Daughter of Archduke Ferdinand II. of Tyrol and Anna Katharina of Mantua. Crowned wife of Emperor Matthias. Awarded the Golden Rose by Pope Paul V. Borghese. Empress Anna is the testamentary founder of the Capuchin Monastery and the Imperial Crypt.
Son of Maximilian II. and Infanta Maria. Husband of Archduchess Anna of Tyrol, whose marriage remained childless. Governor of Lower Austria. King of Hungary and Bohemia, crowned emperor in 1612. Supported the founding of the Capuchin monastery in St. Ulrich. Namesake of Schönbrunn Palace.
Son of Ferdinand II. and Maria Anna of Bavaria. King of Hungary and King of Bohemia. Commander-in-chief of the imperial troops. Victory over the Swedes and French in the Battle of Nördlingen. Holy Roman Emperor from 1637 to 1657. Ferdinand spoke seven languages, founded a literary academy, and was a musician and composer. Establishment of the “House of Austria” in 1648 in the Peace of Westphalia. Designation of the Imperial Crypt as the Habsburg family burial place.
On 14 July 1683, the siege of Vienna (Second Turkish Siege of Vienna) began, lasting until 12 September. On the morning of 12 September, the 80,000-strong relief army under Polish King Jan III Sobieski launched its attack in the Battle of Kahlenberg. The Turks were driven out that same day.
Third son of Emperor Leopold I. and Eleonora Magdalena of Palatinate-Neuburg. King of Bohemia and Hungary. Holy Roman Emperor from 1711 to 1740. Lost the Spanish crown and colonies to Philip of Anjou. Regulation of female succession through the Pragmatic Sanction. Talented musician and great patron of the arts. Expansion of Klosterneuburg as a monastery and residence. Founder of St. Charles's Church.
Daughter of Emperor Charles VI. and Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Wife of Francis I. Stephen of Lorraine. Founder of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. Crowned Queen of Hungary and Bohemia. Mother of 16 children (5 sons and 11 daughters). She managed the affairs of government and initiated many reforms (e.g. compulsory schooling, abolition of torture) and ruled with insight into human nature and determination. As the ‘mother-in-law of Europe’, she married her children throughout Europe for the benefit of the state. At the end of her life, she prepared herself carefully and courageously for death and died remarkably calmly, after 40 years of reign, at the age of 63.
Youngest daughter of Maria Theresa. Wife of King Louis XVI. of France. Mother of four children. Executed by guillotine during the French Revolution. She is buried in the Basilica of Saint-Denis in Paris.
Daughter of Empress Maria Theresa and Francis I. Stephen of Lorraine. Wife of Ferdinand IV of Naples, who became Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies in 1815. Mother of 18 children. Member of the Royal Crown Council. Founder of an academy of sciences. Committed opponent of Napoleon. Queen of Sicily.
The Congress of Vienna, which took place from 18 September 1814 to 9 June 1815, reorganised Europe following Napoleon Bonaparte's defeat in the Coalition Wars. After the political map of the continent had changed significantly in the wake of the French Revolution, the Congress redrew numerous borders and created new states.
Grandson of Maria Theresa. Son of Emperor Leopold II. and Maria Ludovika of Spain. Last Roman Emperor 1792–1806. First Emperor of Austria 1804–1835. As an emperor who was close to the people, he was nicknamed ‘the good Emperor Franz’. He placed the affairs of state in the hands of his State Chancellor, Prince Metternich. Emperor Franz established the hereditary Empire of Austria. His abdication as Roman Emperor in 1806 marked the end of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, which had existed since Otto the Great in 962.
Son of Emperor Leopolds II. and Maria Ludovika of Spain. Brother of Emperor Francis II.(I.). Adoptive son of Maria Christine and the Duke of Saxony-Teschen. Governor-General of the Netherlands, Commander of the Rhine Army. Field Marshal and Minister of the Navy. President of the Court War Council and Generalissimo. Nicknamed the ‘Lion of Aspern’ after his victory over Napoleon. Equestrian statue on Vienna's Heldenplatz. Construction of Weilburg Castle near Baden.
Daughter of King Victor Emmanuel I of Sardinia and Maria Theresa of Austria-Este. Without knowing beforehand that he was ill, she was chosen by Metternich to be the wife of Emperor Ferdinand I. Maria Anna was called the ‘Mother of the Poor’ because of her charitable work.
Daughter of Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria, and Ludovika Wilhelmine of Bavaria, daughter of King Maximilian I. Wife of Emperor Franz Joseph I. Mother of Sophie, Gisela, Rudolf and Marie Valerie. Tradition depicts Elisabeth in Bavaria (‘Sisi’) as a sensitive, unconventional woman who suffered under the strict court protocol. She was a poet, an excellent horsewoman and undertook extensive travels. Elisabeth engaged in personal political activities to reconcile the Emperor with the Magyars (Compromise with Hungary in 1867). Elisabeth was assassinated in Geneva by the anarchist Luigi Lucheni.
