30 - Napoleon Room

Schloß Schönbrunn - The State Rooms and Imperial Apartments on the piano nobile

The Napoleon Room recalls the French emperor, who resided in this room – once the bedroom of Maria Theresa – both times he occupied Vienna, in 1805 and 1809. The marriage of Napoleon to Marie Louise, daughter of Emperor Franz II in 1810 was intended to cement the peace between the two rulers. After the fall of Napoleon, Marie Louise returned with her son to the court at Vienna for the time being. As a result of the Congress of Vienna held from 1814 to 1815 she was eventually given the Duchy of Parma – but only on condition that she leave her son, the Duke of Reichstadt, in Vienna. The European powers insisted that, as the only son of Napoleon, little “Prince Franzi”, as he was called at court, was to remain politically insignificant and to grow up in isolation at the Viennese court under the guardianship of his grandfather. Like all male Habsburgs, following a family tradition he learnt a trade. The painting in front of you shows him as a little gardener. On the console table you can see his beloved pet, a crested lark. Napoleon’s son died from a lung disease in 1832, aged only 21. The bust shows him on his deathbed. In the Porcelain Room (Room 31) that follows we again return to the time of Maria Theresa, who used this small room as a study and for playing games of cards. The carved wooden framing, painted blue and white to imitate porcelain, covers the walls entirely up to the ceiling. Set into this carving is a total of 213 pen-and-ink drawings which were executed by Franz Stephan and some of his children, including Marie Christine, who is portrayed in one of the portrait medallions. She was the empress’s favourite daughter and was the only one of her children who was allowed to marry the man she loved, Duke Albert of Saxony-Teschen.
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