The Egyptian Cabinet of Empress Maria Ludovica is a masterpiece of the Empire style and one of the most unusual manifestations of interior design at the Viennese court.

Maria Ludovica d'Este, the third wife of Emperor Franz II/I, had an especial predilection for interior decoration. In 1810/12 she had the 24 rooms in her apartment in the Leopoldine Wing of the Vienna Hofburg redesigned by Count Anton Josef Harrach, an aristocrat who dabbled in architecture as a hobby. As well as rooms in the Empire style there were Chinese, Oriental and Egyptians rooms. Following the early death of the empress in 1816 her apartment was refurbished and the elaborate wall-decorations dismantled.

The various parts of the Egyptian Cabinet were stored for several decades at Laxenburg before being transferred to the Imperial Furniture Collection in 1915. In a unique collaborative workshop and an external team of restorers, these items were restored from 1994-1998 and the entire room reconstructed.