Hello lovelies, 

there is currently a Marie-Antoinette exhibition at Bratislava castle. It ends in April 2026, therefore, you still have some time if you are interested.  The castle is only an hour away from Vienna and instead of taking the public transport, we took an Uber from the train station to the castle and paid 4,5€, an absolutely steal!

The entry fee is 10€ for the exhibition only but you can also get the ticket including one for the permanent exhibition which was a tad more expensive.  And now we had the tickets and were ready for the exhibition...but didn't find it. We followed the arrows into the basement but it was not there. Confused we went to the other exhibition and asked and the security said, it was the second door. There was no information, no arrow pointing to the door, no marker, no sticker. That was weird. 

We entered and showed our ticket and we stood in a room that exhibited portraits of various Habsburgs and pictures of Bratislava castle 300 years ago. Then, it was called Pressburg in German and belonged to the Hungarian empire. 

A portrait of Marie Theresia, the mother of Marie-Antoinette. Austrian fashion during that time still looked a bit more baroque than the rest of Europe.  

Portrait of Franz Stephan I, Husband to Maria-Theresia and father of Marie-Antoinette. I remember that the KHM in Vienna also has a portrait from him.  

A portrait of the later emperor Joseph II of Austria. He is Marie-Antoinette's brother and ruled the Austro-Hungarian empire for only 10 years after the death of his mother. He was a pretty interesting character as he was so progressive, too progressive for the time. Most of his reforms were taken back with the next emperor.  

This lovely painting was made by Martin van Meytens and depicts Marie-Elisabeth, a sister to Marie-Antoinette. She was the beautiful one in the family until she contracted small-pox and was left horribly disfigured at age 24 and all marriage prospects were ruined. She became an abbess in Innsbruck.

And finally, a picture of the young future queen herself, Marie-Antoinette in a beautiful blue dress rich which lace. 

This portrait was of Marie-Christine, another sister of Marie-Antoinette. She was her mother's favourite daughter and the only one who was allowed to Marie for love. She lived with her husband in Pressburg/Bratislava. 

I'm not sure if these insignias were original or a replica but probably the latter.  

I'm not sure who those two are as I did not take a picture of the information card and google was not helpful, sorry!

Then, we rounded the corner and stood in the room we came for. It was full of beautiful dresses but looking at them closely I realized that some were replicas, and not very good one. At least the originals were fantastic. I especially like the embroidered men's clothing, I wish they would war clothes like these again.

This stunning robe de cour is fashioned after a famous portrait of Marie-Antoinette. It looks absolutely beautiful but didn't feel real and old and I was correct when I studied the information. This and all other replicas were made by Atelier Caraco in Paris.

  

This robe a l'anglaise looks great from afar but a close-up revealed a bit of a slopy work and glued on rhinestones. But the fabric the tailors used was really nice. 

 

 

 

At least the next to items are pieces from the 18th century. You have this stunning orange polish-style cape and a black frock with embroidery. The orange cape has the florals painted on them. I'm not sure how waterproof the colour was as it was a bold choice for an outer garment.

The three piece frock with breath-taking embroidery was one of my favourite piece of clothing on display. The craftmanship is simply impressive. I wish I were on this level. 

This white frock was hidden behind a mirror but at least you could see both sides.

Sneek peak! I am really the one taking the pictures lol. this is another replica and the worst of them, in my opinion. It looks bland and the lace cheap. I know you can't get hand made lace anymore (unless you are learning it like I am doing) but maybe a bit more expensive lace would have looked better. 

 

There is no backview of this wig, which is a shame. It looked well made.

This chemise a la reine/robe chemise was one of my favourite dresses, even though it was a replica too. But I have a soft spot for long, airy, white dresses. It is fashioned after a 1783 painting by Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun.This Robe de Bergère is also made by Atelier Caraco and fashioned after a La Galerie des Modes Magazine which was published around 1778. It features a green overdress, a striped skirt and a pink top? I'm not sure about this one as it looks more 17th century than 18th century. 
This reddish/brown frock with, what I thought looked like Zwirnknöpfe (Buttons wrapped in thread).

 

They also showed a painting of the beheading of Marie-Antoinette. Just a bit morbid.

 

 

Look at the embroidery on this blue frock and the ecru . I love the embroidery on mens' clothing during this era.