Persons, places and events

Explore people, events, objects and locations connected with Habsburg history and learn more about their historical context.

Artists and statesmen alike belonged to various lodges which spread the ideas of the Enlightenment in Austria from...

Item Freemasons

1785

In 1785 Joseph II introduced the so-called ‘economy coffin’, which could be used several times. It was made of wood...

1785

At the height of the eighteenth-century Turkish vogue, Ottoman envoys visited the capitals of Europe. Magnificent...

1783

The Marriage Patent of 1783 made a clear distinction between the Church sacrament of marriage and the State marriage...

1783

The Maria Theresa thaler, first struck in 1741, was a very well-known silver coin, especially in the Arab world,...

1780

The cause of the War of Bavarian Succession lay in the claims to Lower Bavaria and the Upper Palatinate made by...

1778

The upbringing of Habsburg children included lessons in music and dancing with famous musicians. They also took...

Item A musical family

1778

At the Congress of Vienna Prince Metternich saw himself as the ‘coachman of Europe’. In 1821he became chancellor and...

Foreign minister of Austria

A native of Bonn, Ludwig van Beethoven was an influential composer who transformed the Viennese classical tradition. In...

Person Ludwig van Beethoven

* 17. Dec 1770, † 26. Mar 1827

Napoleon was a supporter of the French Revolution. Under his command, the revolutionary armies advanced across Europe...

Person Napoleon Bonaparte

King of the French

Tobacco enemas were used to resuscitate victims of drowning right up into the eighteenth century. Tobacco had been...

Item Tobacco smoke enema device

1769

The premiere of the Marriage of Figaro on 1 May 1786 at the Court Theatre in Vienna was not a success – there...

Item The Marriage of Figaro

1768

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