Assassination of Franz Ferdinand: From Konopiště to Sarajevo

On 28 June 1900, exactly fourteen years before Sarajevo, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, nephew of Emperor Franz Joseph I and heir to the throne, spoke the Oath of Renunciation here in the Hofburg. He gave up the claims of his future descendants to the throne, a dynastically necessary act because his intended marriage was to be morganatic. That same marriage would later decide where the couple could be buried.

Franz Ferdinand bought Konopiště in 1887, and the castle became famous as his last residence. Visitors can see the archduke's residential rooms and the collections of a man who was also an enthusiastic hunter. One exhibit links the castle directly to Sarajevo: the bullet that killed him, fired by Gavrilo Princip, is shown in the castle's museum. Konopiště has been open to the public since 1971.

Visitor guidance: Open to the public since 1971; the castle is at Benešov.

On Sunday morning, 28 June 1914, the archduke and his party travelled by train from the spa of Ilidža to Sarajevo. Governor Oskar Potiorek met them at Sarajevo station, where six automobiles were waiting. Security was thin: only about 60 police were on duty for the visit. Ilidža still has its 19th-century hotel complex from the Austro-Hungarian period.

Location precision: The source names Ilidža Spa but no exact building; the pin marks the town.

Earlier that morning a bomb thrown by Čabrinović exploded under the car behind the archduke's, putting it out of action. The procession sped on to the Town Hall, leaving the disabled car behind. There Franz Ferdinand protested to the mayor: "Mr. Mayor, I came here on a visit and I am greeted with bombs. It is outrageous." At 10:45 the couple got back into the motorcade. The pseudo-Moorish hall had been formally opened on 20 April 1896.

The archduke's driver, Leopold Lojka, turned right at the Latin Bridge just as the two cars ahead had done. Governor Potiorek called out that this was the wrong way, and the driver stalled the engine close to where Gavrilo Princip stood in front of Schiller's Delicatessen. Princip shot Franz Ferdinand and Sophie, and they were dead by 11:30 am. In the Yugoslav era the crossing was named Princip's Bridge. The delicatessen building now houses the Museum of Sarajevo 1878–1918.

The bodies went by the battleship Viribus Unitis to Trieste and then by special train to Vienna. Emperor Franz Joseph refused to let the couple lie in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church because of their morganatic marriage, so they were interred at Artstetten Castle. The castle is their final resting place and also houses the Archduke Franz Ferdinand Museum.