floribunda rose 'Empress Elisabeth'.

The controversial Sissi syndrome is also named after Elisabeth.

monuments

Austria
Germany
Hungary
Other countries

ancestors

 
 
 
 
 
 William in Bavaria (1752–1837)
 
 
 
 
 Pius August in Bavaria (1786–1837)
 
 
 
 
 
 Maria Anna of Palatinate-Zweibrücken (1753–1824)
 
 
 
 Max Joseph in Bavaria (1808–1888)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ludwig Maria von Arenberg (1757–1795)
 
 
 
 Amalie Luise von Arenberg (1789–1823)
 
 
 
 
 
 Anne de Mailly-Nesle (1766–1789)
 
 
 
 Elizabeth in Bavaria
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Friedrich Michael of Palatinate-Birkenfeld-Bischweiler (1724–1767)
 
 
 
 Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria (1756–1825)
 
 
 
 
 
 Maria Franziska Dorothea von Pfalz-Sulzbach (1724–1794)
 
 
 
 Ludovika Wilhelmine of Bavaria (1808–1892)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Karl Ludwig of Baden (1755–1801)
 
 
 
 Caroline of Baden (1776–1841)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Amalia of Hesse-Darmstadt (1754–1832)
 
 

literature

Editions of Elizabeth's writings

  • Renate Daimler (ed.): "Women should be free...". Thoughts of Empress Elisabeth of Austria . Verlag Brandstätter, Vienna 1998, ISBN 3-85447-812-7 .
  • Brigitte Hamann (ed.): Empress Elisabeth - The poetic diary . Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2681-6 .
  • Beatrix Meyer (ed.): Empress Elisabeth in private: Letters to her most intimate confidante Ida Ferenczy, Munich 2020, ISBN 978-3962332174 .

Editions of other contemporary sources

  • Santo Cappon (ed.): "I have no regrets!". The Records of the Sisi Killer, Luigi Lucheni . Droemer Knaur, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-426-77484-4 .
  • Constantin Christomanos: Diary sheets [1899], Czernin, Vienna 2007, ISBN 3-7076-0178-1 .
  • Hans Flesch-Brunningen (ed.): The last Habsburgs in eyewitness reports . Dtv, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-423-02716-9 (reprint Düsseldorf 1967).
  • Georg Nostitz-Rieneck: Letters from Emperor Franz Joseph to Empress Elisabeth. 1859-1889 . Herold-Verlag, Vienna 1966 (2 vols.)
  • Gabriele Praschl-Bichler: Our dear Sisi. The truth about Archduchess Sophie and Empress Elisabeth from previously unpublished letters . Amalthea Verlag, Vienna 2008, ISBN 978-3-85002-637-6 .
  • Martha Schad and Horst Schad (eds.): Marie Valerie. The diary of Empress Elisabeth's favorite daughter. Piper, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-492-24364-9 .
  • Irma Countess Sztáray: From the Last Years of Empress Elisabeth . Amalthea Verlag, Vienna 2004, ISBN 3-85002-518-7 .
  • Gudula Walterskirchen, Beatrix Meyer: The diary of Countess Marie Festetics - Empress Elisabeth's most intimate friend. Residence, St. Pölten 2014, ISBN 978-3-7017-3338-5 .

nonfiction

fiction

  • Nicole Avril: Sissi, the legendary life of an empress. a novel ("L'impératrice"). Droemer Knaur, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-426-77369-4 .
  • Marie G. Cristen: Sisi - A dream of love. novel . Knaur, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-426-62770-1 .
  • Gaby Schuster: Sissi. A Princess for the Emperor . Edition Omnibus, Munich 2002
  • Klara Tschudi: Empress Elisabeth of Austria and Queen of Hungary . Reclam, Leipzig 1927.

web links

Commons : Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Empress Elisabeth  – Quotations

itemizations

  1. ↑ Christian Sepp: Ludovika. Sisi's mother and her century . Munich 2019, pp. 183/184.
  2. ↑ Christian Sepp: Ludovika. Sisi's mother and her century . Munich 2019, quote: p. 202.
  3. ↑ Christian Sepp: Ludovika. Sisi's mother and her century. Munich 2019, p. 236f.
  4. ↑ Christian Sepp: Sophie Charlotte. Sisi's passionate sister. August Dreesbach Verlag , Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-944334-37-0 , p. 175.
  5. ↑ Gabriele Praschl-Bichler: Our dear Sisi. The truth about Archduchess Sophie and Empress Elisabeth. With previously unpublished letters. Amalthea, Vienna 2008.
  6. ↑ Christian Sepp: Ludovika. Sisi's mother and her century. August Dreesbach Verlag, Munich 2019, p. 232.
  7. ↑ Christian Sepp: Ludovika. Sisi's mother and her century. August Dreesbach Verlag, Munich 2019, p. 228.
  8. ↑ Empress Elisabeth and the Danube - From Bavaria via Vienna to Budapest. In: StrassederKaiserundKoenige.com. Retrieved December 28, 2021 .
  9. ↑ Kathrin Zeilmann: Sisi's Wedding - The Emperor and the Teenager. In: Focus.de. March 16, 2016, retrieved December 28, 2021 .
  10. ↑ Princess Nora Fugger. In the splendor of the imperial age . p. 118. Amalthea Verlag, Vienna 1932.
  11. ↑ Constantin Christomanos , Robert Holzschuh: The last Greek: The journey of Empress Elisabeth to Corfu in the spring of 1892: told from the diary pages of Constantin Christomanos. Eduard Krem-Bardischewski Verlag, Aschaffenburg am Main 1996
  12. ↑ Hellmuth Vensky: Sisi, the bullied empress zeit.de, December 24, 2012
  13. ↑ A grandfather of Empress Sisi was from Bayreuth in: Nordbayerischer Kurier of December 24, 2021, p. 11.
  14. ↑ Michaela Vocelka, Karl Vocelka : Sisi. Life and legend of an empress (= Beck'sche series. Volume 2829). Beck, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-406-66089-4 , p. 96.
  15. ↑ Marc Tribelhorn: "I would commit the act again!" In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung of September 11, 2017.
  16. ↑ Sigrid-Maria Größing : Murder in the House of Habsburg.
  17. ↑ a b The Murderer's Head (Narrenturm 22) - Springer Professional Media, Medical Division. 27 August 2016, retrieved 19 April 2020 .
  18. ↑ a b Emil Niederhauser, Assassination attempt on Elisabeth, Queen of Hungary , Verlag Corvina, Budapest (1990), translated by Maria Eisenreich, p. 19. ISBN 963-13-2867-8
  19. ↑ Page 1 of Empress Elisabeth's autopsy report . posting Retrieved April 11, 2017.
  20. ↑ Kay Lutze, Autopsy report on the corpse of the Empress of Austria by the Swiss authorities from 1898, Zahnärztliche Nachrichten, Issue 02 (2015) p. 56. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
  21. ↑ Peter Meier-Bergfeld: people, gifted for the beautiful?: ten years correspondent in Austria; Reports, essays, comments, interviews . BoD – Books on Demand, 2003, ISBN 978-3-8334-0502-0 , p. 267.
  22. ↑ Klemens Polatschek: Zita's last move. In: The time. 7 April 1989. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  23. ↑ Brigitte Hamann: Elisabeth, p. 119 and 344 f (see literature)
  24. ↑ Martha Schad: Elisabeth of Austria. Munich 2010, p. 71.
  25. ↑ Christian Sepp: Ludovika. Sisi's mother and her century. Munich 2019, pp. 368 and 444. The auction took place on May 9, 2019 at the Hermann Historica auction house. It was the estate of the lady-in-waiting Blanche von Kreusser (1839-1918).
  26. ↑ The poetic diary. Retrieved December 28, 2021 .
  27. ↑ Empress Elisabeth's star jewelery ( memento from September 15, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) schoenbrunn.at.
  28. ↑ Sisi star: The thief came with a parachute diepresse.com, March 27, 2010.
  29. ↑ Sisi star: Original diamond star of Empress Elisabeth since January 27, 2010 in the Sisi Museum hofburg-wien.at.
  30. ↑ The Oral Health of the Majesties , Dental Communications Issue 09 (2009), p. 214. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
  31. ↑ Sisi's beautiful teeth , Dental Communications, Issue 02 (2015) pp. 52-56. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
  32. ↑ L'impératrice Élisabeth d'Autriche et l'art dentaire , Société française d'histoire de l'art dentaire. 2014, 19. pp. 43–47 (French). Retrieved April 10, 2017.
  33. ↑ Beautiful fool . In: The Mirror . October 5, 1980, ISSN  2195-1349 ( spiegel.de [accessed December 28, 2021]).
  34. ↑ Brigitte Hamann: Elisabeth. Empress against her will. 12th edition 2010, p. 182.
  35. ↑ Official spa lists of Bad Kissingen from the years mentioned
  36. ↑ Sisi and the Emperor's Kiss. Retrieved April 19, 2020 .
  37. ↑ Comeback of a TV empress spiegel.de, April 15, 2009.
  38. ↑ Filming started on Netflix's Sisi series "The Empress". In: DerStandard.at . 21 August 2021, retrieved 16 October 2021 .
  39. ↑ Terra X: Sisi – Myth of a Fairy Tale Princess Video on YouTube (43:07 min.)
  40. ↑ Review of the documentary film Sisi - Myth of a Fairy Tale Princess Benjamin Müller on quotenmeter.de, December 23, 2008
  41. ↑ Schloß Schönbrunn Kultur- und Betriebsges.mbH: Sisi Museum. Retrieved December 28, 2021 (Austrian German).
  42. ↑ Sisi Castle / Aichach. Retrieved December 28, 2021 .
  43. ↑ Empress Elisabeth Museum Possenhofen, Sisi Museum, Pöcking am Starnberger See, Sissi. Retrieved December 28, 2021 .
  44. ↑ Sisi path through the Imperial Carriage Museum Vienna ( Memento of January 15, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  45. ↑ Brigitte Hamann (ed.:): Empress Elisabeth - The poetic diary , publisher of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1984, ISBN 3-7001-2681-6 .
  46. ↑ Helen Womack: The Legacy of the Empress of Austria to Today's Refugees , UNHCR Austria, 30 September 2019. Publication of UNHCR Austria .
predecessor government office successor
Maria Anna of Savoy Empress of Austria
1854-1898 		Zita from Bourbon Parma
personal data
SURNAME Elizabeth of Austria-Hungary
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie Princess in Bavaria; sissy; Sissy; Lisa, Elise
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary
BIRTH DATE December 24, 1837
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich , Kingdom of Bavaria
DATE OF DEATH September 10, 1898
PLACE OF DEATH Geneva , Switzerland