During the Ottoman Empire’s decline in the mid-19th century, Austria’s Emperor sought a base in the Holy Land for Austrian pilgrims. This led to the founding of the Austrian Hospice of the Holy Family in Jerusalem in 1854 by the then-Archbishop of Vienna, who remains its owner. More than just an Austrian enclave, its ground-floor café, the iconic “Cafè Triest” – named after the Habsburg Empire’s port city – embodies Viennese tradition.
Giuseppe Colasanto, an EU agency official stationed in Jordan and Lebanon, described the unique atmosphere. “A recent work meeting brought me there, suggested by an Austrian colleague,” Colasanto recounted, noting the hospice flies both Austrian and Vatican flags. He found the Café Triest bathed in amber light, featuring marble-topped tables, wooden chairs, and portraits of Emperor Franz Joseph and the young Princess Sissy. A 17th-century crucifix beside the coffee machine completed this “Habsburg microcosm in the Middle East,” set to classical music. Patrons sank into dark red quilted sofas reading German newspapers, evoking a Trieste of a century past – a stark contrast to the outside streets patrolled solely by Israeli military and residents, devoid of tourists.
The café offers menus in German and English, prices in euros, and traditional Austrian fare. Colasanto recounted a scene: “A lady in a hat beside me ordered Wiener Schnitzel, potatoes, a beer stein, and finished with Sacher Torte.” When he inquired about apple strudel at the counter, “the blonde girl answered ‘yes’ with a German accent, astonished I’d doubted such a certainty.”
The hospice hosted Emperor Franz Joseph himself in November 1869 during his journey to celebrate the Suez Canal’s opening. He was the first European monarch to visit the Holy Land since the end of the Crusades.