Maria Theresa and Schloss Hof
Schloss Hof was originally designed by Johann Lucas von Hildebrand at the behest of Prince Eugene of Savoy. During the course of opulent Baroque festivities held there over four days in 1754 Maria Theresa was persuaded to purchase Schloss Hof. Here her husband, Emperor Franz I Stephan, was intended to find ‘relief from the burdens of ruling’. However, after he died suddenly in 1765 during the celebrations for the wedding of their son, Archduke Peter Leopold, Maria Theresa had Schloss Hof remodelled and extended in the Neoclassical style and a set of dower apartments fitted out for herself. The wedding of her favourite daughter Maria Christina, who had been allowed to marry for love below her station, and Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen, took place in the chapel at Schloss Hof in 1766.
The Pragmatic Sanction – a difficult start for Maria Theresa
The exhibition starts with the so-called Pragmatic Sanction, which regulated female succession and the indivisibility of the Habsburg dominions. Despite this, Maria Theresa’s accession following the sudden death of Emperor Charles VI was anything but easy. The War of Austrian Succession against Bavaria, Saxony, Prussia and France overshadowed the first years of Maria Theresa’s reign, eventually ending in 1748 with the Peace of Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle).
The Seven Years’ War – enemies become allies
In the brief period of peace from 1748 to 1756 there was a paradigm shift in Austria’s policy of alliance, with former enemies such as France becoming allies. It was in this constellation that the Seven Years’ War began in 1756, a conflict which is explored in the exhibition, with sections devoted to Europe and the colonies in America and India. At the end of the conflict, Maria Theresa acquired Galicia and Lodomeria, the Bukovina and the Innviertel. The Austrian ratification document from the Peace of Teschen in 1779 from the main Bavarian State Archive will be one of the highlights in this section of the exhibition.
Splendour and misery
This section of the exhibition features impressive paintings of battles and portraits and busts of famous military commanders from this time. Alongside the role played by still familiar names such as Count Leopold Joseph Maria von Daun, Gideon Ernst von Laudon or Andreas von Hadik, the misery endured by the rank and file, the cannon fodder of political interests, will also be highlighted. Another focus will be on the measures established for looking after disabled war veterans and orphans.