Before he himself ended up as a trophy of Serbian nationalism, an act that led to WWI, Archduke Franz Ferdinand used to be a fanatical hunter: During his lifetime, he killed a total of 274.889 animals, that is nearly 15 animals for every day of his life. No wonder that the world tour he undertook to recover from the effects of TBC in 1892 to 1893 featured impressive hunting trips. In three weeks in Nepal, he and his entourage killed 1.395 animals, among them seven tigers and five panthers. A great photograph shows him pompously standing on the belly of a dead elephant (the elephant's penis is covered by family-friendly foliage).

Besides hunting, diplomatic receptions and chit-chat, shopping was another of the archduke's passions. In India, he acquired 3.140 weapons amidst a multitude of touristic knick-knack, art and photographies. The haul of his shopping ended up in the collection of the Vienna museum of ethnology which more than a hundred years later put together a charming exhibition about this imperial tour. Highly recommended. ( )

This is the catalogue of an exhibit currently running at the Museum fuer Voelkerkunde in Vienna. I was fascinated by the late 19th century photographs of India, both for their content and for the technology. Amazing. Now to visit the exhibit.

This catalogue is available as a free download (in German). ( )