The company of Bernhard Ludwig (first the father and later his son who inherited the company) for almost a century was the most esteemed manufacture for fine furniture in the Habsburg Empire. Bernhard Ludwig was for his work named the court cabinet maker of Franz Josef and the court cabinet maker of Romanian royal family. During the decades of his artistic activity he created complete interior design, and as it would be said today, a visual identity of the castles Peles and Pelisor on Sinaia. He also designed the part of the Bucharest royal palace, the parts of the interior decoratoin of Rathaus of Vienna, some royal apartments in Hofburg in Vienna. Bernhard Ludwig created the interiors for the palaces in Salzburg, Graz and Trieste. He also had great exhibition halls and very successful shops both in Vienna as a capital, and in Trieste, the most importnat port of the Empire. At the height of his fame he had a factory of 600 employees and devised several special techniques of wood work that would bring him European acclaim and several medals at world exhibitions. During the most demanding times for his production Bernhard Ludwig the elder employed several groups of prisoners in the Upper Austria. His work with the inmates could be easily compared to the most advanced rehabilitation schemes nowadays – he would teach the prisoners the arts of cabinet making, employ them during the term of their imprisonments, and later after their release, fully employ them as workers in his factory in Vienna.

Bernhard Ludwig the elder was among the most progressive artists (like Hanzen) of his time applying the gesamkustwerk approach to his designs and inventing new techniques and experimenting with materials. His work spanned styles from neo-Renaissance to neo-classical and neo-Romanesque. He was married to Paulina Janik, the daughter of one of the most esteemed silversmiths of turn of the century Vienna and often included the offer of silver artifacts together with his interior designs. His eldest son, also named Bernhard Ludwig, continued the family manufacture and proven to be as gifted and enterprunal as his father. It was during his time that the Serbian Royal family commissioned several interiors for the Royal Palace in Dedinje and for several spaces in the courts in the city (both new and old palace).

At the Royal Palace in Dedinje, Bernhard Ludvig got credits for complete design of the library, golden salon, King’s office (including ceilings, doors and decorative iron bars) and the dining room. He also designed all rooms at the first floor, where almost all furniture has been lost during World War Two.

But despite some lost parts, we have enough decorations remaining to testify about extraordinary piece of art that has been forgotten and neglected for a long time.