Emperor of Austria for 68 years, the longest-reigning Habsburg. Franz Joseph summered at the Kaiservilla for over six decades, making the Salzkammergut his personal retreat and transforming Bad Ischl into a glittering summer capital of the Empire.
It was at Bad Ischl that he became engaged to Empress Elisabeth in August 1853. And it was at Bad Ischl that he signed the declaration of war against Serbia on 28 July 1914, the act that triggered the First World War. The Kaiservilla remains a major attraction in the Salzkammergut, a place where the personal and the political collided with world-changing consequences.
