Cupola Fresco

The ceiling paintings in the State Hall were created by Court artist Daniel Gran, who worked on them from 1726 to 1730. The fresco in the cupola depicts the apotheosis, the “deification” of Emperor Charles VI. In the middle we see Charles VI in all his glory, with pyramid and laurel wreath in his hands, while below that is a golden medallion with a portrait of the emperor supported by Apollo and Hercules; beneath that and around the sides are numerous other symbols of the magnificence of the House of Habsburg.

Thanks to gigapixel photography, you can now admire this masterpiece from close up for the first time: if you look closely and use the zoom function, you will even see the traces of a crack in the dome which appeared in the middle of the 18th century. Major repairs were required at that time to prevent the library collapsing, and the restoration of the cupola fresco was completed by the artist Franz Anton Maulbertsch in 1769.

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