Imperial Decoration of Main Floors of the Vienna Hofburg

Research project P 14312 Imperial Decoration of Main Floors of the Vienna Hofburg Wilhelm Georg RIZZI 08.05.2000 The research project focuses on the history of the decoration and utilization of the Vienna Hofburg, one of the most important residences of the Imperial House of Habsburg. The period of time to be examined extends from the middle of the 18th century to the end of the monarchy in 1918, although significant changes and alterations continuing up to the present will also be documented. The chief emphasis of the research will be an investigation of the State Apartements of the Amalienburg and the Reichskanzleitrakt, the two wings of the Hofburg wich underwent various phases of decoration during the period in question resulting in their distinctive heterogeneous appearance today. In the framework of this research project, the results of archive studies are to be compared for the first time with the current condition and will be accompanied by a chronological room-by-room overview documenting the historical condition in relation to the present state of these rooms. This project aims to undertake a thorough study of the written sources, particularly of the archive material of the "Burghauptmannschaft" (Hofburg administration authority) wich up until now have never ever been; scientifically examined, and to present a correlation between the situation today, the sources, and the resu1ts, based on expertises of restorers. This investigation of the written and illustred sources is a prerequisite for drawing conclusions based on these findings as to the connection between utilization and furnishing during the period of time being investigated. An analysis of this information will represent an important contribution to the knowledge of the hitherto incomplete history of the decoration of the Hofburg wings involved in this study. It will also be of considerable relevance to their current utilization, decoration and furnishings, as well as for their utilization as a museum.

The most significant result of this research is the creation of a "room book" of the apartments in the Imperial Chancellery Wing and the Amalia Residence, in which all sources including the results of the most recent research are collated in the form of "room sheets" to form a chronological history of the use and furnishing of these rooms. Among the most important new findings as regards the use of the Imperial Chancellery Wing and the Amalia Residence is documentary proof that in the period from 1854 to 1857 Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elisabeth did not occupy the Imperial Chancellery Wing and the Amalia Residence respectively, as had been hitherto assumed, but resided together in the Leopoldine Wing facing today`s Heldenplatz. A hitherto unknown inventory of the apartments of Empress Elisabeth dating to 1861 furnished proof that at least up until 1861 the imperial couple shared a bedroom in the empress`s apartments; this room was, however, not located in what is today the empress`s living-cum-bedroom but in the room known today as the dressing room/exercise room. Regarding the Stephan Apartments, a study of the sources enabled its original use to be more precisely defined and provided the basis for decisions regarding its current presentation as a museum space. The scientific survey of the empress`s and emperor`s apartments commissioned by the Schloss Schönbrunn Kultur- und BetriebsgesmbH. enabled comparisons to be made between the archival sources and the findings of the scientific investigation, resulting in a chronology of the sequence of the furnishing and decoration, from the 1760s in the Amalia Residence and from the 1720s in the Imperial Chancellery Wing, to the present day. The findings have served and continue to serve both as a direct basis for restoration as well as the refurnishing of the apartments on principles of historical authenticity. The most important finding as regards the Amalia Courtyard Apartment is the establishing of its original decoration by Pacassi (1760s) as well as the sequence of redecoration during Empress Elisabeth`s occupancy of the apartments. The stucco work on the ceiling was, however, so extensively reworked in 1851 that it must be dated to that period and not, as had been previously assumed, attributed to Pacassi. This situation is reversed in the case of the Imperial Chancellery Apartments, where the most significant result has been the dating of parts of the ceiling stucco work to the 18th century: hitherto it had been assumed that this dated in its entirety to the late 19th century.