Dear Alexandre,

Imagine you are a rich aristocrat and you want to make a joke. You once went with your uncle to the theater in Venice, got probably quite drunk and had a real blast – a night to remember. And because you love to remember it so much, you want to send your uncle a present, that will make him remember as well. Today you might send him a meme, showing some animals that somehow have a resemblance to two drunk humans and go: “Us in Venice”. But you are not today, you live in the year 1580. The uncle is a famous collector of interesting stuff and to his credit, he will go down in history as the founder of basically the first museum ever that is still running – Schloss Ambras in Innsbruck to be precise. So Ferdinand of Bavaria, a man who liked to spend money, orders a automaton from an engineering artist, Hans Schlottheim. And what a center piece he creates! A real showstopper! A golden tower with a height over one meter, with a lot of little figurines that can move on their balconies – a masterful piece, certainly something for the collection. And there is a surprise for the uncle, Erzherzog Ferdinand (the name Ferdinand must have been all the rage back in the 16th century). At the very end of the cycle a door springs open and a guy shows his blank bottom. If that didn’t get a big laugh, I don’t know! Ferdinands in tears of laughter I can only imagine.

And isn’t it lovely that we can just head to the KHM (Kunsthistorisches Museum) to look at this and other automatons? So when you come in, go left in the Kunstkammer and be amazed. There is a ship, that fires its canons and a carriage that moves over the table. There are so many lovely automatons there – expensive toys, real treasures. But one very famous one is missing. It got destroyed in a fire which is a shame, you might have heard of it before. I am talking about the “Schachtürke” – the chess Turk.

You see, deep blue wasn’t the first chess machine out there – no, the idea of a machine playing chess and winning against human players is much older. The original was presented to my favourite Austrian emperor – if I have one – Joseph II., who lived in the 18th century. It must have been a big machine with a life sized puppet behind a chess board. The puppet was described as Turkish, so probably with a turban and maybe a great mustache. Why a Turk was chosen, I couldn’t find out. The shock from the Turkish army sieging Vienna was certainly still palpable. At the start of the game the robot lifted its arm and then moved the chess piece. He could also move his head, made it look as if he looked around and commented on the game by nodding – two nods, when he threatened the opponent’s queen, three nods, when he threatened the king.

The machine had its first appearance in Schloss Schönbrunn were it already proved to be a huge success. The inventor Wolfgang Von Kempelen presented it six month after he had promised to build something impressing for the royals, after they had been amazed by the performance of an illusionist. The chess robot played its first game and won. It kept on winning and people loved it. They wanted to see it more and more. But one person wasn’t that happy about it and that was Von Kempelen himself, who often lied saying the machine was out of order to not have to show it around again. But why was he not happy with his own success? Well, Von Kempelen was an engineer and he wanted to invent proper engineer stuff. He wasn’t an illusionist and maybe he even felt a bit dishonest having so much success with his illusion. Because the Schachtürke is exactly that- it is an illusion, a magic trick. Oh yes, that is quite exciting 😃. The secret of the machine, which according to legend was bought by Friedrich the Great who is said to have shown disappointment after the reveal, is that a human being is hiding inside it, operating the puppet and the chess board. The chess Turk is no deep blue, the mind of a human controls it and that human is a marvelous chess player.

I don’t share Friedrich’s disappointment. I think it is a great illusion, a fun one in my eyes. And it is still quite the machine. It had illusion doors that seemed to reveal the inside, but actually did not. It had extra gears and complicated mechanics built in to just look real. Operating it was certainly not easy, the person inside had a candle to see and got air from holes in the turban of the puppet. Von Kempelen was forced to show his machine again, as the Emperor was having some important guests over, who were so in awe, that they proposed that Von Kempelen needed to go on tour with his marvelous creation. And so the engineer became an illusionist, touring Europe with his show. After his death, his son sold the machine and the new owner toured it with some his own machines. He even went to the US with his exhibition. For over 80 years the chess Turk was mesmerizing people, it found its end in a museum in Philadelphia were it sadly got destroyed in a fire.

I can only recommend again to make a visit in the Kunstkammer of the KHM and look at the “real” automatons – no people hidden inside there as far as I know. So I found some magic in Vienna again.

To more magic,

Sincerely Sibylle