Royal patronage and the publicity associated with it have been good for tourism, Bath, Baden-Baden, and Karlsbad being prime examples. But, as Ursula Butz comments in her study of the relationship between the Habsburgs and alpine tourism—a straightforward version of her dissertation for the University of Lucerne—it is not always easy to calculate the effect of royal visits. Through an impressive amount of archival research using resort registers (Kur- und Fremdenlisten), spa guides and handbooks, tourist publications (she confines herself to German-language examples) royal diaries, memoirs, and the local press, she has produced detailed microhistories of three health resorts in the Eastern Alps, in order to demonstrate the effect of Habsburg family members on tourist numbers, social tone, and visitor behaviours.
In the first half of the nineteenth century, spas were patronised primarily by an elite blessed with time and money, hoping to benefit from the mineral springs and some sociability, but, as travel became easier and cheaper in the second half of the century, growing numbers of tourists began to seek relaxation and amusement in picturesque, natural surroundings. By the end of the century, the Austrian spa trade had evolved into a complex system of health resorts distinguished from each other by their function, social tone, size, and location. Butz chooses to focus her study on the Eastern Alps: on Bad Ischl in the heart of the Salzkammergut, Meran in the South Tirol, and Reichenbach/Semmering at the foot of the Rax mountain. Each had strong links with the Habsburgs, but they were also representative of different types of health resort, the pattern of their historical development influenced not so much by royal patronage, as by changes in spa medicine and the nature of tourism as it evolved from an elite activity into something closer to modern mass tourism. From a close examination of her sources, Butz has compiled details of all recorded royal visits and constructed charts of visitor numbers, contrasting the steady rise of Meran as it grew into an international resort with the earlier and more erratic but greater popularity of Ischl, which lasted until it was overtaken by Meran at the end of period under examination. Tourist numbers for Reichenau remained low, reflecting its function as an aristocratic summer resort where elite visitors enjoyed their Sommerfrische in the pure air and scenery.
A Habsburg passionate about the Eastern Alps was the Archduke Johann (1782-1859), who shared the contemporary romantic and scientific interest in nature, mountains, and their inhabitants. He also loved climbing and hunting, as did other male members of the family. Ischl, accessible from Salzburg, began to be fashionable in the 1820s, when the exploitation of its saline waters was assisted by illustrious recommendations, an entrepreneurial spa doctor, and a visit from Emperor Ferdinand in 1835. From then on, the regular presence of the royal family, together with the court, diplomats, “first society,” and crowned heads ensured Ischl's popularity. Emperor Franz Joseph (1830-1916), in particular, was deeply attached to this sedate and traditional spa, where he was born, spent his summer holidays, became engaged, and later set up his mistress, Katharina Schratt, in a nearby villa. Better access brought members of the “second society” who, in the last decades of the nineteenth century, increasingly emulated the behaviour patterns of the aristocracy. The aristocracy, in turn, stayed away as the wealthier bourgeoisie and lesser nobility also began to frequent Ischl and the Salzkammergut.
Meran become known as a climatic resort in the 1850s, thanks to its mild winters and grape and whey cures. Its growing popularity was particularly indebted to the Empress Elisabeth (1837-1898), who visited four times, once with her ailing daughter, Marie-Valerie. The building of the railways was an important factor in the development of all three resorts: the Brennerbahn linked Meran to Germany and Italy, while in 1854 the Südbahn opened up access from Vienna to the Reichenau/Semmering area, where the railway built one of its hotels. In all three alpine resorts, more visitors meant new facilities for accommodation, treatment, and recreation: parks, promenades, villas, and walks created distinctive environments enhanced by royal residences. The Villa Wartholz at Reichenau, a hunting lodge built in 1872 for Archduke Charles Louis, became the home of the last Habsburg Emperor. Artists, musicians, and writers found spa life congenial.
For the Habsburgs, conscious of their imperial status, these Austrian resorts functioned as important public spaces, creating a framework for relatively informal interactions with their subjects whilst enabling them to retain a measure of privacy. This was particularly true of Ischl, dubbed the Kaiserstadt where official events usually took place in the town's amenities, rather than in the royal residence. A key ingredient in the construction of the public image of the Habsburg family was its representation in the burgeoning press. Reports of its whereabouts outside Vienna and the activities of its members had the effect of making the imperial family appear closer to its subjects as its members were increasingly seen to be engaged in the ordinary pursuits of recreational tourism: plays and concerts, sightseeing excursions, picnics, hiking—the wandering Empress Elisabeth was a great walker—and climbing. As well as its charts, the book includes some evocative illustrations and represents an interesting and useful, if narrowly focused, contribution to spa history.
The Habsburg effect is still strong in Ischl, recently designated a European City of Culture, as it is in Meran/Merano, now part of the Italian Alto Adige, where the likeness of the Empress Elisabeth greets visitors to the Touriseum (Tourist Museum) housed in the Trautsmanndorf Castle, where she used to stay. Empress Sissi possessed star quality, and in her lifetime even relatively unknown places, such as Herkulesbad in Transylvania, where she had a villa, benefited from the royal stardust.
