Franz is here!
Franz Ferdinand’s journey around the world
9 April to 2 November 2014“Franz is here!” was the headline of an American newspaper article referring to the visit of Archduke Franz Ferdinand during his world trip 1892/93. Now, 100 years after his death in Sarajevo, Franz Ferdinand visited the Weltmuseum Wien. The presentation offered unexpected insights into the world of this many-facetted and polarising figure.
June 28th 2014 marks the centenary of the assassination of the heir apparent to the Austro-Hungarian Empire at Sarajevo, which resulted in the outbreak of the First World War. Unlike many other institutions that will focus on his death and its terrible consequences, the Weltmuseum Wien is hosting an exhibition dealing with a seminal event in the archduke’s life - his ten-month-long journey around the world in 1892-93. This presentation will offer unexpected insights into the world of this many-facetted and polarizing figure.
Who was Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Este really? The world trip that took him from Pula in Croatia to Suez, Aden, Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, South-East Asia, Oceania, Australia, China, Japan and the United States is also a journey into the inner world of his personality. The archduke returned to Vienna with an impressive number of animal trophies and over 14,000 objects he had amassed during his journey; today, nearly 10,000 of these are stored in the Weltmuseum Wien. Soon after his return, Franz Ferdinand displayed his entire collection in his very own museum. Motivated by a desire to document his qualifications as a ruler and as an “educator of his people”, he hoped to introduce his future subjects to a variety of artefacts with which they were not familiar.
The several diaries he kept during his trip were published in two volumes after his return. Frequently expressing himself in a highly personal way, he recounts his impressions and experiences, writes about meeting princes, emperors and Maharajas and describes locations and people in a manner characteristic of his time. These reflections offer a wealth of insight into his own contradictory personality.
The exhibition intends to be a visualization of Franz Ferdinand’s diaries. All the panel- and label texts contain quotes from his diaries, illustrated by objects from his collection – ethnographic artefacts, photographs, archival material and contemporary press cuttings. This mode of presentation gives a completely new picture of the conflicting and fragmented identity of the Archduke.