Dressing and Exercise Room
Empress Elisabeth's dressing table
Dressing and Exercise Room
Elisabeth was regarded as one of the most beautiful women of her time, and was very conscious of this status. Her beauty regime, to which she adhered religiously, dominated not only her daily routine but also a large part of her life. Elisabeth weighed herself daily and was constantly dieting to preserve her youthful figure. She scandalized court opinion by performing an easy programme of gymnastic exercises in her dressing room every day in order to keep her body supple; the wall bars she used for this are still preserved here, as are the rings, which hang from the door frame. For more intensive exercise the empress also had a gym at her disposal which housed a larger selection of equipment.
Elisabeth was especially proud of her thick, ankle-length hair, the care of which took up two to three hours a day. Once a month her hair was washed with a mixture of egg-yolks and cognac, a procedure that occupied a whole day.
