Habsburg family tree

The Collectivité européenne d'Alsace has undertaken the restoration of the Habsburg family tree, an iconic 16th-century Alsatian work from the collections of Haut-Koenigsbourg castle.

This work was created by Aegidius Sadeler II, who was born in Antwerp in 1568 and died in Prague in 1629.
It was acquired by the Association for Haut-Kœnigsbourg (Hohkönigsburgverein), founded in 1905 on the initiative of Bodo Ebhardt, with the help of senior officials from the Reichsland Elsass-Lothringen and prominent figures from the Alsatian economic and cultural world. Its aim was to furnish and turn the castle, newly restored by the Berlin architect Bodo Ebhardt for Emperor Wilhelm II, into a living museum of the Middle Ages. Between 1905 and 1918, the association financed the purchase of furniture, tableware, art objects, textiles and weapons in Alsace, Switzerland and Germany, and collected numerous donations from its members.

These collections, now owned by the Collectivité européenne d'Alsace via Haut-Koenigsbourg castle, are gradually being restored in order to keep them in good condition so that they can be displayed to the public, either within the monument or at exhibitions to which the objects are loaned.

The family tree underwent urgent intervention to remove what threatened the integrity of the work, restore complete legibility and improve the mechanical strength of the support with a mounting that would guarantee the work's durability and better display. The challenge was to remove the unsuitable mounting and marouflage, which caused inconsistent tension between the canvas and paper.

The restoration was entrusted to Ségolène Girard, a specialist in drawings and paintings on paper, and Edwige Durhône, a specialist in paper works at Operatorium (Paris XIII), a company specialising in the conservation and restoration of heritage. The intervention lasted nearly a month and a half.

The cost of the restoration was €16,970.24.
This restoration was sponsored by the Martel Catala Fund, which contributed €3,000.