I have heard a lot about the Hapsburgs since getting here. Specifically, I have heard a lot about Maria Theresia, Franz Josef, and the wife of Franz Josef, Elisabeth, who is affectionately referred to as Sissi. We went as a class to Schönbrunn Palace today, and these are really the only three we heard about. I have a feeling that these are the most admired of the Hapsburgs, and therefore are the main focus of any Hapsburg discussion. In fact, I am only even aware of the other Hapsburgs so far as they lead up to Maria Theresia.
Maria Theresia was brought into power through the Pragmatic Sanction, which was created by her father, Charles VI. He had no sons, but wanted the empire to continue to be run by his line. Thus, he wrote up the Pragmatic Sanction which allowed for a female ruler of the Hapsburg empire. She's regarded as a fine ruler for her skill in lawmaking. She's probably most well known for her educational reforms. The Austrian school system would not be what it is today were it not for Maria Theresia. She also had a LOT of children. She gave birth to sixteen, three of which died in infancy. Her most famous child is probably Marie Antoinette. Maria Theresia ruled for 40 years from 1740-1780.
Due to the fact that talk of Franz Josef always seems to come along with talk of Maria Theresia, it took me learning the dates of their rules to realize that they were not connected. He ruled from 1848-1916. His assassination in 1916 brought about the beginning of World War I. Franz Josef is an interesting character. During the tour I tried to get a bit of a feel for the guy, but he's just kind of an odd character. He seemed to be a minimalist, and preferred to have pictures of his family around him rather than overly elaborate decoration. He was militarily minded, and was not very interested in the arts. He had a simple bed, he woke up early and sat at his desk for hours getting work done. He spent hours holding audiences which anyone could request, and he always ended them the same way with, "Es hat mich sehr gefreut." He also had a lot of sadness in his life, largely because he married a psychotic woman.
Kaiserin Elisabeth, or Sisi/Sissi was married to Emporer Franz Josef and seemed to have accepted marriage to him out of some mutual feeling. Sissi was renowned for being extremely beautiful. Her hair was extremely long and her figure extremely slender. Franz Josef fell in love with her immediately. She, unfortunately, couldn't hold up to life in court. She became completely depressed, and began to shirk her duties to the court. She also became obsessed with her looks, would skip meals to maintain her figure, and would take long and vigorous walks around Vienna. Sometimes these would last six hours. Her hair took hours to wash and brush, and she couldn't do it herself. She was eventually assassinated, having led a seemingly unhappy life.
The palace itself was, for me, overwhelming. My tastes tend to be much simpler, and baroque architecture is not in any way simple. All through the tour they would talk about the decoration here in this room or in that room, and all I could think was "wasteful decadence." In some cases, based on the sheer number of people they would sometimes entertain, the scale of a room would make sense. However, a great majority of it was somewhat exaggerated. It was all a show of importance.
The gardens were extraordinary. There is, essentially, a small forest in this garden. There is also a zoo, a labyrinth, several fountains, the Glorietta, and fake Roman ruins. Compared with the stiflingly ornate interior, the gardens are a welcoming release. I could imagine Sissi, fed up with court life, taking to these gardens and longing for a life that she might have had elsewhere. I sat on a bench for a while among the trees with a couple of other girls from the group, and it was terribly relaxing. Where the palace left me gasping for air, the gardens left me at peace.
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