Gobelin Salon

At the time of Maria Theresa the room was used as an audience chamber. Here the monarch gave audiences in her role as hereditary heiress to the various kingdoms and lands of the Habsburg Monarchy.

Just under a century later this salon formed part of the suite of rooms occupied by Emperor Franz Joseph’s parents, Archduchess Sophie and Archduke Franz Karl. The room was Sophie’s reception room and was furnished in late Biedermeier and Rococo Revival style, supplemented with items of furniture from the time of Maria Theresa. The room contained a striking number of family portraits which formed a symbolic link with past generations, and with which Archduchess Sophie emphasized her eldest son Franz Joseph’s claim to the throne.

After the death of his parents, Franz Joseph had the apartments in the East Wing of the palace decorated and furnished for display to the general public as an example of a Baroque interior from the first half of the eighteenth century. At that time the salon was hung with Brussels tapestries, giving it the name by which it is still known (gobelin = tapestry).

If you would like to know more about the interiors of the imperial palaces and how the Habsburgs lived in them we recommend a visit to the Vienna Furniture Museum. Originally founded as a depository for the holdings of Viennese court furniture, today it is one of the largest collections of furniture in the world.