Imperial Villa

Imperial villa in Bad Ischl

The Kaiservilla in Bad Ischl ( Upper Austria ) was the summer residence of Emperor Franz Joseph I and Empress Elisabeth (Sisi) of Austria .

History and layout

Main wing of the imperial villa

View from the park

The building at the foot of the Jainzenberg was originally a Biedermeier style villa , which was built in 1834 by the Viennese notary Josef August Eltz. The doctor Eduard Mastalier bought it in 1850. After the engagement of Emperor Franz Joseph I to Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria in 1853, Franz Joseph's mother, Archduchess Sophie , acquired the property as a wedding present for the imperial couple.

In the years that followed, the villa was rebuilt and expanded in the neoclassical style based on designs by Anton (io) Lenzei (* 1804, † March 30, 1858), the art- savvy kk first personal chamberlain of Franz Joseph I. The already existing central wing was expanded on the park side, which turned the original rear of the house into a representative entrance with classicistic columns and tympanum . In addition, two side wings were created that gave the entire structure the shape of an "E", which indicates a possible homage by the client to his wife.

The villa is surrounded by an extensive English-style park. The park, the Marmorschlössl - which has housed the Photo Museum of the Upper Austrian State Museums since 1978 - and all the outbuildings were designed by the court gardener Franz Rauch. The Marmorschlössl served as a cottage (retreat) for Elisabeth. The entire ensemble in its present form was not completed until 1860, as construction was not allowed in the summer months due to the presence of the imperial family. The white marble fountain in front of the central wing was created by Viktor Tilgner in 1884 . The entire Jainzenberg also belonged to the imperial estate, there were walking paths and viewpoints here, but there was also hunting.

The emperor spent a few weeks in this small summer palace almost every summer. Numerous crowned heads of this time were once guests in the Kaiservilla and almost every year Franz Joseph celebrated his birthday here in Bad Ischl on August 18th. On July 28, 1914, in his study in the west wing of the house, he signed the fatal declaration of war on Serbia (and on the same day the well-known Manifesto To My Peoples! ), Which subsequently developed into the First World War , which led to the collapse of the Habsburg monarchy . Emperor Franz Joseph died in 1916 and bequeathed the property to his youngest daughter, Archduchess Marie Valerie . She was married to Archduke Franz Salvator from the Austria-Tuscany line, so the property remained in the Habsburg family . Since the imperial villa was privately owned by the Habsburgs and Franz Salvator and Marie Valerie renounced all claims to the throne, the property remained in their possession even after the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy (1918). Her son Hubert Salvator Habsburg-Lothringen inherited the villa. The current owner is his son Markus Emanuel Habsburg-Lothringen.

The Kaiservilla Bad Ischl complex , which includes the Kaiservilla and its park , as well as the Kaiservilla kitchen building (office), the former gardener's house (nursery), the Marmorschlössl , and the buildings of the Upper Austrian Photo Museum and the State Music School , are listed . The park is well preserved in the original condition of the early historicism , is one of the most important garden architectural monuments in Austria and is explicitly under monument protection as such ( No. 24 in the appendix to § 1 Paragraph 12 DMSG ).

The villa and park are open to the public during the summer months and temporarily in winter. The Kaiserpark was an official part of the exhibition grounds during the Upper Austrian State Horticultural Show 2015, which carried the motto "... the emperor's new gardens".

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  White marble fountain by Viktor Tilgner

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  The eavesdropper , a sculpture made of precious ore, was a gift from the Queen of England to Empress Elisabeth

literature

• Franz Weller: XV. The imperial villa in Ischl . In: The imperial castles and palaces in pictures and words . Volume 2. Zamarski, Vienna 1880, pp. 419-424. - Full text online . In: archive.org , accessed April 25, 2011.
• Hermann Prechtl: The emperor's summer vacation. (With six illustrations.) In: Oesterreichische Alpenpost , year 1903 (Volume V), pp. 298–301. (Online at ALO ).
• Erik G. Wickenburg : The imperial villa in Ischl. A short guide . Self-published, sl 1950, OBV .
• Erwin Hainisch : On the history of the park of the imperial villa in Bad Ischl . In: Upper Austrian homeland sheets . Volume 6.1952. State of Upper Austria, Linz 1952, ISSN  0029-7550 , p. 576 ff., Online (PDF; 679 kB) in the forum OoeGeschichte.at
• James Wilkie, Claudia Wilkie (translator): The imperial villa in Bad Ischl . Academic Printing and Publishing Company, Graz 2004, ISBN 3-201-01823-6 .

Web links

Commons : Kaiservilla  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• The imperial villa
• Entry via Imperial Villa on Burgen-Austria
• Upper Austrian State Garden Show 2015 - "... the emperor's new gardens"

Individual evidence

1. ↑ See The Notary Dr. Josef August Eltz (1788–1860) with his wife Caroline, b. Schaumburg, and the eight children in Ischl. FG Waldmüller, 1835 (image file on Wikimedia Commons).
2. ^ The Habsburgs and Bad Ischl. ( Memento of the original from March 20, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. kaiservilla.at (paragraph State Chancellor Prince Clemens Metternich ... ).  
3. ↑ Deceased in Vienna. In the city. March 30th. In:  Wiener Zeitung , No. 75/1858, April 2, 1858, p. 1109, column 3 above. (Online at ANNO ). .
4. ↑ K. Ziegler (Red.): Kaiservilla Bad Ischl . In: austria-forum.org , accessed on January 26, 2014.
5. ^ CK:  daily occurrences. The newly built imperial villa is now complete (...). In:  Ischler foreign salon , No. 39/1855, August 14, 1855, p. 153 (unpaginated), top left. (Online at ANNO ). .
6. ↑ Bad Ischl, Schloßpark, Kaiservilla (Kaiserpark), Jainzen No. 38, pol. Gmunden district . In: Eva Berger : Historical Gardens of Austria . Volume 2, Upper Austria, Salzburg, Vorarlberg, Carinthia, Styria, Tyrol . Böhlau, Vienna 2003, ISBN 3-205-99352-7 , p. 111 f. - Full text online , accessed April 25, 2011.
7. ↑ Hainisch: On the history of the park , passim.
8. ↑ Opening times of the Kaiservilla , accessed on September 8, 2015.
9. ↑ OÖ Landesgartenschau 2015 ( Memento of the original from May 3, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed May 20, 2015. 

Coordinates: 47 ° 42 ′ 54 ″  N , 13 ° 37 ′ 13 ″  E