Imperial Villa (Kaiservilla) description and photos - Austria: Bad Ischl (Topic)

Imperial Villa (Kaiservilla) description and photos - Austria: Bad Ischl. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The name in English is Kaiservilla.

Photo and description

The imperial villa stands on the opposite bank of the Ischl River in the large Austrian resort of Bad Ischl. It is located about 700 meters from the main train station. This exquisite building has gone down in history as the summer residence of the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph I and his wife, the famous Empress Elizabeth, known as Sisi.

Initially, it was a rather modest structure, made in the simple Biedermeier style, which was considered an offshoot of German romanticism. It belonged to an ordinary Viennese notary until in 1853 the mansion was bought by the Archduchess Sophia, the mother of the emperor, who presented the future villa to her son as a wedding gift. Then began large-scale work on the reconstruction of the structure.

Now the imperial villa is made in a neoclassical style. In its shape, it resembles the letter "E". The main portal of the building, decorated with powerful columns and an exquisite tympanum on the pediment, is especially worth noting.

A luxurious English-style park, the so-called "landscape park", was built on the territory of the villa. It is notable for the absence of carefully calibrated symmetry, in other words, trees and shrubs in a park of this kind are allowed to grow as in natural conditions. Also in the park were installed marble fountains and a monument to Emperor Franz Joseph.

The crowned spouses themselves stayed here almost every summer. Even after the tragic assassination of Sisi, the dowager emperor did not stop visiting Ischl until the outbreak of World War I in 1914. In addition to the imperial family itself, there were often other politicians, noblemen and artists.

Now the imperial villa is a private property - it belongs to Archduke Marcus, one of the last representatives of the Habsburg family. Despite this, some of its premises and luxurious gardens are open to tourists.

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Topic: Imperial Villa (Kaiservilla) description and photos - Austria: Bad Ischl.