Sisi Museum, Imperial Apartments, Silver Collection
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Sisi Museum, Imperial Apartments, Silver Collection

Opening hours:
September to June:
9 am to 5.30 pm
July and August:
9 am to 6 pm

Hofburg, Michaelerkuppel
A-1010 Wien
T +43 1 533 75 70
info@hofburg-wien.at
www.hofburg-wien.at/en

The Sisi Museum

The six rooms of the Sisi Museum explore the personality and life of this unusual empress. The main focus is on the private aspects of Elisabeth’s life, as revealed in her poetry which allows us a direct insight into her personality: her rebellion against court ceremonial and her flight into the cult of her own beauty, her obsessive dieting and sporting manias, and her rebellion against the strictures of court etiquette. Ceaselessly trying to escape from herself, the empress travelled incessantly, finally meeting a tragic end when she was assassinated in Geneva in 1898.

Highlights: The famous paintings by F.X. Winterhalter, clothes worn by the empress, an original diamond star, the empress’s travelling medicine chest

The Imperial Apartments

The Hofburg was the residence of the Habsburg dynasty for over 600 years. The magnificent Emperor Staircase leads up to the 19 state and private rooms of Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elisabeth. Restored over the past few years and furnished on historically authentic principles, these rooms convey the private atmosphere of the imperial couple’s residential apartments. The Imperial Apartments thus testify not only to the stately splendour of the Habsburg monarchy but also to the personal history of their occupants.

Highlights: The bedroom and study of Emperor Franz Joseph, the exercise-cum-dressing room and bathroom of the empress, the dining room with its splendidly decked table

The Silver Collection

After the end of the Habsburg monarchy the objects held by the Court Silver and Table Room passed into the ownership of the Republic of Austria. Today these magnificent items from the imperial court household can be admired in the Imperial Silver Collection. Besides precious services of glass, silver and porcelain you can also see examples of imperial table linen as well as cooking utensils from the Court Kitchens.

Highlights: The magnificent Milan Centrepiece, the Vienna Court Table Silver, the Grand Vermeil Service, services by Meissen, Sèvres, Minton and Herend

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