📍Hofburg, Michaelerkuppel, 1010 Vienna, Austria
1854 – 1898“I was born on Christmas Eve 1837 in Munich, but my true home as a girl was Possenhofen Castle on the shore of Lake Starnberg, where my father, Duke Max, let us children run free: riding, hiking in the mountains and swimming in the lake, with little of the formal court training other princesses endured. At sixteen I married Emperor Franz Joseph and moved into the Hofburg in Vienna, a world of strict etiquette, watchful courtiers and a mother-in-law who took my children from me to be raised. I made my private rooms my refuge. In my dressing and exercise room I installed wall bars, rings and a high bar, and every morning I exercised for hours; my ankle-length chestnut hair took two or three hours a day to dress and a whole day to wash. There I learned Hungarian and Greek, wrote poetry, and surrounded myself with portraits of the people I loved. I escaped whenever I could — to Hungary, Corfu, the sea — but Possenhofen's freedom was the life I always longed for. My rooms are now part of the Sisi Museum.”
🗺️ Approximate location today
📍 Street view today