Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie) (born Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria 24 December 1837 – died 10 September 1898 Geneva, Switzerland) was born into the royal Bavarian House of Wittelsbach, a German dynasty. At the age of sixteen she married Emperor of Austria Franz Joseph I and was brought to the Habsburg court. Elisabeth’s visit to Hungary in 1857 left a deep and lasting impression upon her and she even began to learn Hungarian. Her kinship with Hungary was crucial since it helped to form the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary in 1867. Elisabeth and Franz Joseph were officially crowned Queen and King of Hungary in June 1867.
She was assassinated by an anarchist in Geneva in 1898. The Empress Elisabeth monument is located in the Volksgarten of Vienna. It was built between 1904 and 1907. It is an elaborate memorial featuring a seated statue of the Empress Elisabeth.
