Sisi Museum in Hofburg Palace

“Sisi, Sisi, Let Down Your Hair:” Apologies to Rapunzel—The Hofburg Palace…Danube #3

/ Curt Mekemson / 28 Comments
A German Duchess, Elisabeth (Sisi) Amalie Eugenie became the Empress of Austria at 16 in 1854 when she married the Habsburg Emperor Franz Joseph. He was supposed to marry her older sister. While Sisi loved Franz, she never did adjust to the limits placed on her as an empress. But, boy, could she grow hair! She’s a legend in Austria. (Painting in the Sisi Museum.)
Sisi was considered one of the great beauties of Europe and thought of her hair as her greatest asset. It actually reached all the way to her feet when let down. Its care and maintenance required three hours per day. Sisi spent the time studying Greek and Hungarian, reading and writing. Every three weeks she had her hair washed with raw eggs and brandy. The process took a whole day, including drying. (Painting in the Sisi Museum.)
The Sisi Museum is in the Hofburg Palace, the winter home of the Habsburgs. Peggy and I visited it as part of our tour of the historical center of Vienna. This was Sisi’s exercise room. She was as fanatical about exercise as she was her hair. Long workouts and multi-hour fast hikes were all part of her daily regimen. Her passion, however, was horseback riding. She was one of the premier horsewomen of her era.
Sisi loved the out-of-doors and dreamed of exploring the world. A number of paintings in her rooms reflected her desires to travel and visit exotic lands, which she wasn’t allowed to do.
Peggy was so fascinated by Sisi, she bought a biography on her. At 410 pages it was hardly light reading. Nor was it light carrying, or easy to fit in an already packed suitcase!

Peggy noted that the main reasons for Sisi’s unhappiness were the close-to-total control her mother-in-law had over her, and the fact that she was a very private person. The latter was a poor fit for being an empress of a vast empire expected to be constantly involved in public events and private meetings. She expressed her unhappiness in poetry. A particularly telling poem was included in the museum:

“I am a seagull of no land,
I call no shore my home,
I am bound to no place,
I fly from wave to wave.”

She was assassinated at age 60 by an Italian anarchist.
This bricked up wall we found as we exited the museum was not designed to keep Sisi home. It’s designed to keep visitors out of the official residence and workplace of the President of Austria, which is located on the other side.
The Hofburg Palace and its connected buildings could take several days to explore but Peggy and I only had two hours. This duplicate of the Habsburg Coat of Arms and Crown is located on top of the Palace. Angels trumpet the glories of the empire.
We liked this royal lion seated outside what’s known as the Swiss Gate of Hoffburg Palace.
He was a handsome beast that looked quite regal.
Atlas was holding up the universe on top of the 2.5 million book Austrian National Library in the Palace complex. It was punishment. Atlas was forced to carry the heavens on his shoulders by Zeus for leading the Titans in a rebellion against the Olympian gods. The gods were quite creative when dishing out sentences. Remember Sisyphus who was forced to push a heavy boulder up a mountain for his transgressions. It would then immediately roll back down for Sisyphus to push up again. Poor Prometheus, whose crime was giving humanity fire, was sentenced to having an eagle peck open his body every day and eat his liver. It conveniently grew back overnight to feed the eagle the next day.
One of the most popular places to visit at the Palace complex is the Spanish Riding School of Vienna, which features the white Lippizaner horses known for their superb training. Once bred for war, the horses now earn their living by corralling tourist dollars.
While we are on the subject of white war horses, we photographed these guys running rampant over a person near Atlas. My only question is how can you eat an ice-cream cone (or anything) while being trampled by a horse and strangling a snake? Given Peggy’s love of ice cream, she might be able to answer the question, especially if it was coated with Heath Bar bits and hot chocolate fudge.
One more horsey thought. I can’t remember what great military hero/emperor/etc. this is, but I do remember our guide told us you could tell how he died by the position of the horse’s hoof. One hoof up meant he died from injuries suffered in battle. All four hooves on the ground meant he died of natural causes. Both hooves off the ground with the horse rearing would tell us he died in battle. Other guides told us this as well. Validity? I don’t know.
We’ll close today with a visit to St. Michael’s Church which is opposite St. Michael’s Gate at the Hofburg Palace. Remember how I thought a huge painting of St. Stephan being stoned to death on the altar of St. Stephan’s Church was a bit weird. This is even stranger. This represents the bad angels being kicked out of heaven to roam as demons among mankind forever while Lucifer was sent straight to hell.
A close up. The good guys are on top armed with various weapons while the bad guys aren’t doing very well. I have to think the huge wings of archangels would get in the way during close combat.
St. Michaels is old, with a history stretching back over 8 centuries. I thought that this picture we found on the wall when we were leaving, spoke to the church’s age more than anything else we saw. The fresco is from around 1350. What’s going on is psychostasy, which was a new word for me. It means the weighing of souls. Have you been good or bad? This particular scene even comes with a rooting section, with the Devil on one side and the Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus on the other. St. Michael is doing the weighing. Apparently, Jesus is winning, even though it appears the Devil has attached a weight to his basket. Tricky fellow. Note he has a face on his belly. If that’s not duplicitous, what is?
Not sure whether we will get a post up on Friday, given that it’s Thanksgiving weekend. If not, we’ll be back on Monday with more on Vienna’s historic downtown including this large green rabbit who seems to have landed himself a bottle of expensive Moet Champaign. That’s all for now. “I’m late, I’m late, for a very important date.” The rabbit hole is waiting.