
At the age of 27, she finally persuaded her father to allow her to take maths lessons and in 1892 she was the first woman to be admitted to the Academy of Sciences. In 2009, she was given a place in the Ruhmeshalle und Bavaria (Hall of Fame and Bavaria).
The exciting story of the Wittelsbach research princess is our contribution to the blog parade "Frauen und Erinnerungskultur #femaleheritage", organised by the Monacensia in the Hildebrandhaus in cooperation with Dr Tanja Praske from KULTUR - MUSEUM - TALK .
Further articles and interesting women can be found here (external link, opens in a new window)!
Exactly 170 years ago, on 12 November 1850, "Thereschen", as she was called by her family, was born in the Munich Residence. She was the daughter of Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria and his wife Auguste Ferdinande of Austria and thus the granddaughter of King Ludwig I of Bavaria.
"I have never been afraid of anything in life."

The little princess grew up with her three brothers in Palais Leuchtenberg on Odeonsplatz. The children were brought up by their mother in a loving, practical and strictly Catholic manner. A sense of duty, punctuality, order and willpower were emphasised in the family. The children were taught by renowned private tutors and scholars at home, as was customary at the time. Therese stood out early on due to her thirst for knowledge. Fortunately for her, she was allowed to study together with her younger brother Arnulf. She loved animals, including exotic ones such as marmots, bats and tortoises, and was interested in plants and foreign cultures. Maths and Latin, however, were reserved for her brothers - much to her regret. The princess was also not allowed to study. It was not until 1903 that Therese's father, Prince Regent Luitpold, opened the Bavarian universities to women.
The princess was an absolute bookworm. Although her mother severely restricted her reading of novels, Therese devoured travelogues and works of history. Her favourite reading was Alexander von Humboldt's research reports. The little Wittelsbach girl was also particularly gifted with languages. She learnt 12 spoken and written languages, including Russian, Swedish and Modern Greek.
When Therese was 13, her beloved mother died - the end of her carefree childhood. The princess tried to take on her role in the family and often acted as a mediator between the brothers and their father. Above all, however, she was now expected to take on representative duties at Luitpold's side - which was not at all easy for her.
"At the age of thirteen, I was faced with a life task that threatened to overwhelm me."
Nevertheless, she fulfilled this role for 48 years, until her father's death.
A few months after her mother, Therese also had to say goodbye to her cousin Ludwig II. A loss that was doubly tragic for her, because after the mysterious death of the "Kini", Therese's father, Prince Luitpold, took over the regency in Bavaria. This fundamentally changed the young woman's life: her father had hardly any time left, and Therese felt increasingly overwhelmed and lonely.
The Wittelsbach princess also developed a particularly strong affection for Ludwig's brother Otto, who was declared unfit to rule due to mental illness. The two had a deep emotional bond. Otto's mother promised Therese on her deathbed that she would look after Otto - she was officially allowed to visit her sick cousin at Fürstenried Palace twice a year. This unhappy love also led to the princess resolutely rejecting all marriage candidates. Using clever strategies, she managed to evade the pressure from her family.
"I didn't sell my freedom to a man I couldn't love."

Instead of devoting herself to her family and the usual duties of a woman in the late 19th century, Therese pursued her own interests: Natural and social sciences, geography, geology, botany, zoology and ethnology. She acquired her extensive knowledge through years of self-study, attending lectures at university and studying the natural science collections.
At the age of 42, Therese von Bayern was made an honorary member of the Geographical Society and the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. Five years later, she received an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Munich. Such honours were an absolute exception for a woman at the time. To this day, the "Princess Therese of Bavaria Foundation" awards a prize to promote young female scientists at the University of Munich.
"You're not going to give me an honorary doctorate!"
Another of her passions was travelling. This allowed the freedom-loving princess to escape the conventions of the court. She had already travelled to Italy with her mother as a child. Further destinations followed: at the age of 21, she travelled with her brother Leopold to Southern Europe and North Africa, and later to the Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Sweden and Norway and the Russian Tsarist Empire. The princess described her experiences in books: "Across the Arctic Circle" and "Travel Impressions and Sketches from Russia", which she also illustrated herself and published under the pseudonym Th. von Bayer.
The adventurous Wittelsbach princess planned every journey meticulously, studying maps, timetables and travel reports for months on end. She travelled incognito under the pseudonym "Countess Elpen", accompanied by a maximum of three confidants, including her servant Max Auer, the travel marshal Maximilian von Speidel and a lady-in-waiting. Therese was up for anything, she paddled across rivers in a dugout canoe, climbed mountains or slept curled up in a rug with Kalmyks, a nomadic people in the western Mongolian steppe. She particularly enjoyed stormy sea passages - the turbulent sea, waves and the unleashed forces of nature fascinated her.
"Freedom was what I passionately craved."

Therese's longest research trips took her to North and South America. In Rio de Janeiro, she met the last Brazilian emperor Dom Pedro and travelled from there to the tropical world of the Rio Negro and the Amazon. Neither palm-sized spiders, mosquitoes, plant avalanches, the unbearable, humid heat nor poisonous snakes could frighten her. She ate roast armadillo, monkey, turtle and Indian corn porridge.
In 1893, she set off from Chicago and travelled via the Caribbean, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru to Bolivia, Chile and Buenos Aires in Argentina. Therese brought back an extensive collection from this expedition - plants, butterflies, small animals, insects and birds. The expedition also yielded 91 species of fish, including eight previously unknown species.
"It was a wonderful tropical world that had opened up before us."
During her journey, the keen scientist became acquainted with peoples previously unknown in Europe, such as the Pueblo Indians in North America, Amazon Indians in Brazil and Indians in Peru and Bolivia. The princess's notes, diaries and estate are kept almost in their entirety in Munich. Her library of around 11,000 items was taken over by the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (Bavarian State Library). The entire zoological estate was bequeathed to the State Zoological Collection in her will in 1926. Her rich ethnological collection is now housed in the Museum Fünf Kontinente (Museum Five Continents) in Munich. For example, this Indian umbilical cord container, which was worn on the body throughout life. Mothers sewed the umbilical cords of their newborns into the small leather bags embroidered with colourful glass beads - in the shape of a lizard for boys or a turtle for girls.

After the death of her father in 1912, Therese stopped travelling and devoted herself to social work instead. She became involved in the Catholic Women's Association and campaigned for the improvement of girls' and women's education. Therese was very critical of the general war euphoria at the beginning of the First World War and Germany's political role. She retreated to her villa Am See in Lindau, from where she watched the end of the monarchy in Bavaria. Increasing health problems accompanied her last years. On 19 September 1925, the fearless princess died at the age of 74. She was buried in the Theatinerkirche in Munich.
"All my life I have not been attached to my princely position..."

It was only in April 2009 that Therese was inducted into the Hall of Fame, which was built by her grandfather to honour important personalities of the Kingdom of Bavaria.
You can read the story of a famous Wittelsbach princess and relative of Therese, Sisi and her sisters in our blog post!

Women power - more museums and exhibitions
We didn't want to deprive you of other museums and exhibitions on the subject: here you can experience women artists from the present and special women from history.
Museums
Highlight
Ania Hillenbrand, Nathalie Schwaiger & Theresa Geßler