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19-530: The building was completed in 1826. It was named after Princess Sophie of Bavaria , the mother of Emperor Franz Josef I . It was originally used as a steam bath and known as the Sofienbad. Between 1845 and 1849, it was converted by the architects August Sicard von Sicardsburg and Eduard van der Nüll into a dance hall and renamed the Sofiensaal. Johann Strauss I performed there regularly and conducted at

38-590: A detailed diary most of her life, which reveals much about Austrian court life. She was deeply affected in 1867 by the execution in Mexico of her second son Maximilian. She never recovered from that shock, and withdrew from public life. She died from pneumonia in 1872. She was also noted for her close relationship with Napoleon II , who lived at the Austrian Court as the Duke of Reichstadt. There were rumors of

57-431: A sexual affair between them. There was even suspicion that Maximilian, born two weeks before Reichstadt's death in 1832, was actually his child. These claims were never verified, but it is certain that they were very good friends and that his death affected her very much. She is said to have turned into the hard, ambitious woman described in fiction after he died. Through his son Archduke Otto Franz , Archduke Karl Ludwig

76-524: The House of Wittelsbach , a daughter of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria by his second wife Caroline of Baden . Sophie's paternal half-sister, Caroline Augusta of Bavaria was by this time Franz Karl's stepmother, having married his thrice-widowed father in 1816. The Wittelsbachs condoned the unappealing manners of Sophie's husband in consideration of the incapability of his elder brother Ferdinand and Sophie's chance to become Austrian empress. Franz Karl

95-413: The building survived. Some of the decorative stucco work on the walls survived the fire, as did the adjacent Blauer Salon, a small side venue. There were no reported deaths or injuries. In January 2006, it was announced that the Sofiensaal was to be redeveloped and converted into apartments, although the plans changed, building the apartments around the facade. The new owner, ifa AG, painstakingly rebuilt

114-453: The fire, in July 2001, was of Arcadi Volodos playing solo piano works by Franz Schubert . In May 2001, the building's owners announced that it would be used as a conference centre. However, it was destroyed by fire on 16 August 2001, due to careless routine maintenance work. The fire burned for more than eight hours and completely destroyed the main ballroom, although the facade and walls of

133-400: The groom's widowed father, Francis II , in 1816. Sophie and Franz Karl had six children. Emperor Francis II was truly fond of Sophie. Although Sophie had little in common with her husband, she was a caring and devoted wife to Franz Karl who loved and respected her. Unlike her husband, Sophie was attached to all of her children, especially Franz Joseph , as well as Ferdinand Maximilian , who

152-466: The historic ballroom and listed historical façade. They also used the surrounding 12,000 square metre area to create the originally planned apartments, a hotel, a catering company, a fitness studio, and various function rooms. It was finally reopened in December 2013. During the reopening ceremony, the hall was filled with celebrity guests who watched the history of the location as well as a finale through

171-483: The opening ball of the house in 1848. Many of the Strauss family's waltzes were first performed there. The building's large, vaulted ceiling, and the pool beneath the floor, gives the hall excellent acoustic properties. For this reason, Decca Records adopted the building as its principal European recording venue from 1955 to the mid-1980s. The senior producer of classical recordings for the company for much of this time

190-647: The throne at the time of his brother's abdication on 2 December 1848, allowing their eldest son Franz Joseph I to take the throne. Archduke Franz Karl died in Vienna in 1878, six years after the death of his wife. He is buried at the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church . Franz Karl was the last Habsburg whose viscera were entombed at the Ducal Crypt of St. Stephen's Cathedral and whose heart

209-457: The time she was called "the only man at court". During the Revolution of 1848 , she persuaded her somewhat feeble-minded husband to give up his rights to the throne in favour of their son Franz Joseph . After Franz Joseph's accession, Sophie became the power behind the throne. Historically, Sophie is remembered for her extremely adversarial relationship with Franz Joseph's wife Sisi , who

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228-846: The use of 3D projections from Christie projectors. 48°12′24″N 16°23′26″E  /  48.20667°N 16.39056°E  / 48.20667; 16.39056 Princess Sophie of Bavaria Princess Sophie of Bavaria (Sophie Friederike Dorothea Wilhelmine; 27 January 1805 – 28 May 1872) was the daughter of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria and his second wife, Caroline of Baden . The identical twin sister of Queen Maria Anna of Saxony , Sophie became Archduchess of Austria by marriage to Archduke Franz Karl of Austria . Her eldest son, Franz Joseph , reigned as Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary ; her second son, Maximilian , briefly reigned as Emperor of Mexico . The fourth child of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria and Princess Caroline of Baden , Princess Sophie Friederike Dorothea Wilhelmine

247-488: Was John Culshaw , who revolutionised the recording of classical music, particularly opera with the Decca tree . Notable recordings made at the Sofiensaal during this period included the first complete studio recording of Wagner 's Ring Cycle , conducted by Georg Solti . In the years before the fire, the Sofiensaal fell into disuse as a recording studio and was used for parties and discos. The last recording made there before

266-526: Was also her niece. Elisabeth hated Sophie for being demanding and the upbringing of Elisabeth's children, but there is no evidence that the Archduchess had the same feelings, as Elisabeth is usually described quite pleasantly in Sophie's diary and letters. Nonetheless, she had better relationships with her other daughters-in-law and was a caring mother-in-law to Archduchess Maria Annunziata . Sophie kept

285-493: Was also the grandfather of Austria's last Emperor, Charles I . Through his daughter Archduchess Elisabeth Amalie , Archduke Karl Ludwig is an ancestor of the House of Liechtenstein . Archduke Franz Karl of Austria Archduke Franz Karl Joseph of Austria (17 December 1802 – 8 March 1878) was a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine . He was the father of two emperors: Franz Joseph I of Austria and Maximilian I of Mexico . Through his third son Karl Ludwig , he

304-799: Was an unambitious and generally ineffectual man, although he was, together with his uncle Archduke Louis , a member of the Geheime Staatskonferenz council, which after the death of Emperor Francis II ruled the Austrian Empire in the stead of his mentally ill brother Ferdinand from 1835 to 1848. The decisions, however, were actually made by the Chancellor Prince Klemens Wenzel von Metternich and his rival Count Franz Anton von Kolowrat-Liebsteinsky . His wife Sophie had already transferred her ambitions, when she urged Franz Karl to renounce his claims to

323-469: Was born on 27 January 1805 in Nymphenburg Palace , Munich . She was said to be her father’s favorite daughter although she was more attached to her mother, whom she loved dearly. Sophie adored her twin sister Maria Anna and was very close to all her sisters. On 4 November 1824, she married Archduke Franz Karl of Austria . Her paternal half-sister, Caroline Augusta of Bavaria , had married

342-513: Was her favorite son. She had a reputation for being strong-willed and authoritarian by nature but she was also known as a familiar and sociable person devoted to her family and the Habsburg empire she married into. She enjoyed court life, dance, art and literature as well as horse riding. Her ambition to place her oldest son on the Austrian throne was a constant theme in Austrian politics. At

361-674: Was the grandfather of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria – whose assassination sparked the hostilities that led to the outbreak of World War I . Franz Karl was born in Vienna , the third son of Emperor Francis II of the Holy Roman Empire by his second marriage with Princess Maria Theresa from the House of Bourbon , daughter of King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies and Maria Carolina of Austria . On 4 November 1824 in Vienna , he married Princess Sophie of Bavaria from

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