The initials FJ I together with busts and paintings showing the emperor as head of state, grace museums and schools, railway stations and bridges, barracks and administrative buildings, which were often originally named after the monarch but which have now mostly been renamed. Still owned by direct descendants of Franz Joseph, the imperial villa showcases the emperor as a private person and passionate sportsman.įranz Joseph as monarch is encountered all over the former Monarchy on the countless public buildings erected during his long reign. The private passions of the emperor constitute the main focus at Bad Ischl in the Salzkammergut in Upper Austria, where the memory of the emperor as holiday-maker is preserved in nostalgic veneration. Their restrained, rather old-fashioned atmosphere reveals much about the daily life of this famously modest emperor. The classic places to explore the life of Franz Joseph are Schönbrunn Palace and the Imperial Apartments in the Vienna Hofburg, where one can view the rooms occupied by the monarch. The rather unremarkable statue of Franz Joseph in the Burggarten was not in fact intended for this site, having originally graced the military cadet school in the Breitensee quarter of Vienna, and was not erected in its present position until 1957. It is striking that there is no monument to Franz Joseph in Vienna that adequately memorializes his lengthy reign.

Even during his own lifetime, the emperor became a monument to himself, a relict of a far-off time, an anachronism in the modern world.

Franz joseph habsburg