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A gift
The villa began as a notary's house and became a wedding present
It was first a Biedermeier villa owned by a Viennese notary, Josef August Eltz. Eduard Mastalier bought it in 1850. After Franz Joseph's engagement to Princess Elisabeth of Bavaria in 1853, his mother, Princess Sophie, bought it as a wedding present.
The shape
Two added wings gave the Neoclassical villa the shape of an E
Antonio Legrenzi altered and expanded the villa in a Neoclassical style. The back of the house became the entrance, with Classical columns and tympana. Two wings were added, giving the building the overall shape of an E.
Summers
The building work stopped each summer while the royal family stayed
The ensemble was completed in 1860. Construction was significantly slowed because it could not proceed in the summer months, when the royal family was present. The villa is surrounded by a large park in the English Style.
The retreat
Franz Joseph called the villa Heaven on Earth
In 1849 Emperor Franz Joseph I chose Ischl for his summer residence, and the villa became the imperial family's summer home. He gave his mistress Katharina Schratt a nearby mansion, reached by a hidden footpath.
July 1914
On 28 July 1914 Franz Joseph signed a declaration of war in the villa
In the Kaiservilla Franz Joseph signed Austria-Hungary's declaration of war against the Kingdom of Serbia. It signalled the start of hostilities in World War I. He left Bad Ischl the next day and never returned.
Day 4, afternoon
It comes after Wolfgangsee Boat Ride.
More stories from this trip idea
The words are a retelling of the Wikipedia article Kaiservilla and the Wikipedia article Bad Ischl, and are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. They are checked against those articles, and a fact that is not in them is left out.