Palaces,residencies, estates of the Habsburgs

[ipflo]

Here is a plan of the garden of alcsut. I assume number 2 is the place where once the mansion stood

[Eric_Lowe]

Thanks for the floor plan and location. I wonder if the Hapsburgs still owed the lands ? I wonder if photos was taken of the house during the time when they lived there.  

[dboro]

Thanks for the info and the photos. Sad that the estate did bot survive. If one want to go to search in the archievs, which one should I go when I get to Budapest ? Do want to do the Palace, Godollo and some info on Alcuit and the Hungarian Hapsburgs once I do get there. Thanks again for the help.  

The best archive is the Historical Photo Gallery of the National Museum, see details here:
http://www.mnm.hu/english/szerv.html

By the way, the most interesting photographic documents of (other) "Hungarian" Habsburgs are the pictures from the family of Archduke Friedrich (1856-1936) (from the Teschen line - I mean the line of Archduchess Maria Christina, daughter of Maria Theresia and husband Albrecht von Teschen). His wife, Isabella, princess of Croy was a talented photographer, who documentes almost every moment of their everyday life in their residences in Féltorony (today Halbturm, Austria) and Pozsony (aka Pressburg, today Bratislava, Slovakia - this palace was built in the 18th century by the Grassalkovich family - the builders of Gödöllő, now it's the residence of the President of Slovakia).
At least 150 photos are published (there's a Hungarian and  German edition):
Ein Photoalbum aus dem Hause Habsburg / Vilmos Heiszler, Margit Szakács, Károly Vörös ; Übers. v. Therese Töttösy, Budapest, Corvina Kiadó / Wien ; Köln ; Graz : Böhlau Verlag Gesellschaft m. b. H. und Co. KG., 1989
ISBN: 3205051971
(Copies are available online for 20-27 Euros; but here in Budapest copies of the German edition are usually appear on booksales for less then 3 Euros   )

[ipflo]

Again a little sidenote from me, an other favourite residence of the Habsburg Teschen family was the Weilburg palace in Baden in the Wienerwald. A beautiful palace built by the architect Kornhäusel around 1800. The castle is named after the city where the wife (a princess of Nassau Weilburg) came of the building archduke, which name I have forgotten on the moment. The palace is reputed to have had the first Christmas tree in Austria. Unfortunately the Red army burnt down the palace after WWII and destroyed it. It has never been rebuilt

[dboro]

Thanks for the floor plan and location. I wonder if the Hapsburgs still owed the lands ? I wonder if photos was taken of the house during the time when they lived there.  

Some more information: in 2002 there was an exhibition in the Szent István Király Múzeum, Székesfehérvár, Hungary: "Az alcsúti Habsburg-kastély tündölkése és pusztulása" (The Rise and Destruction of the Habsburg Palace in Alcsút". It has a tiny catalogue with great photos and a lot of information.
According to this catalogue, the last Habsburg, who lived in Alcsút was Archduke József Ágost (Joseph August) (1872-1962). When the Germans installed the Arrow Cross Party (a pro-German anti-Semitic fascist party) in government in October 1944 (and after it, the Soviet army intruded to Hungary), the Archduke's family (wife Auguste, Prinzessin von Bayern, 1875-1964 and their children) left Hungary, they emigrated to the US. After the WWII, they settled in Regensburg, as guests of Joseph's sister and her husband, Albrecht von Thurn und Taxis.
The Soviet Army arrived to Alcsút on the 24th December, 1944. A few hours later, the castle was in flames.
Almost everything destroyed - the family had left all of its properties in Alcsút.
The palace had a great collection. The furnitures were brought from Saint Petersburg as wedding-presents of Archduke Joseph Anton's first wife, Archduchess Alexandra Pavlovna, daughter of Tsar Paul I. Somehow (maybe still in the 19th century), some pieces of the tableware got to the Museum of Applied Arts in Budapest.
A few years later also the Library and the family archives burned out. Surprisingly, a few years ago, 607 letters were found in the State Archives - they were given back to the family.
The palace was demolished in the 1950s. Only the chapel and the equerry remained - the latter houses a golf club today. The Club's honorary president is one of the grandsons of Archduke József Ágost.
During the Communism, the castle and the park was state property - the park was opened as a botanical park and it preserved this function until today.
In the last two decades, excavations were made around the palace, and a lot of fragments were found: molten deer figures of glass, crystal fragments of chandeliers, piano vires, fragments of porcelain vases and busts, some pieces of the weapon collection, fragments of Alexandra Pavlovna's tea-set, given her by her father, with motifs of the park of Pavlovsk etc, etc ...

[Eric_Lowe]

Thank you very much for the information. I had a special liking for the Hungarian Hapsburgs. It was sad to see the palace destroyed.   However I hope I can find photos of the interiors and find out how the beautiful collection of furniture and art pieces were laid out.

[paola]

Is the Royal Crypt in the Budapest Royal Castle open to public? Which Hungarian Habsburgs are buried there? And is there any Hungarian Habsburgs buried in the chapel or park in Alcsut? Palatin Joseph and his wife, Archduchess Clotilde also owned a beautilful villa in Fiume (now the Croatian  State Archives).

[amedeo]

Many thanks DBORO for your contribute about the Royal Palace of Buda. It is a long time I have searched pics of the rooms and the floorplans but I was not able to find it. I wish know if you have taken them pics from a book (if you do could you tell me the title and the author becouse I'd like to buy it).

[dboro]

It's a little bit difficult to answer...
the photographs are from the digital archive of the Szabó Ervin Library of Budapest. It's really difficult to use, and it's only in Hungarian, so I found it better to send many of them directly to this thread.
If you're patient enough to try to see all the 150 digital images online, here1s what to do:
1. go to www.fszek.hu
2. click "adatbázisok" (databases) on the top
3. then click "saját adatbázisok" (own databases) on the left
4. click "Budapest képarchívum" (Budapest Picture Archive) on the left
5. click "Budapest képarchívum" again - on the bottom right (over the image)
these were only the first steps...
6. if you're lucky, you can see the "keresés" (search) window now (it looks really complicated) if you can't click the torch icon in the upper left corner
searching is VERY complicated here - if you're looking for images of the royal palace, the best thing to do is to search it as an "objektum"
so:
7. click to the "index" button in the line of "objektumról"
a new window appears with a list of the "objektum"s (buildings, statues etc.) in alphabetical order
8. find "királyi várpalota" (the easiest way is to write in the words "kiralyi varpalota" or kiralyi next to the "kezdet" (beginning) & then click "keres" (search)
9. if you managed to find the "királyi várpalota" in the list, choose it & click "beír + bezár"
now you're again in the "keresés" window & you can see
"KIRÁLYI VÁRPALOTA ->"
as the searched "objektum" (it would be easy to write it in in step 6, but you can do it only if you've got this character: Á, because the program doesn't understand "KIRALYI VARPALOTA ->" � 
10. click "keres" (search) (in the bottom left corner)
a new window appears...
11. click "lista" (list) (in the bottom left corner)
FINALLY, a list appears with 151 thumbnail images of the royal palace...
it wasn't that difficult, was it? � 

I wrote down this complicated process, because finding books about the palace abroad seems to me more difficult. I think they were published only in Hungary, the best ones are:

Hauszmann Alajos, A magyar királyi vár, s. l. [Budapest], 1912 - a great book by architect Alajos Hauszmann with many big, high quality images...
Czagány István, A Budavári Palota és a Szent György téri épületek, Budapest, 1966. - it was published only in 3300 copies...
I don't have any of them... Anyhow, good luck to find some pics/books!!

Daniel Borovi

[amedeo]

Thank you very much for your help. I've found the pics in the site. Your contribute to this site was very pretious!

[dboro]

Grazie e congratulazioni  

Daniel

[ipflo]

Unfortunately it did not work out for me, I come to step 11, and see that the program says he found 151 listings, but he does not give me the thumbnails �  But anyway, just as Amadeo, thx for the extensive working program how to get to the pictures

Some years ago there has been published a book in France about the Castle of Budapest: Budapest un Chateau pour un Royaume Musée Carnavalet, Paris-Musées 2001, 118 pages, ISBN 2 87900 565 5. It has about 100 pictures, it is a nice book. It was published in relation to an exposition:

L'HISTOIRE DU CHÂTEAU DE BUDAPEST � A TRAVERS L'HISTOIRE DE LA HONGRIE
http://www.paris-france.org/musees/musee_carnavalet/musee/expositions/expos/dp_budapest/histoire_chateau_budapest.htm


You can still order through amazon.fr: http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/ASIN/2879005655/403-9775090-3750043

Although it is a nice book, it does not contain as many maps, plans or pictures, as you probably (and I) would wish

ipflo

[dboro]

If you can't see the thumbnails, you can click to the titles, too, or you can try it again. Sometimes this database does REALLY wierd things...

I know the exhibition and the catalogue of the exhibition organized in the Musée Carnevalet, but it doesn't contain so many pictures of the 18-20th century palace. This exhibition followed a huge one organized in the Budapesti Történeti Múzeum (Museum of Budapest History) of Budapest in 2000, entitled "A Budavári Palota évszázadai". It was a really great show presenting many original plans, photographs, works of art & other objects from the 18-20th century history of the palace. It has a rather interesting catalogue, sadly, with small B&W illustrations. That's why I didn't added it to the list. So good luck again, and if you have any questions, or if you need any picture, just ask. I scanned some pics for my thesis, maybe I'll send them, too.

[dboro]

Some of the so-called ruins before the demolition, 1960.  

[ipflo]

Is this from the Buda palace? It is unbelievable how many great buildings have been destroyed during the last century