Lower Austria presents his imperial house collection in Japan

In Cafe Landtmann – but not in Vienna, but in that in Tokyo – the hiking exhibition from the stocks of the Lower Austrian Kaiserhaus collection was presented on Saturday, which is said to be shown in several locations in Japan from the end of 2027. Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner and the head of the Lower Austria State Collections, Armin Laussegger, presented the extraordinary project to the Japanese journalists.

The journey of the Lower Austrian delegation to Japan was under the motto “The best future for our children”, the governor stated at the beginning: “And for the best future for our children we need competitiveness and innovative strength and, above all, a lot of inspiration.” This inspiration “we get through our history and our culture”, Mikl-Leitner was convinced. Lower Austria was shaped by great musicians, as the concert of the Lower Austrian clay artists in Tokyo also showed the day before, but also of an eventful history.

With the hiking exhibition for the Kaiserhaus Collection, the Japanese was wanted to “let our history immerse themselves,” she emphasized. “With this we also want to continue writing the success story between Japan and Lower Austria,” said the governor.

“Starting from Lower Austria, the Habsburgs have determined Central Europe from Lower Austria since the 13th century,” Armin Laussegger illustrated the importance of this family. So the Habsburg Karl ruled an empire “in which the sun never went down”. In the hiking exhibition, the Kaiserhaus collection is now to be shown under the working title “from life at the Kaiserhof”, which comprises over 2,000 objects from the former private ownership of the Habsburg family, Laussegger informed: “This collection was acquired by the state of Lower Austria in 2015 to prevent these valuable cultural goods from hiking abroad.” From the end of 2027, highlights of this collection will be shown at five exhibition locations in Japan, he announced.

An important part of the exhibition are also the early connections between the Austrian and the Japanese imperial house. In 1869 the Japanese tenno was given a Bösendorfer wing by Emperor Franz Joseph-this gift was at the beginning of the diplomatic and cultural exchange between Austria and Japan. Four years later, Japan was first represented at a world exhibition in Vienna. Exactly the heir to the throne Franz Ferdinand was the only member of the Austrian imperial house to visit Japan. His stay lasted five weeks and culminated in an audience at Tenno. “The guest gift, a traditional Japanese costume, has been family -owned to this day and is also to be shown in the course of this exhibition in Japan,” said Laussegger.

Other objects that are to be shown in the course of the hiking exhibition are, for example, the riding hat of Empress Elisabeth, who is known to be an enthusiastic rider, and a bonjour rock from the possession of Emperor Franz Joseph-a dawn in the style of a general uniform. In addition, a cigar case dated from the heirs of the throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, is also to be presented with 1900 dated cigar memory. A total of 100 objects are shown, according to Laussegger: “These 100 objects have never been seen in an exhibition even in Austria.”