Today I'd like to show you the Sisi Museum of Vienna, Austria and share my experience with you.
Feel free to read the other episodes here :
Vienna - Part 1 - Public Transport
Vienna - Part 2 - Hospitality
Vienna - Part 3 - St. Michael's Church
Vienna - Part 4 - Schönbrunn Palace
Vienna - Part 5 - Hofburg Palace - Silver Collection - Part I.
Vienna - Part 5 - Hofburg Palace - Silver Collection - Part I.
Vienna - Part 5 - Hofburg Palace - Silver Collection - Part III.
Vienna - Part 5 - Hofburg Palace - Silver Collection - Part IV.
Vienna - Part 5 - Hofburg Palace - Silver Collection - Part V.
Vienna - Part 5 - Hofburg Palace - Silver Collection - Part VI.
Vienna - Part 5 - Hofburg Palace - Silver Collection - Part VII.
Vienna - Part 6 - St. Stephen's Cathedral
Vienna - Part 7 - Food
Vienna - Part 8 - The Ferstel Passage - Part I.
Vienna - Part 8 - The Ferstel Passage - Part II.
Vienna - Part 9 - Mozart Everywhere
Sisi, or Elisabeth of Bavaria or Empress Elisabeth of Austria was also Queen of Hungary and wife of Emperor Franz Joseph I. She married young, tried to fit into court life, fit the expectations but that wasn't for her. Her life wasn't a happy one, she was suffering from depression after her son, Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria committed suicide on 30 January 1889 together with her mistress. After the tragic event the Empress only wore black for the rest of her life.
The museum is hosted by the Hofburg Palace and unfortunately photographing is forbidden.
The palace is truly wonderful, an architectural masterpiece in my opinion.
If you like architecture and art, you'll love the palace for sure.
At the entrance you can get audio guide for free, it's included in the ticket price but in weekends, when there are more visitors than audio guides, you get a brochure you can read on the go. I was lucky because there was an Italian group that requested guided tour and as I understand Italian very well, I just tagged along and listened to the guide lady and found out a lot actually.
Sisi didn't like fame and did everything to stay away from the public. She traveled a lot an was hardly ever in Vienna. You can see many of her items exposed in the museum, items like her clothes, her bible, her cocaine kit, as she had one. Back in those days little did they know about how dangerous it is. There's a travel kit of hers full of medical instruments, medicine etc.
There's a statue of hers, her size exactly, dressed in black. It's a replica of her dress. There's also a replica of her dress she wore at the coronation ceremony in Budapest, with the occasion of becoming Queen of Hungary. The dress is impressive but also very heavy, too much for these days. No wonder Elisabeth rushed to change her dress as soon as the coronation ceremony ended.
She was a beautiful woman and her beauty and health was pretty much her only concern. She spent hours dressing, combing her hair, applying different beauty products on her face, among which raw meat as it was believed to have good effect on the skin. She had a training room that had a wall bar that she used to stay fit. She also loved horseback riding.
She had a bathroom all for herself, with a copper bathtub I believe. It was nothing like we have nowadays. Everything was very simple in it, except for the wallpaper, which was made of some kind of fabric, maybe silk. I wanted to touch it but it wasn't allowed. Her toilet was made of white and blue porcelain and had a wooden seat.
She had a court saloon car she was traveling with. A replica is displayed in the museum, the original is at the Technisches Museum in Vienna. While I was look at the saloon car I tried to imagine how life must have been traveling with it. It looked comfortable if used on roads like we have today but it wasn't the case back then obviously.
Finally a few words about what has shocked me so to speak. There were a lot of items on display with the Empress's image on them, like mugs, plates and similar items. It was strange to see these items in the museum, it gave you the idea of a souvenir shop although those were not for sale. Those were items sold right after the Empress's death. Shocking, isn't it? Well, the Italian guide said the court needed funds and they knew Elisabeth's popularity can be monetized, this is how licenses were issued to different artisans and manufacturers who could make those products that were sold to whoever wanted them.
It was impressive to see the Habsburg's home, imagine how they lived and what life must have been for them.
Useful Information:
Hofburg, Michaelerkuppel 1010 Vienna
T: +43 1 533 75 70
[email protected]
Public transport lines which take you directly to the Hofburg
Underground: U3 (orange), alight at Herrengasse
Trams: 1, 2, D and 71, alight at Burgring
Bus: 1A and 2A, alight at Hofburg
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