Kaiser Franz I. Denkmal

A bronze bust of Emperor Franz I stands on a marble pedestal in the centre of Bad Hofgastein. The town lies in the Gastein valley where hot springs rise from deep underground. In the 1820s the number of visitors seeking cures grew so fast that local leaders decided to bring the water to the town. Archbishop Johann Ladislaus Pyrker, Archduke Johann and Count Ugarte persuaded the emperor to approve a pipeline. Once the water flowed through pipes instead of barrels, the emperor’s popularity soared and the shortage of lodgings at the upper springs eased. The monument was Pyrker’s idea and the bust was cast in Vienna. Franz von Zauner modelled the emperor’s face and Josef Glanz’s foundry produced the bronze. On 15 August 1847 the bronze image was unveiled by the district captain Gustav Ignaz von Chorinsky. The marble pedestal is made from Untersberg stone quarried near Salzburg. The emperor is shown wearing the robes of a Roman Caesar. Visitors find the statue on Kaiser Franz Platz, a small square in the heart of the spa quarter. The marble base carries inscriptions on three sides. The square is surrounded by 19th-century hotels and guesthouses built for the new wave of guests. From the square a short walk leads to the spa gardens where the thermal water still rises in fountains. The valley’s mountain backdrop frames the scene and the air carries the faint scent of sulphur from the springs.