Emperor Maximilian of Mexico, by August Schoefft
Small Salon
Memorial Room for Emperor Maximilian of Mexico
During imperial times a smoking room to which the gentlemen retired to indulge their habit, it being regarded as a breach of etiquette to smoke in the presence of ladies, today the Small Salon is a memorial room to Emperor Maximilian. Two years the junior of his brother Franz Joseph, Maximilian became a rear-admiral in the Austrian navy. For a short time he was governor general of the kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia. Seeing no opportunity to satisfy his ambitions within the Austrian monarchy, he accepted Napoleon III's offer of becoming emperor of Mexico. Together with his equally ambitious wife, Charlotte of Belgium, he embarked on an adventure that was to terminate in tragedy. Maximilian had no chance against the revolutionary forces led by Benito Juarez. Charlotte travelled to Europe to ask for help but met with rejection. She became deranged and never returned to her husband. Maximilian was captured and executed at Queretaro on 19 June 1867.
