Author Description

To mark the third centenary of the birth of Maria Theresa, on 15 March 2017 a major exhibition will be launched exploring the life and influence of one of the most important rulers in European history. Maria Theresa's reign lasted for 40 years, from 1740 to 1780. After a turbulent period at the beginning of her rule, the Habsburg Monarchy entered a golden age. In the fields of state administration and foreign policy, Maria Theresa, the daughter of Charles VI, enacted measures that were to have a decisive influence on the further development of the monarchy. Although the monarch had a sceptical attitude towards the ideals of the Enlightenment, this epoch is still seen as a period of reform in which the Habsburg lands underwent a distinct process of modernisation. Under Maria Theresa courtly pomp and ceremony reached a final zenith before the sober-mindedness of the Josephine era that followed and the fall of the ancien régime in the French Revolution. The idealization of Maria Theresa as the great "mother of the nation" was a phenomenon that started well before her death. Thanks to her sixteen children she became a symbolic figurehead during her own lifetime. The exhibition examines the image of Maria Theresa as a family person and explores the often very complicated relationships between the individual members of the family. The dark sides of this forceful monarch are also explored. Her intolerance towards other faiths, the creation of the mythic figure of Maria Theresa and her transformation into a positive figure of identification for the Habsburg dynasty are all subjected to critical examination. Exhibition: Schloss Hof / Schloss Niederweiden / Hofmobiliendepot, Möbel Museum Wien / Kaiserliche Wagenburg Wien, Austria (15.03.-29.11.2017).