Palazzo Coronini Cronberg

On October 21, 1836, Gorizia suddenly found itself at the center of European news: the exiled King Charles X of France, who had fled after the 1830 Revolution, had arrived in the city with his court. Just a few days later, on November 6, the monarch—who had taken up residence in Palazzo Coronini—died of cholera and was buried in the nearby monastery of Castagnevizza.
Despite his passing, the royal family chose to remain in Gorizia. His son, Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême, his wife Marie Thérèse Charlotte—the only surviving daughter of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette—and their young relatives Henri, Count of Chambord, and Louise of Artois, lived for nearly ten years in Palazzo Strassoldo, leaving a profound mark on the city’s social and cultural life.
As loyalist exiles and travelers continued to arrive, the study of French was encouraged, while the local aristocracy—including the Coronini counts—regularly took part in dinners and receptions that had taken on a tone of sobriety far removed from the splendor of Versailles.
Over the years, the monastery of Castagnevizza—renamed the “Saint-Denis of exile”—became the burial place of the entire royal family, which came to an end in 1883 with the death of Henri, Count of Chambord. He too, after moving to Frohsdorf near Vienna in 1845, maintained a strong bond with Gorizia, where he returned often and where his funeral was held with great solemnity.
Through a journey marked by images, objects, and documents, the exhibition reconstructs the personal stories of Charles X and his descendants, revealing their most intimate and human side: their character, emotional ties, and the gratitude they felt toward the city that welcomed them with respect and discretion.