Zeremonial-, Gala- und Staatswagen des Wiener Hofes

Prior to the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, the Imperial Court Stables (today’s Museumsquartier compound) housed over 600 vehicles of the most diverse types. The privilege of using court carriages was not limited just to the Imperial Family; it was also enjoyed by individuals ranging from dignitaries and servants to court actors and squires. The spectrum of vehicles—which ranged from baroque ornamental carriages to gala, recreational and everyday carriages and cargo automobiles—was commensurately large.

Part of this fleet was taken over in 1918 by the representatives of the new Republic, and another part of it had to be handed over to the Empire’s successor states. Furthermore, numerous vehicles went to the newly created “Bundes-Fuhrwerksbetrieb” (a federally owned transport company), and these were then used for commercial purposes. The remainder were auctioned off to private buyers in order to supplement the empty state treasury.

Following the war years, the historic carriages of the Viennese Court that, from the mid-19th century onwards, had been viewable for a fee by the general the public were once again put on public display. But in the year 1922, when the former Court Stables—where the carriages were kept—was needed by the trade fair organiser Messe-AG, the historic vehicles were turned over to the Kunsthistorisches Museum. They were transferred to the former Winter Riding School at Schönbrunn Palace, where they are still housed today.

The official liveries and uniforms had lost their function following the disbanding of the court. The Kunsthistorisches Museum, therefore, had suggested in 1921 that at least part of these be preserved for museum purposes. But since they had been laid claim to by four state offices, 1922 saw only a very small selection of these items actually entrusted to the museum’s care, while the lion's share were turned over to ministries and to the Austrian State Theatre.

At first, the two new collections of the Museum of Carriages and the Department of Court Uniforms were attached to the Weaponry Collection (today’s Collection of Arms and Armour), where they received but little attention. This applied particularly to the Department of Court Uniforms, from which numerous pieces were sold or rented out to film production companies. The forced remittance of items to Germany’s Wehrmacht, such as the entire winter wardrobe of the servants, further decimated the collection’s inventory.

This situation changed when collection curator Erwin Auer succeeded in defining both the Museum of Carriages and the Department of Court Uniforms as independent, unified collections under his direction between 1947 and 1950. He assumed the Herculean task of first compiling an inventory of the as yet completely unordered holdings, producing basic descriptions and collecting eyewitness accounts. A further task was to successively repair the physical damage to the Carriage Collection that had occurred during the Second World War. Nearly half of the “Imperial Carriages”, for instance, had been smashed as a result of bomb hits.

The acquisition policy pursued with regard to the Department of Court Uniforms during this period was characterised by great foresight: alongside a multitude of uniforms worn by diplomats, civil servants and court dignitaries, objects of the Imperial Family and the great noble houses were purchased for prices that—from a present-day standpoint—were exceedingly low.

In the evaluation, research and reception of the items held by the Museum of Carriages and the Department of Court Uniforms, a new trend can be made out for the period that began in the 1990s. It is by now taken for granted that the show carriages of the ruling houses are artistically significant exponents of their respective eras: but also regarding the history of technology and in terms of research on courtly life and ceremonial practice, the holdings of the two collections are of the utmost interest. This fact is now being done justice within the collection through intensive fundamental research. From 2001 to 2007, the archives of the Oberststallmeisteramt, totalling thousands of fascicules, were systematically gone through and digitally catalogued for the first time ever. This project created a solid basis for further research on the collection holdings for decades to come.