IDA FERENCZY

Contributions to culture and science

 In 1863, Empress Elizabeth (aka. Sissy) dedicated herself to learn Hungarian. For this reason, she hired Ida to educate her and later she made her to be her conversation partner. Sissy, who felt lonely in the court of Vienna, immediately became fond of Ida, in the beginning, she spent most of her days in her company. The Hungarian language soon became a secret language between them, and the Empress once wrote of Ida ’For me, Ida is no mere conversation partner, she is my friend!’. After her Hungarian trip in 1866, Elizabeth frequently exchanged letters with Count Gyula Andrássy, then Ferenc Deák through Ida. Ida played a major role in enabling Sissy to maintain contact with Mór Jókai and József Eötvös as well. Ida also corresponded with Miksa Falk, Lewis Thallócsy, the wife of the martyr prime minister count Lewis Batthyány—Zichy Antónia. She personally befriended the ladies of the court of Sissy, such as count Mary Festetics (1839-1923), Etelka Székhelyi Majláth countess (1853-1936), countess Irma Sztáray, and to Ferenc Nopcsa and Jácint Rónay, members of the court.  Due to her commoner ancestry, she was not allowed to make public appearances with the Empress. During these times, she spent long personal letters to Ida, detailing how she had missed her. Ida was given the title the Lady of Brünn, giving her privileges similar to aristocrats. Ida Ferenczy was officially listed as reading lady for Empress Elizabeth. Her rooms in Burg and Gödöllő had a direct connection with those of the Empress, and were in a privileged spot in Schönbrunn. The death of the Empress in 1898 devastated Ida. First, she rented an apartment in Reisnerstrasse, then moved to Schönbrunn. Her salon was a frequented meeting spot for figures of Hungarian and Austrian civic life.

Through the remainder of her life, she lived for the memory of the Empress, so she was one of the main organisers of the Queen Elizabeth Museum in Vienna.

 Short biography

 Ida Krisztina Veronika Vecseszéki Ferenczy (1839 April 7, Kecskemét – 1928 July 28, Vienna), the ’Lady on balcony’, trusted reading lady of the Queen Elizabeth from 1863 to 1898. In 1907, upon the request of Kada Elek (1851-1913) mayor of Kecskemét (whose wife, Auguszta Ferenczy was the cousin of Ida), Ida aided in the acquisition of the Kohár-Szentlőrinc field near Kecskemét by contacting personally Prince Philip Koburg. In 1908 opened the Queen Elizabeth Museum which gathered significant audiences, only to later suffer great damages in the Second World War. During the Kecskemét National Song Festival in 1909, she was the flag carrier.

She passed away in Vienna in1928.

 Interesting facts

 Her attachment to Kecskemét became the most apparent, when, in 1907, upon the request of Elek Kada, she contributed to the acquisition of the Kohár-Szentlőrinc Field next to Kecskemét by contacting directly Prince Philip Koburg. The acquisition was successful by the city of Kecskemét, even though the Agrarian Bank had already had the rights of purchase the 2750-hectare area. She has conducted many charities, she helped people in poverty of Kecskemét by sending donations to the Rongyos Association throughout many years. In her final will, she donated 1000 golden crowns to the poor of Kecskemét. In 1909 she took the role of the flag carrier at the Kecskemét National Song Festival. She passed away in 1928 in the Austrian capital. She was buried in the Loretto Chapel of the Order of St. Augustine in Vienna, and her coffin was laid to rest in the Holy Trinity cemetery in Kecskemét, in the Ferenczy family tomb, next to her father and siblings.