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Vienna’s lesser-known imperial past

Flea market - Naschmarkt, Vienna – By Sandor Somkuti (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Between 1869 and 1910, the population of Vienna grew from 630,000 to over 2 million. The Austrian capital was then the centre of a vast multi-ethnic empire that now encompasses 13 European states. As such, the city is home to the palaces of power, the famous Hofburg complex (now the residence of the Austrian President)… Continue reading Vienna’s lesser-known imperial past

The Origin of Masochism, an Unfortunate Writer and Galicia

Masoch

Have you ever wondered where masochism comes from? It started during the Habsburg Empire, in Galicia (which used to be a region from eastern Poland to western Ukraine). Leopold von Sacher-Masoch grew up there, raised by his Ukrainian nurse who has had a huge influence on him. She told him Ukrainians tales and sang to… Continue reading The Origin of Masochism, an Unfortunate Writer and Galicia

Erratic, impulsive, adventurous Sissi

Empress Elisabeth of Austria, also known as Sissi, is a prominent symbol of the Habsburg Empire. She was an icon in her time and still is nowadays. She has inspired many works of fiction, such as Sissi – The Young Empress (1956) or lately The Empress (2022), which created a fantasy that tends to drift… Continue reading Erratic, impulsive, adventurous Sissi

Austro-Hungarian Feminism

Budapest 1980s - By Photochrom Print Collection - Library of Congress

The concept of “feminism” developed in Europe during the 19th century, when the first women’s rights movements emerged. We all know about the Suffragettes movement in the UK founded in 1903 but what about feminism in the Habsburg Empire? We have discussed with Catherine Horel, historian and writer of Multicultural Cities of the Habsburg Empire… Continue reading Austro-Hungarian Feminism

Habsburg Empire and California: different time, similar identities

- Projection: Rectilinear (0) FOV: 56 x 31 Ev: 2.03

On the eve of World War I, the Habsburg Empire was still an important political entity encompassing much of Central and Eastern Europe. From Italy to Ukraine, Poland to Bosnia-Herzegovina, thirteen contemporary states are then part of this multiethnic empire, where dozens of populations of different languages, religions and traditions coexist. Slow, bureaucratic and bent… Continue reading Habsburg Empire and California: different time, similar identities