Weilburg Palace
Constructed in 1820, it was a present from archduke Charles, duke of Teschen (1771–1847) to his beloved wife, princess Henrietta of Nassau-Weilburg (1797–1829).
[1] Archduke Charles was the third son of Emperor Leopold II and his wife, Maria Luisa of Spain.
However, he had been adopted and raised by his childless aunt Marie Christine of Austria and her husband Albert of Saxe-Teschen.
[1] The location for the palace was in Baden near Vienna, a spa town favoured by the Viennese elite and members of the imperial family, who constructed extensive villas nearby.
[6][1] Moritz Gottlieb Saphir (1795–1858), a contemporary, called it "a stone poem, an epic built by a hero," alluding to the builder's military glory.
Archduke Albrecht (1817–1895) spent almost every summer in Baden and expanded the Weilburg estate by purchasing the forest area on Rauheneck Mountain from the Doblhoff lordship.
"[5] In July 1840, the street leading to the palace was described as being illuminated to such an extent during summer nights that "the area resembles the Vienna glacis", the old walls around the city.
[9] Schloss Weilburg's beautiful location often made it a subject for painters such as Jakob Alt, Thomas Ender, Balthasar Wigand, or Eduard Gurk.
[10] Archduke Albrecht was honoured as a respected military leader with an equestrian monument in front of his Vienna palace, the Albertina.
In his will, he appointed his nephew archduke Frederick (1856–1936), the eldest son of his brother Karl Ferdinand (1818–1874), as his heir.
Next to the Weilburg palace and the Albertina with its large art collections, he owned estates in Ungarisch-Altenburg (now Mosonmagyaróvár in Hungary), Bilje estate, Saybusch (now Żywiec in Poland), Seelowitz (now Židlochovice) and Frýdek in the Czech Republic, and the Grassalkovich Palace in Pressburg (now Bratislava in Slovakia).
Like most Habsburg princes, archduke Frederick adopted a military career, and served creditably for many years.
[11] At the start of the First World War, he was appointed by Emperor Franz Joseph I (1830–1916) as the supreme commander of the Austro-Hungarian Army.
[11] The archduke thought it his duty to accept this heavy responsibility, but, modestly underestimating his own powers, left the actual exercise of the command to his chief of staff, Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf.
[11] In the performance of ceremonial duties, and as mediator for the settlement of the conflicting demands of the military, civil and allied elements, his services were undeniable.
The Habsburg family members had to declare themselves loyal citizens of the republic, or leave the country, otherwise their property would be confiscated.
[5] In 1928, the social-democratic Vienna city administration expressed interest in acquiring the Weilburg as a "home for accommodating sick children," but this plan was rejected by archduke Frederick, still the owner.
He appointed his son archduke Albrecht Franz (1897–1955) as his heir, who received his estates in Hungary and the Weilburg palace.
After a lengthy process, their endeavours succeeded: in the first and second instances, the Federal Monuments Office and the Ministry of Education, decided to maintain monument protection at least for a part of the building, but the Administrative Court as the third and final instance lifted it, with the peculiar reasoning that the protected building had perished and the remaining ruins were not to be considered identical with it.
