Vienna, 1814: How the Conquerors of Napoleon Made Love, War, and Peace at the Congress of Vienna (44 page)

 

18. During the Congress of Vienna, the Hofburg Palace contained more royalty under one roof at one time than any other place in history. Guards were posted outside entrances to each royal suite, and troop maneuvers were a daily sight. One day in September, a visitor counted no fewer than fifty-three calls to arms.

 

 

Month after month, celebrations followed one another in rapid succession, making the Congress of Vienna the most lavish and certainly the most significant party in history. Behind the glittering spectacle, however, tensions were mounting, and war seemed likely to erupt at any moment.

 

 

19. Celebration at the Peace Festival on the anniversary of the Allied Victory at the Battle of Leipzig, October 18, 1814.

 

 

20. “Quivering violins alternated with serious negotiations, court intrigues alternated with delicate romantic adventures,” said Countess Thürheim, describing the charged atmosphere of Vienna’s ballrooms. A later rendering of a ball at Prince Metternich’s.

 

 

21. One of the many masked balls, or
redouten,
held in the spacious ballrooms of the Hofburg during the Congress of Vienna.

 

 

22. Grand Carousel held on November 23, 1814, in the Spanish Riding School.

 

 

23. This is a page from the score of Beethoven’s unfinished celebration of the Vienna Congress, “The Choir of the Allied Princes.”

 

 

24. On Twelfth Night, the Congress of Vienna cuts up the cake of Europe. Alexander receives Poland, and the King of Prussia Saxony. Austria will take Germany, or at least as much of it as possible. Castlereagh, knife and fork in hand, prepares to serve his colleagues. In the background, marginalized and excluded powers beg in vain for a few scraps. Others watch from the box seats as the orchestra plays, and Justice, overhead, appears wounded, with a bandage over an eye and her scales broken.

 

 

25. For the many distinguished guests in town, congress planners had compiled a short list of sightseeing opportunities, ranging from Napoleonic battlefields to a lunatic asylum. The historic abbey on the Danube, Klosterneuberg, was one of the sights, and the print comes from the collection of the king of Denmark, who proved to be the most avid royal sightseer in town.

 

 

26. Vienna was one of the greenest cities in Europe, thanks to its many former royal, princely, and aristocratic parks, and the progressive tree-planting policies of Joseph II. The Belvedere Palace, depicted here, also boasted several art exhibits.

 

 

27. The Razumovsky Palace, owned by the fabulously rich Count Razumovsky of the Russian delegation, was destroyed by fire on the night of December 30–31, 1814, after one last grand party.

 

 

28. The seventy-nine-year-old Prince de Ligne had known everyone from Voltaire to Casanova. His small salon attracted the most distinguished and glamorous guests, and the prince’s anecdotes and bons mots circulated in drawing rooms across town.