The Gothic revival in the 18th and 19th centuries was not an isolated national phenomenon, but a pan-European movement. The neo-Gothic style spread rapidly, particularly through literature – such as Sir Walter Scott’s novels. While it never completely disappeared in England (“Gothic Survival”), it began comparatively late in Austria. Motifs ranged from romantic nostalgia to political references to tradition. The essay outlines key European influences and important Austrian representatives such as Hetzendorf von Hohenberg (re-Gothicisation efforts in Vienna), Franz Rauch (Marmorschlössl), Romano and Schwendenwein (Merkenstein and Wolfsberg castles), Friedrich Schmidt (town hall) and Heinrich Ferstel (Votivkirche). Numerous buildings are used to show how the Gothic Revival unfolded between national representation, religious expression, and a stylistic longing for the past.

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This article analyses the use of medieval architectural quotations in the Austrian Empire up to the middle of the 19th century. Gothicising and Romanising stylistic forms were deliberately used to create symbolic references to the past. This reveals a division into two genera: Gothic was preferably used in private buildings belonging to the nobility – in gardens and country estates – while Romanesque forms characterised public buildings of both the military and church. This distinction reflects both social hierarchies and practical cost issues. It was only after 1848 – with the rise in power of the Catholic Church – that the neo-Gothic style also featured in public buildings that were considered sacred. Irrespective of the specific style, both variants served as an “antidote” to the crisis-ridden present – as a form of recourse to a “golden Middle Ages” – which was staged as the origin of piety, corporative order and the legitimisation of power.

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This article is dedicated to the garden pavilion of the “Marmorschlössl” or “Marble Palace” in Bad Ischl (1856–61) as a unique testimony to Habsburg representative architecture. Designed as a “cottage” based on English models and in a neo-Gothic style, it refers – both architecturally and ideologically – to a long Wittelsbach building tradition. The design not only reflects international influences, but also dynastic strategies: the neo-Gothic style underpinning the building and the furniture, as well as a cycle of figures from the “Song of the Nibelungs” (“Nibelungenlied”) in the “Grand Salon” symbolise the connection between the houses of Habsburg-Lorraine and Wittelsbach through the marriage of Franz Joseph and Elisabeth. The “Marmorschlössl” thus becomes a political monument – not a private retreat, but a multi-layered representative building characterised by political legitimacy.

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Even if the neo-Gothic and Romantic palace buildings are generally attributed to the 18th and especially the 19th century, the history of architecture paints a differentiated picture. On the one hand, there are deliberate references to older periods and styles in the most diverse historical epochs, in order to manifest architectural and, above all, intentional references, rights, and traditions. On the other hand, neo-Gothic can also be traced back a long way in Central Europe, although the religious-political background to the Reformation period, for example, has not yet been finally clarified. In the 18th century, there was a new historicist wave of recourse to medieval models in England, which also reached Austria at a very early stage. Around 1800, neo-Gothic palace construction reached its first peak under the Habsburgs and the Liechtensteinsteiners. In the mid-19th century, the wealthy bourgeoisie, on the one hand, and other building projects such as bridges, factories, and town halls, on the other, followed the revival. The final point was set by a number of large-scale “fantasy castles” in the period around 1900, before the end of the monarchy brought with it an abrupt end to the long anachronistic building task.

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This article examines the extensive archival records in the “Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv in (Bad) Ischl” regarding the imperial villa and the stays by members of the Habsburg family there. The spa town in Austria’s “Salzkammergut” region became a social and cultural centre that attracted an international audience due to the summer stays of the imperial family until 1918. The imperial villa – acquired and extended from 1853 – served as a permanent summer residence and was looked after by the Habsburg private property administration body. Numerous files, construction plans, and accounts document the history of the villa and its administration. Ischl was also the venue for important social events, attracting aristocrats and international guests such as Emperor Wilhelm I and King Edward VII. The dense archival records in the House, Court and State Archives provide detailed insights into the social, cultural, and administrative aspects of this era

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The origins of the park in Bad Ischl date back to 1854, when Emperor Franz Joseph I received the Biedermeier-style Villa Eltz as a wedding gift and subsequently had the building converted into a summer residence for the emperor and his family. The internationally experienced court gardener, Franz Rauch, was commissioned to design the park from 1855. By 1862, Rauch had created a garden that was skilfully integrated into the existing mountain landscape. In addition to the building now known as the “Marmorschlössl” or “Marble Palace”, Rauch also furnished the Kaiserpark with several staff buildings, such as the “Spiegelpavillon” and the “Gloriette”. From 1862, court garden inspector, Raimund Hanke, looked after the park for 30 years. Under Hanke, several additions and changes were made to the park. For example, regarding the fountain designed by sculptor Viktor Tilgner in 1881 in front of the main entrance to the Kaiservilla. After the monarchy ended in 1918, the park was opened to the public and today offers an insight into the imperial garden culture of the 19th century.

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The “Marmorschlössl” or “Marble Palace” in Bad Ischl, built between 1856 and 1865, served as a retreat for Empress Elisabeth. This article provides an overview of the stone material used and its restoration history. The building’s façades are made of pale pink “Traunsee” marble with white calcite veins and grey-brownish “Pötschen” marble. “Traunsee” marble was used for masonry and decorative elements, while “Pötschen” marble was used for window reveals, cornices, stairs and floors. Some floors were replaced by Bavarian “Jura” marble in the 1970s. During the restoration in 1976–1978, the damaged roof was repaired, the façades were cleaned, and numerous missing elements were added. In 2015, urgently needed conservation measures focused on the structural stabilisation and preservation of the building’s architectural form, including cleaning, securing cracks and loose components and filling defects. A façade survey is currently being performed for the European Capital of Culture 2024, in order to develop a conservation concept for this architectural landmark.

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The article is dedicated to the wall-mounted wooden furnishings of the imperial cottage in Bad Ischl, known as the “Marmorschlössl” or “Marble Palace”. The conservation study focused on windows, doors, and wall and ceiling elements, analysing their design techniques, choice of materials, and state of preservation. The furnishing elements reveal a design hierarchy concept that mediates between representation and functionality through the deliberate combination of solid oak and grained softwood characterised by its illusionary properties. Technical features – such as an elaborately constructed sliding window mechanism or ornamented zinc castings on the ceiling that simulate carved wood – illustrate the high-level design and symbolic standards of this imperial retreat and, simultaneously, render it clear that the neo-Gothic style in the 19th century was not a backward-looking style, but rather, while referring to Gothic forms, reinterpreted these in terms of contemporary aesthetics and technical possibilities.

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This article focuses on a table and two armchairs in a neo-Gothic style, which are being analysed and restored in the studios of the Federal Monuments Office (Bundesdenkmalamt). Their creation, craftsmanship and integration into the holistic concept of the Marble Palace are examined with regard to their historical, stylistic and functional significance on the basis of contemporary sources and current art-technological studies. Based on the principle of “form follows function” – as formulated by Horatio Greenough in 1852 – the extent to which the materiality and design of this furniture allow conclusions to be drawn about its original function and intended effect in an imperial living environment of the 19th century shall be the subject of analysis. The work reveals that the furni-ture is not an expression of individual taste, but part of a well thought-out, representative overall work of art that corresponds to the prevailing social ideals of the era. The underlying objective of these restorative efforts is, therefore, orientated towards a museum presentation as part of the historical ensemble and not towards a renewed use as an object of utility. It becomes clear how interdisciplinary cooperation, careful documentation and a concept of measures tailored to the ensemble contribute to a sustainable restoration approach that fulfils both museum and monument conservation requirements.

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Adalbert Stifter was not only a writer, but also a pioneer of Austrian heritage conservation. This article takes a comprehensive look at his work as state conservator for Upper Austria from 1853 onwards, drawing on key pro-jects – such as the restoration of the “Kefermark” altarpiece or the churches in Braunau and Steyr – to illustrate Stifter’s forward-looking, almost modern approach: from his assessment and concept development, to preventive conservation approach. Influenced by the romantic sphere surrounding Anton Ritter von Spaun, he combined an emotional view of art with a systematic approach. Stifter’s work thus represents an important and hitherto underestimated chapter, both in terms of Austrian cultural history and early institutional monument preservation.

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It may sound audacious to pinpoint the origins of modern architecture in what is the extremely plotless story of “Der Nachsommer” by the Upper Austrian Biedermeier poet, Adalbert Stifter (1805–1868), published in 1857. But this is exactly what author Uwe Bresan achieves with his study, entitled “Stifter’s Rosenhaus”. A literary fiction writes architectural history from the year 2016. Large parts of Stifter’s story are dedicated to the description of the so-called “Rosenhaus”. Spanning the past 170 years, these descriptions have prompted a wide variety of architects to design possible reconstructions of the house and to take a stand on the ideal architecture conveyed by Stifter. Uwe Bresan traces this reception within the history of modern architecture from its origins in the en-vironment of the “Vienna Secession”, through its heyday in the generation of the “Werkbund Fathers” and in the milieu of the “Stuttgart School”, to its afterlife in the German architectural discourse of late Modernism. In his essay, he explores the question of whether the “Marmorschlössl”, located in Bad Ischl, could have been a model for the “Rosenhaus” for Stifter.

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The essay sheds light on the creation and conceptualisation of Franzensburg Castle in Laxenburg as a central element of what is a deliberately staged Habsburg memorial space. Emperor Franz II. (I) had a knight’s castle built from 1798 in the style of a “Gothic castle vestige”, which not only emulated the Middle Ages in aesthetic terms, but was also intended to embody political, dynastic, and moral ideals. The so-called “Rittergau” was conceived as a themed landscape park in which architecture, nature, and museum collections formed a unity. The integration of historical components and the spatial sequences of the castle pursued a didactic programme. With the unification building of 1820, Franzensburg Castle was given representative memorial rooms for the House of Habsburg. Laxenburg thus became a place of political self-expression, romantic retrospection, and imperial identity formation in what was a period of upheaval around 1800.

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The remodelling of the “Lower Castle” in Rožmberk in the years 1843–1855 is one of the purest expressions of the “Gothic imagination” in Bohemia, which spread from England to the European continent in the second half of the 18th century. While the romantic remodelling of other Bohemian aristocratic residences fundamentally altered their appearance and turned them into sophisticated and cosy settings for “country life”, Rosenberg underwent a reconstruction that was pious by the prevailing standards of the time, with the aim of transforming the ancient castle into a family museum. The central player in the re-Gothicisation process was the builder himself – Count Georg Johann Buqouy – who took on the role of a “gentleman architect”, i.e. a building patron involved in the design. This essay aims to answer the question as to what significance Buquoy attached to the romantic remodelling of Rosenberg.

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This article examines the decoration of Hernstein Castle by Theophil Hansen as an example of the treatment of listed cultural assets in Austria. Between 1856 and 1880, Hansen created a synthesis of the arts between Neo-Gothic and Renaissance, designing not only architecture but also interiors, furniture and décor. Many of these pieces ended up on the art market following the castle’s sale. Using specific objects – such as the ancestral hall chair, an armchair from the smoking room or the ceremonial table service – the text underscores how the Federal Monuments Office’s Department for Movable Monuments, International Cultural Property Transfer, endeavours to keep these cultural assets in the country. Despite losses, some of the inventory was saved for public collections. The case of Hernstein represents an example of the challenges and successes of monument protection with regard to movable cultural assets.

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The essay examines Anif Water Palace as an important example of neo-Gothic architecture in Salzburg, with a particular focus on its stained glass windows. Remodelled between 1838 and 1848 by Count Alois von Arco-Stepperg the palace became a stylistically unified work of art in which numerous artists and craftsmen from southern Germany were involved. The stained glass windows – some with coats of arms, tendril ornaments, and personalised initials – are outstanding examples of Romantic glazing, embedded in a finely coordinated interior design. When compared to other residences of its kind, such as Hohenschwangau, Lichtenstein or Franzensburg, Anif stands for an independent solution, one that dispenses with historical collections of panes and emphasises in its place the decorative designs of contemporary artists. By this means it occupies a unique position in the history of palatial stained glass in the 19th century.

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Portraits – including the special form of the so-called “crypto-portrait” – have characterised monumental glass painting in Austria since the late 13th century, as Elisabeth Oberhaidacher-Herzig has pointed out in the course of her many years of research. While glass painters initially used images of various kinds as visual models for their portraits transferred to glass, the medium of photography opened up new avenues of media image propaganda for this type of image in the 19th and 20th centuries. The article sheds important light on various examples from the art genre of stained glass, demonstrating the iconographic diversity of the corresponding productions. The focus here is, in particular, on the monumental picture windows of St Mary’s Cathedral in Linz, the largest sacred building in Austria, as well as a window from a less well-known location in research, namely the parish church of “Umhausen” in the Tyrolean Ötztal.

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Damtschach Castle is located on the eastern edge of the village bearing the same name near Wernberg in Carinthia. It was built after 1511 by Maximilian Augustin von Khevenhüller as an aristocratic residence, and was acquired by the Jöchlinger von Jochenstein family at the beginning of the 18th century following a period of changing ownership. The castle was not only furnished by the last male representative of the Felix family (1786–1846) in a manner typical for the period, but was also given a castle garden that combined elements of the Baroque garden with those of an English landscape garden, and which is now listed under monument protection. In addition to a greenhouse for exotic plants, an artificial, medieval-looking ruin was built to the south of the castle, along with other structural elements – such as the “Baadhaus” at other locations in the garden – in keeping with the romanticising spirit of the times. Archaeological excavations were carried out in the 2010s both in the greenhouse – which was demolished in the 20th century – and in the grotto of the ruins.

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