The 1848 Revolution

A setback for the court library

1848 saw a turning point in the history of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. Riots took place in Vienna from March 13 until the abdication of Emperor Ferdinand I, whose nephew Francis ascended the throne at the age of 18 as Franz-Joseph I on December 2.

The catalogues of the Imperial Court Library also suffered severe damages during the conflict. When Prince Albert of Windisch-Grätz launched a counter-attack against the insurgent workers and students on October 31, 1848, the left wing of the court library was set on fire. The flames on the roof of the building are clearly visible in the contemporary representation above.

Not only valuable books but objects of natural history from the imperial collection - which were stored in the Imperial Court Library until the construction of the Natural History Museum - were in acute danger. It was not possible to save everything since a large portion of the library’s staff had fled before the revolutionary set-tos in Vienna began. The animal stores in the garret of the library were completely destroyed by the fire, resulting in the loss of valuable collections of bird and mammalian preparations as well as herpetological collections from all over the world.