The Imperial Carriage

This monstrosity dates to c. 1735 (panel paintings, 1763). I mean, it just doesn’t get any more ostentatious than this. Meant to be “a throne on wheels”, this carriage was used only for coronations, weddings, and so on. It was so heavy it needed 6 horses (later upgraded to 8) to pull it at a walking pace, and it had manual brakes in the back in case it needed to stop in a hurry.

The carriage used for the last time in 1916 during the Hungarian coronation of Emperor Karl, when it carried Empress Zita and Crown Prince Otto to Matthias Church in Budapest. Incidentally, Karl would reign for less than 2 years before the Austro-Hungarian Empire was dissolved.