Ludwig Salvator
Encyclopedia
Archduke Ludwig Salvator of Austria, in Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

 Luigi Salvatore Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Battista Dominico Raineri Ferdinando Carlo Zenobio Antonino, in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 Ludwig Salvator Maria Joseph Johann Baptist Dominicus Rainerius Ferdinand Carl Zenobius Antonin (Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....

, 4 August 1847 - Schloss Brandeis, Brandýs nad Labem-Stará Boleslav
Brandýs nad Labem-Stará Boleslav
Brandýs nad Labem-Stará Boleslav is a town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic on the banks of the Elbe River, in the heart of an agricultural region about 25 km northeast of Prague. The town is part of the Prague metropolitan area. Brandýs nad Labem dates its origin to the...

, Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...

, 12 October 1915), is known as a champion for Majorca's wildlife, in an era when the term "conservation
Conservation movement
The conservation movement, also known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental and a social movement that seeks to protect natural resources including animal, fungus and plant species as well as their habitat for the future....

" meant nothing.

He settled on Majorca, buying up wild areas in order to preserve and enjoy it. His main home of Son Marroig, near the village of Deià
Deià
Deià is a small coastal village on the northern ridge of the Spanish island of Majorca. It is located about ten miles north of Valldemossa, and it is known for its literary and musical residents...

 is now a museum. Much of what was his property now belongs to Michael Douglas
Michael Douglas
Michael Kirk Douglas is an American actor and producer, primarily in movies and television. He has won three Golden Globes and two Academy Awards; first as producer of 1975's Best Picture, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and as Best Actor in 1987 for his role in Wall Street. Douglas received the...

, most notably the Moorish style palace 'S'Estaca' that Ludwig converted from a ruined old manor house.

In Přerov nad Labem
Prerov nad Labem
Přerov nad Labem is a market town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic located under the Přerovská hůra hill. Current population is ca. 1,200. It is part of micro-region Polabí....

, Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...

 he founded the first open air museum
Open air museum
An open-air museum is a distinct type of museum exhibiting its collections out-of-doors. The first open-air museums were established in Scandinavia towards the end of the nineteenth century, and the concept soon spread throughout Europe and North America. Open-air museums are variously known as...

 in Central and Eastern Europe (ca. 1895).

Works

He wrote a book on insects at the age of 22 and also the nine-volume book Die Balearen (The Balearic Islands
Balearic Islands
The Balearic Islands are an archipelago of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.The four largest islands are: Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The archipelago forms an autonomous community and a province of Spain with Palma as the capital...

).

Background

He was the second cousin of Emperor Franz Joseph, of the ruling House of Habsburg-Lorraine, the fourth son of Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany
Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany
Leopold II of Tuscany was the last reigning grand duke of Tuscany ....

. In his youth, he fell in love with Archduchess Mathilde, who was promised to Prince Umberto of Savoy
Umberto I of Italy
Umberto I or Humbert I , nicknamed the Good , was the King of Italy from 9 January 1878 until his death. He was deeply loathed in far-left circles, especially among anarchists, because of his conservatism and support of the Bava-Beccaris massacre in Milan...

. But she died accidentally; she was bored while watching a parade and tried to smoke a secret cigarette, her clothes caught fire and she literally burnt to death. Ludwig went to Majorca under his title of Count of Neuendorf, arriving in 1867. Falling in love with the clear air, water and dazzling blue skies of Majorca it was to become his base and home for the remainder of his life.

He explored on his steam-yacht the Nixe. He was known for his extreme love of animals and nature.

He never married. Relationships with women included Catalina Homar. She convinced Ludwig to let her visit Jerusalem and it is believed that it was there that she contracted the leprosy
Leprosy
Leprosy or Hansen's disease is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Named after physician Gerhard Armauer Hansen, leprosy is primarily a granulomatous disease of the peripheral nerves and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions...

 that took her life in 1905. He had many lovers, most of them Mallorcan and he sired many illegitimate children. He treated them as honoured children and gave them land and wealth. Nevertheless, someone spoke about his homosexuality, because of some letters that were sent to him from a supposed lover, who added pornographic sketches.

Ludwig's main work, his 9 volume book on the Balearics took 22 years to complete.

When World War I broke out, his family ordered him to leave Majorca and in 1915 he died in family castle of Brandýs nad Labem-Stará Boleslav
Brandýs nad Labem-Stará Boleslav
Brandýs nad Labem-Stará Boleslav is a town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic on the banks of the Elbe River, in the heart of an agricultural region about 25 km northeast of Prague. The town is part of the Prague metropolitan area. Brandýs nad Labem dates its origin to the...

, Bohemia. He was buried in Vienna.

External links

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