For decades the life of Empress Elisabeth has fascinated and moved countless people around the world. Her tragic death at the hands of an assassin in 1898 has made her the subject of numerous films, including the legendary Sissi films starring Romy Schneider from the 1950s. A huge international success, these films made a considerable contribution to the stylisation of Sisi as a cult figure, painting a romanticised picture of the empress as a self-sacrificing and much-loved monarch, an image that has little to do with the reality of her life.

In 2004 the Sisi Museum opened in a section of the Imperial Apartments once occupied by the empress. With more than 300 personal objects on display, the exhibition avoids the usual clichés, presenting Elisabeth’s true personality in a sensitive exploration of the empress’s life and fate. Elisabeth’s verse is used to illustrate her emotional states of mind at each stage of her life, from her carefree girlhood to the restless, aloof and melancholic woman she later became.

The exhibits on display in the Sisi Museum include objects from her childhood and youth, such as her christening robes, one of her milk teeth, a pair of children’s shoes, the announcement of her marriage or the gown that she wore to the ball given to mark her departure from Bavaria for Vienna. In her official role as Empress of Austria, Elisabeth felt deprived of her freedom. The official duties she so disliked and the rigid confines of life at court are illustrated with jewellery, accessories and gowns – in particular a replica of the gown she wore for her coronation as Queen of Hungary. The empress retreated increasingly into the cult of her own beauty and started to exercise obsessively. Here exhibits include her cosmetic recipes together with parasols, fans, her riding crop, a milk glass and the mourning jewellery worn by this increasingly reclusive woman. Her assassination, when she was killed by a tiny stab wound to the heart, put an end to her much misunderstood life. The sharpened file used to kill her and the black coat that was used to cover the empress after the assassination constitute the highlights rounding off the broad range of exhibits on display in the museum.

Managed by the Schloss Schönbrunn Kultur- und BetriebsgesmbH (SKB), the exhibits at the museum are regularly exchanged in order to be able to show the range of objects that have been acquired in recent years. From the start, this museum has been a hit with the public: in the first five years the museum attracted more than three million visitors.

In addition to the Sisi Museum visitors can view the former residential apartments of Franz Joseph and Elisabeth in the Vienna Hofburg. The SKB has commissioned extensive and painstaking restoration work based on thorough scholarly research in order to bring these rooms back to their historically authentic state. Highlights include the empress’s dressing room-cum-exercise room and her bathroom.

In the west wing of Schönbrunn Palace is the former summer apartment used by Elisabeth. Here too the main focus of the displays is on conveying accurate historical information. In keeping with the central aim of the SKB – the preservation of Austria’s imperial heritage undertaken on scholarly and scientific principles – the use of this apartment by the empress has been thoroughly researched. The image of the empress presented in these rooms aims for the greatest possible authenticity, inviting the 1.9 million visitors who tour the palace every year to examine the conventional clichés associated with the empress in a critical light.

The Imperial Furniture Collection also has a special ‘take’ on the Sisi myth. Holding around 160,000 objects, this former repository of imperial furniture also contains pieces used for the sets of the Sissi film trilogy starring Romy Schneider. The visitor can follow a special ‘Sis(s)i Trail’ in the Imperial Furniture Collection which points out the discrepancy between reality and the myths transported by the films. The trail takes the visitor to exhibits that were actually owned by the empress, as well as to the furniture used on the sets of the Sissi films. The furniture reveals that the films had little basis in historical fact. For example, the furniture with painted floral decoration in the bedroom at Gödöllö in the films actually came from the Schönbrunn apartment of Elisabeth’s daughter Gisela. The juxtaposition of historic images and stills from the films also reveals differences between the real empress and the film character. Supplying background information on the making and distribution of the films, the Sis(s)i Trail affords a unique opportunity to explore the myth-making function of these movies, which continue to enjoy huge popularity around the world.

A ‘Sisi Ticket’ purchases combined admission at a discount to the Sisi Museum & Imperial Apartments in the Vienna Hofburg, Schönbrunn Palace and the Imperial Furniture Collection. The ticket is valid for one year from date of purchase.