Mysterious // The mystery surrounding Sisi's wedding dress

A previously unknown Sisi painting with the presumed wedding dress of Empress Elisabeth can still be admired in the Imperial Villa in Bad Ischl until October.

In 1989, the Imperial Carriage Museum Vienna acquired a magnificent train from a direct descendant of Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elisabeth, which had been kept in the family for over a hundred years as part of Sisi's wedding dress. In 2008, a "Sisi Trail" is opened in the Wagenburg, where the empress's wedding train is now on permanent display.

In 2021, the Spaniard Silvia Santibáñez visits the Sisi Trail and discovers the similarity between the train and a painting she saw in the Silesian Museum in Opava on one of her trips. She sent a photo of the painting to Wagenburg director Monica Kurzel-Runtscheiner, who then contacted the Silesian Museum in Opava and, together with curator Denisa Hradilova, began researching the genesis of the painting, which was created in 1857 by Viennese painter Josef Neugebauer.

"It is the only known depiction of the Empress wearing the train that, according to family tradition, was part of her wedding dress and which we have long exhibited in the Wagenburg. Thanks to this painting, we were able to reconstruct the dress belonging to the train. Whether Sisi actually wore this magnificent ensemble at her wedding or on another important occasion cannot be determined at present, despite intensive research. It therefore remains a mystery dress," says Wagenburg Director Monica Kurzel-Runtscheiner.

The life-size oil painting can be viewed from now until October 31, 2024 in the Red Salon of the Imperial Villa as part of guided tours.
 

Sisi's Mystery Dress - a 170-year-old riddle. 
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