This postcard shows a sculpture of Empress Maria Theresa during the times of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy.
A sculpture of Empress Maria Theresa made out of white Carrara marble used to decorate the Danube embankment.
The monument by local artist Ján Fadrus was unveiled in 1897. Born in Bratislava (then Pressburg) in 1858 to a poor cheesemaker from Moravia, Ján showed artistic talent from an early age. He was eventually able to earn scholarships to study sculpting in Vienna, where he met his future wife Anna Deréky, from whom he learned Hungarian.
The unveiling of the statue was attended by Francis Joseph I. Maria Theresa, who ruled between 1740 and 1780, was one of the most successful and adept rulers of the Habsburg dynasty. She was crowned Queen of Hungary in Bratislava in 1741.
The inscription on the pedestal read "vitam et sanguinem" (our lives and blood), and the monument sat on today's Ľudovít Štúr Square.
But the sculpture's life was not as long or and successful as the real person. During turbulent times in 1921, when former Hungarian king Charles I attempted to retake the throne, rioting supporters of the republic destroyed it, following the city's annexation from the empire.
Part of it ended up in the river, another part was used for other sculptures and other fragments were taken as souvenirs.
Neither was the sculptor's life so long; Ján Fadrus did not live to see his work destroyed. In 1893 he and his wife moved to Budapest, where he opened a studio. He unexpectedly died in 1903 at the age of 45, apparently from complications related to tuberculosis. His sculptures still remain in Romania, Slovakia, and Hungary.
This article was first published by The Slovak Spectator on February 11, 2008. It has been updated to remain relevant today.
