In a nutshell – What to Expect Here?
Why was Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria, different from her siblings? Why was she allowed to have a cenotaph to her memory in the parish church of the Habsburgs? What is inside?
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The full stroy of the Archduches’s empty pyramid?
The fifth and favorite daughter of Empress Maria Theresa, Archduchess Maria Christina, died in 1798, at the age of 56. The Habsburgs Royals, almost all of them, are buried in the imperial crypt of the Kapuzinerkirche and so is our heroine.
However, Prince Albert of Saxony, widow of Christina, had the privilege to order a cenotaph for his beloved wife. Maria Christina and Albert did marry loving each other, a rare event in the imperial family as her sisters, and brothers, all married for political reasons to benefit the dynasty.
He decided to commission the project to Antonio Canova, and build an empty pyramid in the church where many of the Habsburg events had taken place ( many imperial weddings happened here, like those of Maria Theresa herself with the Duke Francis of Lorraine in 1736, Napoleon Bonaparte of France to Archduchess Marie Louise in 1810, or the wedding of Emperor Franz Joseph in 1854 to Empress Elisabeth of Austria, Sissi, the Augustinerkirche.
The monument is a pyramid, with the inscription “UXORI OPTIMAE ALBERTUS” above the entrance, (Albert to the best of wives). The personification of Virtue crossing the door accompanied by two girls carrying torches, the symbol of power, a lion, is located on the other side of the entrance.
A portrait of Maria Christina held by spirits culminates this beautiful love homage.
What was the relationship between the archduchess Maria Christina and Maria Antoniette and the rest of the siblings?
Maria Christina was the favorite child of her mother, the Empress, as it is written in many of the letters that have survived to our time. This created many tensions with her siblings who were jealous of her and could see how the matriarch used Maria Christina to influence the decisions of her brothers and sisters as well as how the Archduchess used her power with her mother to her own benefit.
Forage for further odd places in Vienna
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