Austria-Hungary, or the Dual Monarchy as it was also commonly called, is a country that had in fact existed for only 51 years and ceased over a century ago, has left a tangible trace in the hearts of the peoples it used to encompass. For the Austrians and Magyars, the two state-forming nations of the Monarchy, it seems to have always been the feeling of aching nostalgia for the former grandeur, and – for Hungarians – the lost territories that followed with Trianon. Other nations like the Czechs or Poles may be far less nostalgic about this time. The collapse of Austria-Hungary gave rise to their existence as independent states. As for the Rusyns who were said to have always been loyal to all rulers (and thus the Transylvanian Prince Ferencz Rákóczi II once called them gens fidellissima, the most loyal kin, though then they had helped him fight against the Austrian Habsburgs), their (I am speaking about the dwellers of Subcarpathian Rus, Galitzia and Bukovyna which now are parts of Ukraine) attitude to Austria-Hungary seems to be quite friendly.

In the Rusyn folk memory, the Monarchy is often referred to as ‘Granny Austria.’ We remember that we used to be part of Central Europe (Mitteleuropa), but we also are a bit cross with contemporary Austrians who (to a greater extent than Hungarians) have forgotten about ‘us being part of them’. If you would ask a Viennese what they know about Lviv/Lemberg or Uzhhorod/Ungvár, the answer would most probably be nil.

However, even now, 103 years since the collapse of the Danubian Monarchy (one more nickname of Austria-Hungary), there are a bunch of things that are common or similar for these variegated and multiethnic areas. One of the easiest to see clearly is in the urban architecture. Walking downtown in Vienna, Budapest, Krakow, Zagreb, Cluj, Lviv, and even much smaller towns like Uzhhorod and Mukachevo, you cannot but notice the similarity of the fin de siècle residential houses – let alone numerous medieval castles scattered along the area. A common ‘high-rise’ of the Austrian times would be a yellow-grey square four- or five-story condo with high ceilings, a patio inside, and the apartment entrance from the balcony that lies along the entire story as an interior corridor. By the way, in Lviv apartments in such houses are called kavalerka, from kavaler, a chevalier for these usually rather small flats used to be inhabited by ‘chevaliers’ (bachelors).

Austrian-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph remains part of the history and culture of Subcarpathia. Some people, speaking about something that happened long ago, would say that ‘it was in the time of Ferencz Jóska’ – this diminutive name is still used popularly. Lately, several statues of Franz Joseph were inaugurated in the region, as a tribute to a really popular leader who had reigned for 68 years (1848 till 1916). It is hard to believe, but when he took the throne there were few if any railways in the world, and when he died motor cars and even airplanes became quite common. Some 30 years ago, older people still recalled that nearly all peasant households even had Franz Joseph’s portraits. The Emperor is said to have taught ‘his beloved nations’ to get up early in the morning to have time to accomplish all work that had been scheduled.

Another thing that can be hard to believe is that even our contemporaries might have met a person who was sitting in Franz Joseph’s lap. I am talking here about Dr. Otto von Habsburg, the ex-heir to the Austrian-Hungarian throne and a citizen of Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Croatia, a long-time deputy of the European Parliament and an initiator of the 1989 Pan-European Picnic at the Austrian-Hungarian border when about 700 East Germans flooded through the opened border to West Germany via Hungary and Austria.

Franz Joseph Otto Robert Maria Anton Karl Max Heinrich Sixtus Xaver Felix Renatus Ludwig Gaetan Pius Ignatius von Habsburg-Lorraine, the eldest son of Charles IV and I, Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, was born in November 1912 and died just ten years ago – in July 2011. Otto von Habsburg was educated in the language and culture of the two state-forming nations of the former empire. He was taught at home from old Austrian and Hungarian books, and monks from Pannonhalma Abbey in Hungary taught him Hungarian language and literature. As an expression of his appreciation, Otto von Habsburg commanded that his heart should be buried within the walls of that monastery – and his will was followed: his body was buried in the family’s crypt in Vienna, whilst his heart was buried in Pannonhalma. It is interesting that Andrea, one of Otto’s seven children, was baptized with water taken from the Tysa/Tisza and the Jordan Rivers.

Empress Maria Theresa (1717–1780) is another Habsburg whose name sounds familiar to Rusyns – but I fear that most of them know the name and nothing more.

Returning from royal persons back to material things that remained in Subcarpathia from Austrian-Hungarian times, it is worth mentioning again the railways and their importance. They included a network of broad- and narrow-gauge railways with the infrastructure – terminals, bridges, tunnels, etc. It is notable that the longest single-track tunnel joining Subcarpathia and Galitzia (now Ukraine’s Zakarpatska and Lviv oblasts) was in service until recently – the new double-track tunnel was opened only several years ago. Other ‘leftovers’ of old Austria-Hungary are Italian family names of some dwellers of Subcarpathia. Wouldn’t you wonder at hearing that your new acquaintance from Velyky Bychkiv is a Puccini, and another one from Perechyn is a Cominotto? The explanation is that their great-grandfathers had been qualified engineers who were invited to build bridges, aqueducts, and tunnels, and eventually got married and remained in the region.