Imperial Carriage Museum

The Imperial Carriage Museum (German: Kaiserliche Wagenburg) is a museum of carriages and vehicles used by the imperial household of the Holy Roman Empire, the Austrian Empire, and Austria-Hungary. Located in the Hietzing district of Vienna on the grounds of Schloss Schönbrunn, it operates as a department of the Kunsthistorisches Museum. The museum's historic name, Wagenburg, derives from a form of fortification. It ranks among the most significant collections of court ceremonial and utilitarian vehicles in the world, preserving the material culture of Habsburg imperial transport from the Baroque era through the early twentieth century.

Towards the end of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, the Imperial and Royal Court Carriage House, housed in the Imperial Court Stables (today the MuseumsQuartier), comprised around 640 vehicles of various types. The administration of these vehicles fell to the Oberststallmeisteramt, whose staff numbered around 500 people. Not only the emperor and his family were entitled to use court carriages, but also dignitaries and servants, down to court actors and noble boys. The spectrum ranged from baroque ostentatious carriages to gala, leisure, and everyday vehicles of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as well as simple transport vehicles and modern automobiles.

With the collapse of the monarchy in 1918, the imperial fleet lost its function. After 1918, some carriages continued to be used by officials of the newly founded Republic of Austria; some were given to other successor states, while others were sold to private individuals to fill empty state coffers. The majority were transferred to a commercial transport company, the Bundes-Fuhrwerksbetrieb. The numerous Victoria, Mylord, and Coupé carriages that had characterized the Viennese street scene were lost, as were utility and work vehicles.

Following the dissolution of the Oberststallmeisteramt in 1922, a remnant of the court vehicle fleet deemed historically significant was handed over to the Kunsthistorisches Museum, initially comprising 90 vehicles, with more added later. Also included were examples of modern carriage construction, associated harnesses and liveries, and tack room stocks such as riding saddles and horse blankets (Monturdepot). In 1922, the carriages left the Hofstallungen, as these premises were rented to Wiener Messe AG, which called the building the Messepalast for decades. Moved to the former Winter Riding School at Schönbrunn Palace for lack of sufficient space in the Hofburg area, the collection was separated from the Directorate of the Weapons Collection in 1947 and established as an independent collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum with its own directorate, scientific staff, and restorers.

In November 2001, the last surviving court automobile, the Kaiserwagen built in 1914 by the Austrian company Gräf & Stift, returned to the collection on permanent loan from its former producer. Emperor Karl I had taken it by train to Switzerland when he left republican German Austria in March 1919; Gräf & Stift later bought it back at auction. In 2007, Gloria von Thurn und Taxis lent 17 of her carriages and coaches to the museum. In 2018, the Art Car of Ferdinand Zvonimir Habsburg-Lothringen, great-grandson of Emperor Karl I and a racing driver, came to the collection from Formula Renault 1.6 as a permanent loan, extending the arc of Habsburg vehicular history into the twenty-first century.

The museum houses over 5,000 objects, most dating from the Baroque period to the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Of the 161 carriages or carrying devices in the Wagenburg, 101 come from the stables of the Viennese court and 50 from the fleets of Austrian aristocratic houses. Around 60 vehicles are on display in the show halls. The collection encompasses gala carriages (imperial coaches, coronation carriages, gala berlines, carousel carriages, hearses), everyday carriages (city carriages, touring carriages), leisure carriages (park carriages, owner-driven carriages, hunting vehicles, children's carriages), commercial vehicles (horse-training vehicles, farm wagons, fire-fighting vehicles), sleighs, sedan chairs and carrying chairs, automobiles, harnesses, saddles, saddle pads, and paintings and graphics. The museum also holds court liveries and uniforms, and what is described as the world's largest collection of draft harnesses.

Signature pieces in the collection include the gilded Imperial Coach, the Golden Carousel Carriage of Maria Theresia, the Child's Phaeton of Napoleon's son (the King of Rome), the Black Hearse of the Viennese Court, the personal Landaulet of Empress Elisabeth, and the only preserved court automobile of 1914 by Gräf & Stift. The French Wikipedia source also notes the Milan coronation carriage of Napoleon Bonaparte, the imperial sleigh, and the equestrian chapel of Empress Elisabeth among the holdings.

The museum is housed in the former Winter Riding School (Winterreitschule) of Schönbrunn Palace in the Hietzing district of Vienna. The objects were moved there in 1922 because no sufficiently large halls were available in the Hofburg area. The Winter Riding School provided the necessary space for the carriage collection after its departure from the Imperial Court Stables.

The Imperial Carriage Museum is located on the grounds of Schloss Schönbrunn in Vienna-Hietzing. It operates as a department of the Kunsthistorisches Museum. The museum offers a virtual tour through Google Arts & Culture.