Room "The Assassination"
Assassination of Empress Elisabeth
Assassination
On 10 September 1898 Elisabeth is assassinated by the Italian anarchist Luigi Lucheni in Geneva. By chance he has discovered the true identity of the “Countess of Hohenembs”, the incognito under which the empress always travelled. On the way to the landing stage Lucheni is lying in wait for the empress and hurls himself on her, stabbing her in the breast with a file. Elisabeth falls to the ground, but gets up again in a daze. Believing she has only been knocked over, she hurries on board, not wanting to miss the boat. Shortly afterwards the empress collapses, and when her bodice is opened a tiny stab wound is discovered. The ship turns round immediately and the fatally-wounded empress is carried back to the hotel, where she dies shortly afterwards.
Elisabeth’s body is brought back to Vienna and interred in the imperial vaults of the Church of the Capuchin Friars. Elisabeth’s immortality begins with her tragic death – all criticism forgotten. What remains is the memory of a beautiful, unapproachable empress.
The Sisi myth is born.
Luigi Lucheni - The empress’s assassin [more]
