July 24, 2008 -- Court Engineer
This scene takes place in the Porcelain Room of Schönbrunn Palace -- a room which served the Empress as a study.
The "hinterlands" that the Empress refers to are The Banat, a region in Central Europe that now spans Romania, Serbia and Hungary. Maria Theresa had a definite interest in the area, and during this time, von Kempelen was assigned there, first as director of the Transylvanian salt mines, and later as the commissioner of repopulation.
To quote from this paper by Angéla Imre, "He was responsible for the settlement of 37,000 families and organised the communities, and designed the the houses of the settlers. He also managed to introduce a new crop, flax (which makes linen), and built a silk factory. Around Timisoara, he drained the swamps, rebuilt the roads, built schools, and made school compulsory. Banat was reborn. His numerous visits are reflected in three substantial reports to the Vienna court in 1768, 1769 and 1770 in which Kempelen gave account to the repopulation commission, presented a plan for a systematic organization of the Banat and described the local mines and institutions. The Empress was most satisfied and, on March 7th 1771, granted 1,000 Gulden for his services and an annuity of the same sum. "
That von Kempelen, he was a smart guy -- and by all accounts, a pretty darn decent one.
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