On September 10, 1898, Europe lost one of its most mythologized figures in the most unexpected way. Empress Elisabeth of Austria, known to the world as Sisi, was walking along the lakeside in Geneva. She was sixty years old, dressed in black as she had been since the death of her son, and she was about to board a steamship for what should have been a quiet journey.

Instead, an Italian anarchist named Luigi Lucheni lunged at her with a sharpened file, striking her in the chest. At first she didn’t realize she had been mortally wounded. Her corset was so tight it slowed the bleeding, and she managed to walk back to the pier and board the ship. Moments later she collapsed. By two in the afternoon, the restless Empress was dead.

What happened that day in Geneva was more than an act of violence. It was the moment Elisabeth of Austria stopped being a controversial figure at court and became an enduring legend.