Archduke Johann, the brother of the Austrian Emperor, did much to improve the welfare of the Styrian population. His influence on educational institutions, culture and the economy can still be felt today.
1782 Archduke Johann is born in Florence as the son of the future Austrian Emperor Leopold II.
1790 After the death of Joseph II, Johann’s father Leopold is declared Emperor. The family moves from Florence to Vienna.
1796 The young man begins his military training.
1800 He fights as a field marshal in the Napoleonic wars, but sustains a defeat at Hohenlinden.
1809 The Archduke supports Andreas Hofer in the Tyrol’s fight for freedom. But the liberation of the Tyrol, which had previously been lost to Bavaria, is doomed to failure. The Emperor forbids the Archduke to set foot in the Tyrol again, and from this point onwards, the Archduke devotes all his attention to Styria.
1811 The Archduke lays the foundations for the future Landesmuseum Joanneum by donating his own extensive collections.
1819 At Lake Toplitzsee in Upper Styria, the Archduke meets Anna Plochl, a commoner, for the first time. However, his brother, the Emperor Franz II, initially refuses to permit the two to marry.
1829 The couple eventually marries after finally receiving permission from the Emperor Franz II.
1848 Archduke Johann is appointed as the head of the Constituent Imperial Diet as the Emperor’s deputy.
1849 The Imperial regent resigns his office on 10 December.
1850-1859 The Archduke serves as mayor of the Styrian municipality of Stainz.
1859 Archduke Johann dies in Graz at the age of 77.
Johann Baptist Joseph Fabian Sebastian, the son of the Grand Duke Leopold of Tuscany (the future Emperor Leopold II) and Maria Ludovica of Bourbon (the daughter of the then king of Spain), was born on 20 January 1782 in Florence as the thirteenth of sixteen children.
When Leopold succeeded Kaiser Josef II to become Austrian Emperor in 1790, the family moved to Vienna. Six years later, Archduke Johann began his military training. In his spare time, however, the young man liked to pursue his interests in nature, technology, and hunting.
An enthusiastic climber, he participated in the Napoleonic Wars as a Field Marshal in 1800 but lost the Battle of Hohenlinden. When Austria was forced to surrender the Tyrol to Bavaria in 1805 after a defeat in battle, Archduke Johann supported his friend Andreas Hofer in 1809 in the Tyrolean fight for freedom. This fight initially progressed well but ultimately failed to bring about the longed-for liberation of the Tyrol from Bavarian rule.
Archduke Johann’s brother Franz, who had ascended to the Austrian throne in the interim as Emperor Franz II, then banned Johann from setting foot in the Tyrol again. Subsequently, the Archduke discovered his love for Styria, where he donated his collection in 1811 to form the basis for the founding of the Joanneum Regional Museum. He founded the Styrian Regional Archives (Steiermärkisches Landesarchiv) in 1817 and the Mining and Metallurgy School in Vordernberg (later to become the Leoben University of Mining) in 1826. Additionally, he was instrumental in founding the Styrian Savings Bank and the Anna Children’s Hospital in Graz. In 1829, having finally won the Emperor’s approval after long years of opposition to the marriage, Archduke Johann married the love of his life, Anna Plochl, the daughter of the postmaster of Aussee.
In 1841, the Archduke with the popular touch, who was fond of wearing the “Steirer” suit, the national dress of Styria, bought the local manor house in Stainz, where he also served as the first freely elected mayor from 1850 to his death in the year 1859. Archduke Johann died on 11 May 1859 in his town house in Graz.