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“PLEASE FORGIVE ME for what I’ve done, I could not resist love.”
These are the final dramatic words of Baroness Mary Vetsera, whose farewell letters were discovered in a bank vault in Vienna 126 years after she famously died by suicide with Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria.
Hailing the find as “sensational”, the Austrian National Library (ONB) said bank employees had stumbled across the precious documents during a clear-out of the archives.
They had been there since 1926, according to the library.
“An unknown person deposited a leather-bound folder containing numerous personal documents, letters and photographs of the Vetsera family, including the farewell letters of Mary Vetsera from 1889,” the ONB said in a statement.
“Dear Mother/ Please forgive me for what I’ve done/ I could not resist love/ In accordance with Him, I want to be buried next to Him in the Cemetery of Alland/ I am happier in death than life,” the letter to Helen Vetsera read.
The ONB said it hoped the discovery would help shed light on one of the world’s great romances, which has inspired numerous movies, novels, ballets and plays.
The bodies of Mary Vetsera, two months shy of turning 18, and the 30-year-old crown prince were discovered in January 1889 at a hunting lodge in the Viennese woods near the town of Mayerling.
The exact circumstances of their suicide-pact, commonly referred to as the “Mayerling incident”, still remain unclear.
The prince is thought to have shot his lover before turning the gun on himself.
Their deaths sparked international headlines and became a source of speculation.
With the exception of a farewell letter from Rudolf to his wife, Stephanie, no other original documents related to the incident were believed to have survived.
“Until now it had been assumed that the letters had been destroyed after the mother’s death,” the ONB said.
Scientific research on the letters would begin in August, it added.
The letters, addressed to the baroness’s mother, sister and brother, had been kept inside a closed envelope sealed with the crown prince’s insignia.
The historical documents will go on public display at the library in 2016, as part of celebrations to mark the centenary of Emperor Franz Joseph’s death.
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bad news but at least not all of them are closing
For now…once high speed broadband is rolled out nationwide they are doomed!
Thats true Frank, look at the amount of Dublin stores on the list, where you’d think they would be busier. High speed broadband is readily available in these areas
With the PS4 and xBox 720 coming the games are download instead of bought in a store. They’re talking about phasing it in but it’s only a matter of time before it goes that way completely. That’s happening this year so expect more stores to close.
Er, I’ve been downloading games on the PS3 via the PSN store for ages. I presume you can do the same on the XBox 360!
I think he’s referring to “download only” for the next gen which is the way it is going, there won’t be a dvd drive or a blu ray drive in them, but rather all games will have to be downloaded.
I don’t think this is true for the PS4, maybe on the ‘slim’ version a few years into the generation but when it launches it should have a Blu-ray drive
Karma is a bitch. Xtravision ratted out all the small independent video retailers when they first started and were probably responsible for closing down most of them. They destroyed more jobs then that will be lost now.
Any stats to back that up?
No need for stats. Ill back him on this one. Really unusual for me to… but lets just say I know a little mpre about the history than one might think.
There used to be 4 or 5 video rental stores in my town. When xtra vision arrived they were all gone within a year or two.
Fair enough points lads. I was more curious as to how he figured out that more jobs had been lost then, as opposed to how many would if Xtravision ceased.
did they not force blockbusters or whatever it was called out of business..
Nah they were owned by blockbuster. I think you’re thinking of chartbusters?
End of an era!
They should have moved into the Netflix type business only better than Netflix in which people could rent new releases online etc etc. I dunno, I sure will miss them, absolutely love extra vision.
Oh no! Now where will I go to browse movies in order to choose which one to download?
YouTube
People’s jobs and life’s on the line here jackass
That’s called a Apple TV (a small box that plugs into your tv) :)
Never changed their business model in a fast changing market. What did they expect?
Not sure that’s entirely true. Ventured into the gaming market, phone and camera sales also. Same fate as HMV, unavoidable in this era I think.
They had games since I was a child.
Have to agree with Mister Jingles- they diversified into electronics. But their core business was movie rental. Years ago they should have planned going into the online streaming business. Not sure how hard it would be to compete with the big players but that is the way things have been going for the last few years.
Very sad to hear about Xtravision – they always get me through the Irish Winter with DVDs plus you can ask staff for a recommendation …
inevitable really, once blockbusters and HMV were gone it was only a matter of time.. recession or no recession, these kind of stores have gone obsolete in the last 10 years :/
I love xtravision, cant DL games for the xbox so xtravision was like a try before you buy!
Soon we will be planning our whole lives through our Laptop,Smartphone or TV..
Oh wait,We already are.Another Company biting the dust.
Hmv gone and now xtra vision. Sad times!
The one in The Square Tallaght is a retail shop as against a rental shop like the others.they seemed to send all old stock of dvds and games there . I’ve bought a lot of games there for my young fella for less than a fiver he doesn’t really mind learning to play on fifa 2010 and the like instead of the latest versions.
Considering how awful Netflix is, they really should have gotten into that market. With their exclusives and decent relations with distributors they could have made a killing.
I’m showing my age here but anyone recall Beta max Video shops? VERSUS the VHS shops and in the end VHS won the market.
Ill also miss those late fees where you blame everyone else for not returning the DVD or you completely forget and find it under the tv stand a few days later……….
Betamax never really took off here Dave, most rental places (can’t call them shops as they were usually situated in a garage down some lane somewhere) would have a small selection of Beta videos but it was mostly VHS. I remember a neighbour getting a dubious copy of E.T. and a gang of us crowding in to watch it, deplorable quality but I was telling all my friends in school the next day how great it was. Ahh to be young again.
Considering there are 3 in waterford city, I was expecting one to be on the list but it seems Waterford has escaped the bad news for once. Thats meant in a nice way! They have suffered a lot of losses over the years
I loved xtra vision but haven’t gone into one in the past decade. Everything is so accessible from home now.
Sad news, the Rathmines manager is a mate of mine
Ah for f sake where da hell can u rent blu-rays now?
Shame about job loss but as a company they shafted people for too long with expensive DVDs and never thought about how to make profit In Future.
Terrible news.The one in Dun Laoghaire closed down a few years ago.Actually Dun Laoghaire is fast becoming a ghostl town,even the staple diet of drunks Abrakebabra has gone.The only shops opening are cheap euro shops cheap barbars and polish shops
just looking at the list that ye have given. 8 of the 9 stores agree with RTE but ye have one difference they say a 2nd store in Swords is going while ye say Sandymount store is shutting. Either way its bad but interesting to see a difference in the lists.
But i agree in an era of Netflix and Screenclick charging monthly fees and easing the way of renting/streaming xtra vision was never going to last.
As far as I know there is only one store in Swords, so Sandymount must still be closing.
There used to be two stores in Swords the other one closed about 3 years ago.
I don’t understand why people pay for netflicks, it’s all on the net for free anyway so why pay. Madness
it was near river valley
As amazing as pop up ads are (sarcasm) I’ll happily pay 7 bucks a month just to avoid them!
You do know there is a free addon for all browsers called Adblock and guess what it does! It strangely enough blocks those ads, and it’s free! Seriously tho, it’s free and it works so why pay 7 bucks when you can stream/DL everything for free anyway. Worried about your IP addy? Use kproxy
Ever hear of no such thing as a free lunch? You honestly think these add ons are available free from the goodness of a developers heart? I’ve tried a few of them and all been flagged by AVG as a no no. But when your computer is destroyed in spyware and trojans you’ll have a good idea why.
Been using Adblock for years, never a problem from it. No virus or spyware. No complaints here.
I agree with you Johnny Adblock is a brilliant extension,especially on sport streaming sites.
7 people needed to run a video shop?
The shops open for 12 hours per day, 7 days a week, 364 days per year. Normally 3 full timers and 4 part timers.
Only needs to be open 12 hours on a Friday & Saturday. 3 o clock opening mon-thurs. maximum 5 people needed. No wonder they’re shutting with the way they’re run. Immediate savings in each store right there. I know the store in roscrea may be smaller but for the other stores to have almost twice as much staff is a bit much. They might have more quantity but the amount of titles is the same
The number of staff employed is irrelevant as they don’t all work at the same time. Part timers do about 10-15 hours per week. With regard to opening at 3, an awful lot of paperwork and preparation is carried out midweek for the weekend. Sunday is quite often the busiest day of the week too. I can only assume from your ignorance that you own/operate a flourishing retail chain?
My ignorance? Why are they closing again? Coz the were losing money hand over fist. I just gave some suggestions for short term savings. And if you think xtravision vision staff are run off their feet in the stores, you are very much mistaken. I’m sorry their jobs are gone but some perspective buddy
Most stores are profitable. Unfortunately that profit is being used to service ‘boom era’ rents on the loss making stores. Hence, the closures.
Johnny, how the f*** would you know if staff were or weren’t rushed off their feet?
Cos Johnny knows everything. The bellend.
Here’s the strange thing, because I worked in Dunnes in Rathmines for seven years, and the Xtra Vision there was a safe haven when I waiting for the bus. There was, up to 2 years ago, a branch five minutes away in Ranelagh, and that was closed because they were competing with each other, so I’d be curious how badly Rathmines was actually doing.
Bit odd that they are all the Dublin ones. But I guess that is because they have the highest rent and are in prime locations. The rest won’t be too far behind I’d imagine.
Maybe Laser can move back to Rathmines now ;)
If the owner(s) had sense he(they) would have made available media online as downloadable content in the sane way as the likes of Netflix. In the absence of evolution your as dead as a dodo!
The numbers are wrong. I don’t know how many shops exactly they have closed but the list is missing at least three shops in D13, which means many more jobs are to be lost. Why lie about it?
Well its terrible for people working and loosing their jobs but the online DVD rentals are much cheaper and even online you can watch movies, lol not in the country where I am but the online rentals are there and amazon who sells them for nothing. Well times are changing always have always will and so have we!
No-vision
It’s sad but not surprising. Can’t remember the last time I went to the “video shop”. Sure why would I with Netflix, Sky box office and iTunes just a click away. Yep the digital age has surely arrived.
I guess we can play Spar/Centra roulette now with the vacant shops. ‘Cos God knows there aren’t enough shops with overpriced confectionery in Dublin….
More Tesco Express coming methinks!
Since when is carpenterstown county Dublin it’s d15 also
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