Hall of Mirrors

The white-painted furniture with gilt ornamentation and coverings of red silk damask was added a century later under Emperor Franz Joseph. In the second half of the nineteenth century the age of Maria Theresa was regarded as the golden age of the Habsburg Monarchy, and the revival of the Rococo vocabulary of forms became the obligatory style of decoration for the state rooms of the Viennese court.

During Franz Joseph’s reign the Hall of Mirrors was also the setting for the Public Audiences: every Monday and Thursday any subject of the empire could seek an audience with the emperor. People came to present a petition, to thank the emperor for a decoration or to present themselves upon receiving a post in the military or civil administration. Lasting as a rule only a few minutes, the audiences were ended by the emperor with a brief inclination of the head. As a result of these audiences Franz Joseph developed a remarkable memory for people, a facility that he retained into old age.

This room is also connected to another famous figure from the age of the Rococo: it is believed to have been in this room that the six-year-old prodigy Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart gave a concert for Maria Theresa in 1762. As recorded by his proud father Leopold Mozart, after the performance ‘Wolferl leapt onto Her Majesty’s lap, flung his arms around her neck and covered her with kisses’.