Hello dear friends ! and welcome to day 8 of our Austrian Advent Calendar.
It’s time to trim the tree !
I hesitated a lot this year for the color inspiration of my Christmas tree. The Austrian flag is red and white so that was a first idea, then I thought of the Habsburg Imperial dynasty and yellow as their representative colour. In the end, it was while researching my upcoming visit to Vienna that I found the best idea, when I stumbled upon the photos of the Vieux Laque Room at Schönbrunn Palace.
This is Maria Theresa’s tribute to her late husband, Emperor Franz Stephan. Decorated in 1770, the room presents a luxurious series of Chinese laquer panel, framed in a black and gold wainscoting, and featuring portraits of beloved members of the Habsburg family. The room is simply stunning, and for me, the most significant impression is the heavy golden features. So I decided that for my Austrian Christmas, I would have a Golden Imperial Christmas tree, with accents of shiny black.
This is it ! My golden Imperial tree, a tribute to the glory years of the Habsburg Empire.
See you tomorrow !