page_title: Empress Elisabeth of Austria
section_title: Legacy
hierarchical_section_title: Empress Elisabeth of Austria / Legacy
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Impératrice Elisabeth, statue par Antonio Chiattone de 1902 - place des Roses, Montreux-Territet, Suisse. Inscription sur le socle A la mémoire de sa majesté l'impératrice et reine Elisabeth en souvenir de ses nombreux séjours à Montreux
context_page_description: Empress Elisabeth of Austria was Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary by marriage to Emperor Franz Joseph I. She was born into the royal Bavarian House of Wittelsbach. Nicknamed Sisi, she enjoyed an informal upbringing before marrying Emperor Franz Joseph I at the age of sixteen. The marriage thrust her into the much more formal Habsburg court life, for which she was unprepared and which she found uncongenial. Early in the marriage she was at odds with her mother-in-law, Archduchess Sophie, who took over the rearing of Elisabeth's daughters, one of whom, Sophie, died in infancy. The birth of the heir apparent, Crown Prince Rudolf, improved her standing at court, but her health suffered under the strain, and she would often visit Hungary for its more relaxed environment. She came to develop a deep kinship with Hungary, and helped to bring about the dual monarchy of Austria–Hungary in 1867.
  The death of her only son and his mistress Mary Vetsera in a murder–suicide at his hunting lodge at Mayerling in 1889 was a blow from which Elisabeth never recovered. She withdrew from court duties and travelled widely, unaccompanied by her family.
context_section_description: Upon her death, Franz Joseph founded the Order of Elizabeth in memory of her.
  In the Volksgarten of Vienna, there is an elaborate memorial monument featuring a seated statue of the Empress by Hans Bitterlich, dedicated on 4 June 1907. 
  On the promenade in Territet Switzerland, there is a monument to the Empress created by Antonio Chiattone in 1902. This town is between Montreux and Chateau Chillon; the inscription mentions her many visits to the area.
  Near the location of her assassination at Quai du Mont-Blanc on the shore of Lake Geneva, there is a statue in memoriam, created by Philip Jackson and dedicated in 1998 on the 100th anniversary of the assassination.
  A large number of chapels were named in her honour, connecting her to Saint Elisabeth. Various parks were named after her, such as the Empress Elisabeth Park in Meran, South Tyrol.
  Various residences that Elisabeth frequented are preserved and open to the public, including her Imperial Hofburg apartment and the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, the Imperial Villa in Bad Ischl, the Achilleion on the Island of Corfu, and her summer residence in Gödöllő, Hungary. Her childhood family summer residence, Possenhofen Castle, houses the Empress Elizabeth Museum. The Empress's specially built railway sleeping car is on display at the Technisches Museum in Vienna.
  Several sites in Hungary are named after her: two of Budapest's districts, Erzsébetváros and Pesterzsébet, and Elisabeth Bridge.
  Empress Elisabeth and the Empress Elisabeth Railway (West railway) named after her were recently selected as a main motif for a high value collector coin, the Empress Elisabeth Western Railway commemorative coin.
  In 1998, Gerald Blanchard stole the Koechert Diamond Pearl known as the Sisi Star, a 10-pointed star of diamonds fanning out around one enormous pearl from an exhibit commemorating the 100th anniversary of her assassination at the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna. It was one of approximately 27 jewel-encrusted pieces designed and made by court jeweler Jakob Heinrich Köchert for her to wear in her hair, which appears in a portrait of her by Franz Xaver Winterhalter. The Star was recovered by Canadian Police in 2007 and eventually returned to Austria. Although Blanchard possessed the priceless jewel, no one was ever formally charged with stealing it. Two versions of the stars were created: a second type without a pearl center, was designed by court jeweller Rozet & Fischmeister. Some stars were given to ladies of the court. One set of 27 diamond stars was kept in the Imperial family; they are seen in a photograph that shows the dowry of Rudolf's daughter, Archduchess Elisabeth, known as "Erzsi", on the occasion of her wedding to Prince Otto of Windisch-Graetz in 1902.
  As late as 2020, bouquets tied with the red, white and green ribbon of Hungary are left at her sarcophagus in the Capuchin Church, Vienna.
  There are several statues of Empress Elisabeth in Slovakia: bronze statue by Gyula Donáth from 1903 in Bardejov spa in Bardejov and busts in Poltár and in Prešov. Also Elisabeth Bridge connecting towns Komárno in Slovakia and Komárom in Hungary (which used to be one town at the time when it was built), which was built in 1892 is named after Sissi.
caption: Memorial statue in Territet
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