Illustrative stock photo (source: Sme/Gabriel Kuchta)
Bratislava will witness the re-enactment of the coronation of Maria Ludovika, the granddaughter of Maria Theresa and the third wife of the Austrian Emperor and Hungarian King, Franz I.
The ceremony will be part of the annual Coronation Celebrations festival that will take place in the streets of Bratislava on June 22 for the 17th time.
“Even though Franz I was crowned as the Hungarian king on June 6, 1792, in Buda, the then capital of the Hungarian Kingdom, he ordered that his wife, Maria Ludovika, should be crowned in Pressburg, today’s Bratislava,” said Miroslav Vetrík, an organiser of the event, as quoted by the TASR newswire.
The ceremony was celebrated by bishop Karol Alexander Rosos and it took place on September 7, 1808, in St Martin's Cathedral, he added.
Exhibition and crafts
The programme for the coronation starts on June 20 with an exhibition of the coronation of Maria Theresa at Hviezdoslavovo Square, which will last until June 23.
The same square will host a craft fair on June 21-23, with more than 40 craftsmen presenting their skills.
The main programme is planned for June 22. The coronation parade starts at 13:00 and the coronation insignia will be moved from Bratislava Castle’s Vienna Gate through Zámocká and Kapucínska Streets, Župné Square, Hurbanovo Square and Michalská, Ventúrska and Panská Streets to Hviezdoslavovo Square.
The act of the coronation itself starts at 13:30 there and at 14:30, the knights will be dubbed.
Died young and childless
Ludovika was born in Milan. Her father was Archduke Ferdinand, Governor General of Lombardy, and her mother was Mary Beatrice d 'Este.
She caught the attention of twice-widowed emperor Franz I with her beauty, glamour, spirit and heart.
“She took it very hard when her step-daughter, Maria Louise, married the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte,” said Vetrík, as quoted by TASR. “She was fond of literature. At Karlovy Vary, she met with Goethe, who introduced her to German literature. She died young and childless at the age of 28.”
