Built in the 18th century with money gifted by the Holy Roman Emperor, Weissenstein Palace imbues the familial feuds of ‘The Empress’ with high baroque drama.
Inevitably , the first thing you do upon entering Weissenstein Palace is see up . Everything just beyond the elaborately welded molded iron gates lifts your gaze : proportionate wondrous staircase , a promenade supported by Corinthian columns , and arch of varying size extend from the saunter train to the roof . The main event is a magnificent fresco think in bright blue , powdery garden pink , and sunny yellows , paint by Giovanni Francesco Marchini , widely regarded as a master of Baroque illusion painting , and the Swiss panther and gallerist Johann Rudolf Byss . Apollo dominates its nerve centre on a chariot pulled by four white horses . Cherubim trail miscellany of flowers past peacock butterfly and Crane . Hermes floats over a tumid pinkish cloud ; Artemis over the moon , stag and doe in towage . It ’s ringed by a magnificent trompe l’oeil of a paint balcony , over which a dizzying raiment of quality peer toward the ground . The paint periphery of a sultan ’s carpet drapes over the cornice for added upshot .
It ’s only innate that upon enter this hall in the second sequence ofThe Empress , Elisabeth ( Devrim Lignau ) does incisively this , eyes wide with marvel . The camera play along her gaze into a rotating dead reckoning of the fresco while the music swell . Released in September and across six sequence , Netflix ’s burning wild-eyed dramatic play line the date and former married couple of the Austrian Emperor Franz Josef and Empress Elisabeth ( famously get it on as Sisi ) with a wakeful historical hand . He ’s challenging and compulsive to overhaul his empire while doing right by his people ; she ’s a free spirit raised far from court life and far too practical for it . Meanwhile the Russians are loom at the margin , the unwashed masses at the gates , and secondly - support Archduke Maximilian in the palace halls plotting treason with powerful friend . It ’s the stuff and nonsense of opulent period pieces — this particular one , as it bump , by yield designer Matthias Müsse .
Müsse visited some 20 castle across Germany in search ofThe Empress ’ Schönbrunn , one of two sprawling Vienna palaces home to the real - life Franz and Elisabeth . The genuine Schönbrunn , which Müsse visit specifically to decide “ what we were snuff it to make improper , in a common sense , ” was far too blood-red and rococo for the bluing - sound and baroque esthetical he ’d chosen . He also want a palace that was well preserved but not museum - y. Weissenstein fit the bill . “ you may see the previous textile on the bulwark . you could see the dirt on the railing , ” he says . “ This used looking at is very authoritative to make it even more believable that this family is really old and powerful , and [ that ] they are fighting to stay like that . ”
Courtesy Castle Schloss Weissenstein
Weissenstein Palace is a long path from Schönbrunn , but only about 20 minutes outside Bamberg , a river townsfolk in northern Bavaria famous for its beautifully preserved gothic layout and computer architecture . It ’s surrounded by low , tree - shroud hills and swaths of green farmland , set back from the winding route by stone walls and massive William Henry Gates . Construction on the residence began in 1711 , with money Lothar Franz von Schönborn , the Prince - Bishop of Bamberg and Archbishop - Elector of Mainz , encounter from Charles VI , whom he ’d helped manoeuvre onto the commode after Joseph I die without a male heir . Overseen by von Schönborn himself and multiple architect ( including Habsburg court architect Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt ) , construction took seven geezerhood and advance the status of the surrounding area , since importing a lowly army of craftsmen , hydraulic engineers , painters , and carver to the rural township of Possenhoffen was neither chintzy nor easy .
Unlike the imperial palace , Weissenstein is privately owned by the Schönborn house . part are maintain individual for transmissible use ; others devote each summertime to an annual music collegium for external students . The marvelous artwork assembling is subject to public tours , and museum loans help with upkeep — most recently , Artemisia Gentileschi ’s “ Susanna and the Elders”to the Gropius Bau in Berlin . After the initial success of the show , staff hostedThe Empress - themed tours andmade one of the suites available through Airbnb to overnight stays .
In Weissenstein , Müsse found an challenging architectural dichotomy well - accommodate toThe Empress ’ Hapsburg , plagued as they are with the eternal heir - and - the - redundant imperial struggle . Franz has the imperial throne , the duty , and Elisabeth . His younger comrade Maximilian is confident he could wangle all three not only well but with more elan . Müsse manifested this symbolic divide architecturally through their individual associations with Weissenstein ’s two most distinct rooms : the marble hall and , directly beneath it , the grotto .
The marble mansion house is Franz ’s warfare room , throne elbow room , and the situation of his cozy dance dry run with Elisabeth and their courtly wedding party reception . It ’s formal and grand , with vault ceilings , sky dreary walls , and tremendous pink and gray - streaked column made from marble stucco . During the daylight , the marble Radclyffe Hall is light and airy , a straggle Mungo Park and the casual hazardous deer visible through the window . At night ( and filled with duplicate and dancers for the nuptials receipt scene ) , the marble feel heavier and the blues deeper . Philip Froissant ’s Franz answer in kind : the good afternoon waltz rehearsal is a secret moment of levity and pleasure between him and Elisabeth , whereas during the nighttime wedding ceremony reception , he ’s serious and dismissive , preoccupy by a looming crisis on the Russian border and the unexpected arrival of his former schoolmistress . In both cases , he ’s flat - backed and proper . “ You mechanically take the air more upright and render to use the distance and satisfy it , ” tell Froissant about filming inside the hall . “ Otherwise , you ’d be just lost . ”
Maximilian ’s grotto , by comparing , is not stately . It ’s seductive . Candlelight has a bewitching issue on the intricately arranged Mosaic made of seashells , semi - precious stones , and methamphetamine that cross every inch of the walls . The domed cap is bedecked with multiple fresco of the major rivers and , in the middle , personification of the times of day . fountain , marble statues be the seasons and the constituent , and fireplace line the walls . Müsse decorated it with “ very oriental pieces ” he picture Maximilian collecting on his travel . “ It ’s an erotic spot , ” he says . “ It gives you quad for your phantasy . ”
Cut off from political ability and Elisabeth but animated by his overjealous desire for both , the grotto becomes the link of the aspiration populace Maximilian inhabits . “ When everybody is telling you your whole life that you ’re not good enough , and you are too loud , and nobody cares what you do , then you seek to find a fashion to have fun , or find a way to convey yourself . And this is the place where he can express himself , ” says actor Johannes Nussbaum , who plays Maximilian . It ’s here , at the champagne - soaked party he hosts the nighttime before Franz and Elisabeth ’s marriage ceremony , that his deep desire , insecurities , and status as the evermore - bilk second - bear coalesce . There ’s a rarified moment where he speaks sincerely—“I tell [ Elisabeth ] , ‘ Up there , they ’re all liar . I ’m telling you the truth . I ’m the real one here , ’ which is kind of true , ” says Nussbaum — and upon being soundly rejected , he masks his disappointment by throwing himself headlong back into the revelry .
Courtesy Castle Schloss Weissenstein
Weissenstein - as - Schönbrunn is a backdrop shot through with meaning , and one that check multitudes stacked , in this case , straight on top of each other . “ It ’s always an attractive aspect to have these two sides and see how they can combine together , ” says Müsse . “ Or not . ”
Courtesy Castle Schloss Weissenstein
