Hofburg isn't symmetric, as it has only one wing. It is said that the Habsburgs didn't have enough money to build the second one. Well, no wonder – as our literature teacher said yesterday – the Habsburgs never had enough money, they had kids instead...
Well, if that's how lack of money looks like (richly decorated rooms, china, furniture, travels, pictures...) then I would really like to see the homes of those truly rich ones.
Ticket price includes: Sisi's Museum, Imperial Rooms, Silver Collection. And everyone gets an audioguide.
First, the Silver Collection. It blew me away completely. Golden trays, several china sets made in various countries, silver cutlery, glass collection, richly decorated dishes, pots, napkins formed in extraordinary shapes, flowers on the plates, mythology on the plates, panorama of the city on the plates... Angels in the candlesticks... Excess of welfare... And the Habsburgs where supposed to live very modestly...
Imperial rooms are equally outstanding. Simplicity, good taste, various utensils. There is for example an audience room, where the Emperor Franz Joseph I talked with his subordinates from around the Monarchy. Everyone had to welcome him in their national clothes and the meeting weren't longer than 10 minutes. During one day the Emperor would meet with more than 100 guests. He finished his audience with a nod. The next room is green and it's were the Emperor would meet with his ministries. Then there's a bedroom and workroom.
Franz Joseph's wife, Elisabeth, lived in a bigger room, which served both as a workroom and a bedroom. The funniest was her sport equipment made of wood. She exercised regularly, as she was very concerned about her figure. She used all these funny horizontal bars, rode horse, swam, fenced. And here are the effects: she weighted 50 kg, was 172 cm tall and her waist measured only 51 cm! The latter is always underlined on all her portraits and statues. It is said that from time to time Sisi used to live on veal juice only to lose weight. But she liked sweets, as well. She was concerned about her hair, so she washed it in cognac mixed with eggs! The washing procedure took the whole day, hairstyling 2 hours each day and she never cut her hair.
Sisi's biography is illustrated in the Sisi's Museum. There are fragments of her poems, her gloves, shoes, jewellery, portraits, various equipment. And the sad story of her life. She was born in Bavaria, and married Franz Joseph when she was 15. Her freedom was suddenly over and she had to get used to new life, full of new rules and etiquette. She suffered a lot, so soon she left the residency and spent some time in a sanatorium. When she came back, she wasn't a shy girl anymore, but a strong, independent woman. She travelled a lot and had her own train coach. Once she took her two daughters on a trip, and both of them got seriously ill. The younger one (aged 2) died. After few years her son, Rudolf committed a suicide with his friend. He didn't want to be the successor to the throne, he criticised his father in anonymous articles and was like a torn romantic. After his death Sisi wore black clothes only and wrote a lot of sad poems. She was murdered during one of her journeys. It happened when she was getting on a ship...
And then a myth of wonderful Sisi appeared, although she wasn't particularly popular when she lived.
At the end of the day, when we left Hofburg and the story of Franz and Sisi's life behind – the Habsburgs approached us again. In the history lecture. Our teacher described the history of Monarchy and talked about Sisi and Franz' life. Hm, it seems that they will follow us wherever we'll go... Tomorrow we're visiting Schoenbrunn – the summer residency. Again we'll meet the Habsburg family. Anyway, Franz is everywhere in Vienna. I mean – all the most beautiful buildings in Vienna were build at his time...
It wasn't allowed to take pics inside, pitty...
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