The imperial villa stands on the opposite bank of the Ischl River
in the large Austrian resort of Bad Ischl. It is located about 700
meters from the main train station. This exquisite building has gone
down in history as the summer residence of the Austro-Hungarian
Emperor Franz Joseph I and his wife, the famous Empress Elizabeth,
known as Sisi.
It was originally a rather modest structure in
the simple Biedermeier style, considered an offshoot of German
Romanticism. It belonged to an ordinary Viennese notary until in
1853 the mansion was bought by the Archduchess Sophia, the mother of
the emperor, who presented the future villa to her son as a wedding
gift. Then began large-scale work to rebuild the structure.
Now the imperial villa is made in a neoclassical style. In its
shape, it resembles the letter "E". Of particular note is the
building's main portal, decorated with powerful columns and an
exquisite tympanum on the pediment.
On the territory of the
villa there was a luxurious park in the English style, the so-called
"landscape park". It is notable for the absence of carefully
calibrated symmetry, in other words, trees and shrubs in a park of
this kind are allowed to grow as in natural conditions. Also in the
park were installed marble fountains and a monument to Emperor Franz
Joseph.
The crowned spouses themselves stayed here almost
every summer. Even after the tragic assassination of Sisi, the
Dowager Emperor did not stop visiting Ischl until the outbreak of
World War I in 1914. In addition to the imperial family itself,
other politicians, noble nobles, and also artists were often found
here.
Now the imperial villa is a private property - it
belongs to Archduke Markus, one of the last representatives of the
Habsburg family. But despite this, some of its premises and
luxurious gardens are open for tourists.
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 following years, the villa was
built according to designs by Anton (io) L Limiti (* 1804, † March
30, 1858), the k. k. first personal valet of Franz Joseph I, rebuilt
and expanded in neoclassical style. The already existing central
wing was expanded on the park side, which turned the original rear
of the house into a representative entrance with classical columns
and tympanum. In addition, two side wings were created, which 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
little 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 marble castle, and the buildings of the Upper
Austrian Photo Museum and the regional music school, are listed as
historical monuments. The park is well preserved in its original
condition from 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 Section 1,
Paragraph 12 of the 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".