Thanks to a collaboration between the Miramare Historical Museum and the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, part of Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian of Habsburg’s Egyptian collection is coming back to Trieste.

More than a hundred artefacts are exhibited, including items on loan from the J.J. Winckelmann Civic Museum of Antiquities in Trieste, reflecting the passion for Egyptology within the context of nineteenth-century collecting in Trieste.

At the Scuderie of Miramare Castle, the noble residence designed by the Archduke of Austria and future Emperor of Mexico, from 2 April to 1 November 2026, visitors will have the chance to discover Maximilian’s dream and his forward-thinking vision: the creation of an ideal museum in which to exhibit his eclectic collections. In the Archduke’s view, the collection he was building was not merely a means of increasing his personal wealth and prestige, but also a tool to support historical and philological research into Egyptian civilisation.