The website mission

The Website Mission

Dear fans and admirers of Franz Joseph I, welcome to our new globally unique website. It will for sure hold your interests with the capacity and its wide range.

We started a new dimension in internet communication and transmission of simple information, but also, we offer you the same real joy as in the real museum.

There are about 23 000 pictures and photographs (10 000 items) ready to be seen on this website, which are owned by The First Internet Museum of Franz Joseph I, Wilhelm II and the World War One. This museum is open and based on the future possible cooperation of you, the historiographers, the collectors and the interested people.

The purpose and the mission of this project is, the first and foremost, the attempt to correct the biased view of the ruling period of Franz Joseph I. Another aim is to show you the true historical story without any distortions from previous regimes and the resurrection of already forgotten handicrafts and the virtues that came from the time and work of this emperor.

Of course, the discussion about Franz Joseph I can not be finished just on one page. The unleashing of World War One was truly unacceptable act of Franz Joseph I although it had its reasons. But the numbers of dead warriors and other victims were too great.

The Czech (or Czechoslovak) view of the ruling period of Franz Joseph I was influenced mainly by Hašek’s Švejk. In short, if Franz Joseph I had been such despotic ruler and man with no scruples, like author Hašek described him, there wouldn’t be the National Theatre, the industrial revolution and composer Smetana couldn’t write his wonderful pieces. There wouldn’t be thousands of buildings, which had the names after the famous important representatives of later history and Czech language wasn’t spoken at the Charles University.

The website is divided into several parts, which will be gradually completed and improved. The museum of Franz Joseph is mainly focused on publishing and display of real items from the time of this ruler. The materials and other information will be set forth only in case if they are owned by the museum.

If the cooperation with other entities develops there will always be the information that the item was lent to the museum (also by the anonymous donor). Just now we are already negotiating the expanding of some collections overlooking the World War One – a huge collection of sabers and bayonets. We will be very happy if you can help us to enlarge the content of the museum also with your exhibits.

We also welcome the offer of your items for our museum with possible purchase. The effort of internet museum is to build the permanent exposition of The Museum of Franz Joseph I. We have already made the offer to about 12 big towns in the Czech Republic but nobody had the serious exhibit interest in Franz Joseph I.

So we ask you for the tolerance if some of our museum matters don’t work properly. This website is on its very start and still everything isn’t perfect here although the investment of 3000 hours of work, programming and scanning, have already been made and not a small amount of money was already spent for this project. This website is not and never will be used for propagation of any type of movements and political parties. If some picture or commentary hurts somebody…it won’t be our intention and we apologize for it in advance.