ABSTRACT
The ‘Chinese teahouse’, erected for the 1873 World Exposition in Vienna, showcased the rising self-confidence of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, as well as its desire for a globe-spanning presence in a place as distant as Qing China. Through analysis of the process of decision-making, design, and construction of the Chinese teahouse, as well as its public reception until its final disposal, the paper discusses why and how Chinese architecture once again had become the plaything of the powerful (old pattern of Chinoiserie), even if the world in the late nineteenth century was growing closer and more interconnected, and broader knowledge of genuine Chinese building traditions was now theoretically available outside their country of origin. Commissioned, financed, and furnished by Austrian individuals and firms and designed by the Italian-born Turkish architect Pietro Montani (1829–87), the language of construction provides important clues to understanding the distinctive (inter-)national character of the teahouse.
