Folded Beauty

Autumn Exhibition
8.9.2010 - 23.1.2011
Press Release June 2010

General Press information

Imperial Furniture Collection
Schloß Schönbrunn Kultur- und Betriebsges.m.b.H.
press information

"Maria Theresa" Room

Following the tradition of his father Emperor Leopold I. (1640/1658-1705) and of his elder brother Emperor Joseph I. (1678/1705-1711), Emperor Karl VI regularly spent the winter in the Hofburg Palace in Vienna and in the spring at Laxenburg. His summer residence was the Favorita Palace in Vienna and for the hunting season in autumn the Emperor went to Ebersdorf.

After Karl VI’s death in 1740, his daughter Maria Theresa succeeded to the throne of the Austrian hereditary lands. Her husband, Franz Stephan of Lorraine, was elected Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire as Franz I in 1745.

The young couple were initially content with two residences instead of four. Maria Theresa and Franz Stephan spent the winter months in the apartment in the Leopoldinischer Trakt of the Vienna Hofburg which had previously been used by Karl VI and was not changed for them. In summer the Court moved to Schönbrunn Palace, which was enlarged and transformed from a pleasure seat into an Imperial residence. Later on, Maria Theresa had the Imperial apartments and the state rooms in the Hofburg Palace redesigned.

In most of these redecoration projects, Maria Theresa was assisted by the Court architect Nicolaus Pacassi, whose name is associated with the Rococo-style wood panelling, decorated in white and gold, which gave Maria Theresas interiors their unique character.

Maria Theresa took pleasure in redesigning and decorating palaces. As early as 1742 she bought Hetzendorf Palace for her mother and had the interior of the palace altered for her. From the heirs of Prince Eugene of Savoy she bought Schloßhof Palace and Belvedere Palace, both of which were redecorated and refurnished. The Imperial collection of paintings was exhibited in Belvedere Palace.