Hofburg – Vienna Imperial Palace

The Hofburg was the Habsburg dynasty’s previous imperial residence. It was established in the 13th century and extended numerous times after that. It is located in the heart of Vienna. It also functioned as the imperial winter residence, while Schönbrunn Palace served as the imperial summer residence. It has been the official house and workspace of Austria’s president since 1946.

The Hofburg district has been the documented seat of administration since 1279.Over the centuries, the Hofburg has grown to include several residences (including the Amalienburg and the Albertina), the imperial chapel (Hofkapelle or Burgkapelle), the imperial library (Hofbibliothek), the treasury (Schatzkammer), the Burgtheater, the Spanish Riding School (Hofreitschule), and the imperial mews (Stallburg and Hofstallungen).

The palace faces the Heldenplatz (Heroes Square), which was ordered during Emperor Franz Joseph I’s reign as part of what was to become the Kaiserforum but was never finished.

Numerous architects worked on the Hofburg as it grew, including the Italian architect-engineer Filiberto Luchese, Lodovico Burnacini, Martino and Domenico Carlone, the Baroque architects Lukas von Hildebrandt and Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach, and the architects of the Neue Burg, which was built between 1881 and 1913.

The name translates as “Castle of the Court,” which reflects its roots when it was first built in the Middle Ages. Originally constructed in the 13th century as the home of the Dukes of Austria, the palace grew in size over the ages as they grew in power. It served as the seat of the Habsburg kings and emperors of the Holy Roman Empire from 1438 to 1583, then again from 1612 to 1806, and then as the seat of the Emperors of Austria until 1918. Since then, the palace has served as the seat of the head of state, and it is now occupied by the Austrian Federal President.

The major motif on the 20 euro Renaissance commemoration coin was the Hofburg. The coin depicts the palace’s Swiss Gate. Ferdinand I’s coat-of-arms and titles are shown on this gate. It is flanked by two period soldiers as a reminder of the turbulent times that saw Vienna besieged by Turkish invaders in 1529, as well as the Reformation battles between Protestants and Catholics.It also serves as the permanent headquarters of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Swiss Wing

The palace’s earliest components originate from the 13th century and were largely built by the last of the Babenbergers, or by Ottakar II of Bohemia. Previously, the Austrian kings’ castle was located on the plaza known as “Am Hof,” which is close to the Schottenstift (Scottish Monastery).

Originally, the castle had a square design with four towers and was encircled by a moat with a drawbridge at the entrance. These oldest sections of the castle now form the Swiss Court (Schweizerhof), which includes a 15th-century gothic chapel (Burgkapelle) and the treasury (or Schatzkammer), which houses, among other things, imperial insignia of the Holy Roman Empire (Reichskleinodien) and the Empire of Austria. The Court Music Chapel (Hofmusikkapelle) is housed within the Court Chapel and is where the Vienna Boys’ Choir typically sings Sunday mass.

The Swiss Court first appears during the reign of Emperor Ferdinand I during the Renaissance. The Swiss Gate entry (Schweizertor) exhibits Ferdinand I’s various titles, and the Order of the Golden Fleece symbols are painted on the ceiling.

The Radetzky Apartments are located in an adjacent portion of the Swiss Wing. Despite the fact that he was not a member of the imperial family, Emperor Franz Joseph I allowed the meritorious Field Marshal Radetzky to dwell in these rooms in acknowledgment of his contributions in the Italian war during the revolutionary year of 1848.

On 15 May 1717, the Empress Maria Theresa was baptized in the Knight’s Hall (Rittersaal) by the Papal Nuncio Giorgio Spinola, representing Pope Clement XI, using baptismal water including a few drops from the Jordan.

The Guard Room (Trabantenstube) is located next to the Knight’s Hall and is where the duty officer of the Household Guards kept watch over the Emperor. The imperial kitchen was previously housed in the bottom half of this wing.

Amalienburg

The Amalienburg is located across from the Swiss Gate and is named for Empress Amalie Wilhelmine, Joseph I’s widow. However, this wing had already been in use for more than a century, having been built in the late Renaissance style as the Emperor Rudolph II’s home. The little tower with its cupola and astronomical clock on its façade is noteworthy.

Leopoldine Wing

The Leopoldine Wing (Leopoldinischer Flügel) connects the Amalienburg to the Swiss Court and was erected in the 1660s under Emperor Leopold I and hence named after him. The architect was Filiberto Lucchese, but after the Siege of 1683 by the Turks, Giovanni Pietro Tencala reconstructed the wing with an additional level. This wing’s architecture is nevertheless reminiscent of the Late Renaissance. The offices of the Federal President are located in this wing.

The wing includes the Privy Council Room (Geheime Ratstube). Emperor Franz Joseph I delivered his opening addresses to the Austro-Hungarian Delegation meetings here. On 28 June 1900, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, a nephew of Emperor Franz Joseph I and heir to the throne, took the Oath of Renunciation and relinquished all rights to the monarchy and his descendants. Because his intended marriage would be morganatic due to his and his prospective wife’s unequal position, this was a dynastically required act.

The bottom half of this wing, as well as that of the Amalienburg, functioned as the Hofburg’s massive wine cellar.

Imperial Chancellery Wing

Another father-son collaboration resulted in the Winterreitschule across from the Stallburg (and where the first Austrian parliament convened in 1848) and the Imperial Chancellery Wing (Reichskanzleitrakt) across from the Leopoldine Wing. The latter was designed by Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt and housed, in addition to the Aulic Council (Reichshofrat), the offices of the Imperial Vice-Chancellor (Reichsvizekanzler), who was the de facto prime minister of the Holy Roman Empire because the ceremonial position of Imperial Arch-Chancellor (Reichserzkanzler), which the Imperial Vice-Chancellor represented, had always been filled by the Archbishop of Mainz since the Middle Ages. After the fall of the Holy Roman Empire, this wing held Napoleon’s, The Duke of Reichstadt’s, and ultimately Emperor Francis Joseph I’s rooms.

The Inner Castle Court (innerer Burghof) is made up of the chancellery, Swiss court, Amalienburg, and Leopoldine Wing. A bronze figure of Francis I costumed as a Roman emperor by Pompeo Marchesi stands in the center.

Court Library

The Court Library (Hofbibliothek) was originally a free-standing edifice on the other side of the complex.The main structure and the Prunksaal main hall were built by Charles VI. It is now administered by the Austrian National Library. Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach started building it and his son Joseph Emanuel finished it in 1735. The massive Prunksaal hall has Prince Eugene of Savoy’s book collection, an enormous ceiling fresco by Daniel Gran, and sculptures of emperors by Paul Strudel, making this section of the Hofburg the most artistically significant. Lorenzo Mattielli completed the outside ornamentation with attic style figures in 1726. Above the main entrance, he erected a statue of Athena riding a quadriga. He placed Atlas on the left side of the dome, holding the celestial globe and flanked by allegories of Astronomy and Astrology, and Gaia on the other side, supporting the earthly globe and bordered by allegories of Geometry and Geography.

Joseph Square is the location of the library to the north.

More buildings and annexes were erected in stages. From 1763 to 1769, Nicolo Pacassi joined the Imperial Library to the rest of the Hofburg and its other side to the Augustinian Church, resulting in the current Joseph Square (Josephsplatz), with its virtually symmetrical proportions.

Augustinian Wing

The baroque Augustinian Wing with the Augustinian church and monastery is located on the south-east side of Joseph Square, directly before the neighboring Court Library. The church and monastery became an important element of the palace as it grew.

The Habsburgs utilized the Augustinian Church as their court church and for marriages. Emperor Franz Joseph I and Empress Elisabeth, called Sisi, were married here.

The Hearts’ Crypt is placed behind the Loreto side church, a semicircular-shaped annexe enclosed by an iron door, where 54 hearts of House of Habsburg members are stored in silver pots.

Because of its structural connections to the Augustinian abbey, the Palais Archduke Albrecht (previously Palais Tarouca-de Sylva), which houses the Albertina museum, is also considered part of the Hofburg. Members of the imperial family lived here in the early nineteenth century, including Archduke Albrecht and, subsequently, his nephew, Archduke Friedrich, Duke of Teschen. After Joseph Kornhäusel’s reconstruction of the Palais in the 1820s, the part was also linked to the Hofburg.

Redoute Wing

Empress Maria Theresia had a 17th-century opera theater renovated into the Redoutensäle dancing and concert halls, which comprise of a small and a big auditorium. The Redoute Wing is made up of a variety of smaller antechambers.

Jean Nicolas Jadot de Ville-Issey designed the initial blueprints, while Nicol Pacassi and Franz Anton Hillebrandt created the exterior facades. The Redoutensäle quickly became a venue for the refined style of baroque performance. The term is taken from the French word “redoute,” which means “elegant masked ball,” and similar balls were hosted there as well. Music by Joseph Haydn, Nicolo Paganini, and Franz Liszt were performed for the audience. In 1814, Beethoven’s 8th Symphony was premiered there. The well-known phrase “The Congress dances” refers to the balls conducted at the Redoutensaele during the Congress of Vienna in 1814/15.Johann Strauss was the court’s musical director for the balls hosted here. Various changes have been made to the balls over the ages to accommodate shifting tastes.

The whole wing, including the Redoutensäle, was severely destroyed by fire on November 27, 1992. It took five years to complete the reconstruction and restoration work. While the smaller Kleiner Redoutensaal was properly repaired, a design competition was launched for the interior of the bigger Grosser Redoutensaal, which was won by Austrian artist Josef Mikl. He made a series of oil paintings based on literary passages from Ferdinand Raimund, Johann Nepomuk Nestroy, and Elias Canetti. His 404 m2 ceiling artwork combines 34 handwritten lyrics from Karl Kraus’ poem “Youth,” but in a manner that the observer cannot see.

The Redoutensäle reopened in 1998 as part of Austria’s first Presidency of the Council of the European Union and has since become a feature of the Hofburg Congress Centre.

The restoration of the wing’s roof provided a chance to turn the original loft area into a new amenity known as the Rooftop Foyer (Dachfoyer). Manfred Wehdorn, the architect, created a contemporary interior with a circular framework for safe conferences and panoramic windows. He also turned the previous courtyard between the Hall of Festivals and the southwest wing of the Swiss courtyard to additional area, in addition to the roof.

The wing was refurbished in 2017 to house the National Council and the Federal Council, while the Austrian Parliament Building is being renovated.

Stallburg

The imperial mews (Stallburg) of the Hofburg were initially erected as a palace for the then crown prince, Maximilian, and are not physically connected to the rest of the complex. It is reported that Ferdinand I did not want to house his son since Maximilian had converted to Protestantism. This edifice eventually housed the art collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm, Emperor Ferdinand III’s art-loving brother, and the collection became the foundation of the later Kunsthistorisches Museum in 1889. The Spanish Riding School (Spanische Hofreitschule) uses the property that was remodeled during the Baroque era to keep the imperial horses on the ground floor.

St. Michael’s Wing

Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach also designed St. Michael’s Wing, which connects the Winter Riding School with the Imperial Chancellery Wing. However, because the existing Imperial Court Theatre (Burgtheater) was in the way, these intentions went unfulfilled until Ferdinand Kirschner erected the wing from 1889 to 1893, using a slightly modified layout.

Following the construction of St. Michael’s Square, two sculptural fountains, Power at Sea by Rudolf Weyr and Power on Land by Edmund Hellmer, were erected on the wing’s façade.

The wing is named after St. Michael’s Church, which is located on the other side of the building.

Festival Hall Wing

The walls of the Marble Hall in front of the Hall of Ceremonies originate from the 16th century and are technically part of the Leopoldine Wing, but the interior scagliola was modified around 1840 to fit the appearance of the later Hall of Ceremonies. During the imperial time, it was utilized as a dining room and for court children’s balls.

The Hall of Ceremonies was designed by Belgian architect Louis Montoyer for Emperor Francis II/I around the turn of the nineteenth century. For over a century, it created a plainly visible protrusion at right angles to the Leopoldine Wing due to its extra character, and was hence also known as the “Nose.”

The Hall of Ceremonies was magnificent, with its beautiful vaulted ceiling and 26 crystal chandeliers that originally housed 1,300 candles. The 24 Corinthian columns are created using the scagliola method, in which painted gypsum is made to seem like marble. In this hall, Napoleon I asked Archduchess Marie Louise, the daughter of Emperor Francis II/I, for her hand in marriage. This was also where court balls and subsequently speeches from the throne were held, as well as where the exclusive Ball at the Court was held. The emperor and empress invited twelve destitute old men and ladies to have their feet washed in a customary Maundy rite on Maundy Thursday.

By 1916, the Hall of Ceremonies had been entirely incorporated into the New Castle (Neue Burg).

The Hall of Festivals (Festsaal) is the largest hall of the Hofburg, with 1,000m2 of floor space. Although it was designed as a throne room, it was never utilized as such. The interior works were completed in 1923, but the artwork remained unfinished. The hall features three ceiling paintings by Alois Hans Schramm dedicated to the greater glory of the Habsburgs, replete with Emperor Franz Joseph’s motto “Viribus Unitis” (with united power). The lower lunettes and octagonal panels are decorated with paintings by Eduard Veith and Viktor Stauffer of famous people from Austrian history, with ceiling paintings of Maximilian I, Charles V, Ferdinand I, Rudolph II, and Ferdinand II of Tyrol, and side panels of Leopold I, Charles VI, Prince Eugen, and also the Polish King John III Sobieski. The hall also hosted the 1967 Eurovision Song Contest.

Heroes Square

During the Napoleonic Wars, a portion of the ancient bastion close to the palace was dismantled in 1809. New grounds were laid out all the way up to the current Ring Road, with the neoclassical main castle gate (Burgtor) included. Three gardens were built within the new fortifications that were built in 1817: the private Imperial Castle Garden (Burggarten), Heroes Square (Heldenplatz) as a vast open, green space, and the People’s Garden (Volksgarten) with the Temple of Theseus (Theseustempel). Peter von Nobile designed it, along with the Burgtor.

The backdrop of the square is made up of the Hall of Ceremonies and the Neue Burg.

At the heart of Heroes Square are equestrian sculptures of Austria’s two most famous field marshals, Prince Eugene of Savoy and Archduke Charles. Adolf Hitler declared the “Anschluss” of Austria into the Nazi Third Reich from the balcony of the New Castle into Heroes’ Square on March 15, 1938.

Neue Burg

After the demolition of the city walls in the 1860s, Vienna underwent an enlargement, which led to the Hofburg experiencing its final significant expansion. A proposed Kaiserforum, consisting of a two-winged structure extending beyond the Ring Road, was designed to feature the Kunsthistorisches Museum and Naturhistorisches Museum as flanking structures, culminating at the historic Hofstallungen of Fischer von Erlach. It should be noted that the Hofstallungen should not be confused with the much older Stallburg. The project was under the leadership of Gottfried Semper initially, and later on, Karl Freiherr von Hasenauer took over. The construction of the museums was finalized in 1891. However, the remaining part of the forum faced delays and conflicts due to escalating costs and the absence of a clear purpose for the extensive construction undertaking. The construction of the south-west wing, also known as the Neue Burg, was finalized in 1913. Nonetheless, the construction of the Imperial Forum was left unfinished, resulting in its current state as an incomplete structure.

The New Castle wing currently accommodates several museums, namely the Ephesos Museum, the Collection of Arms and Armour, the Collection of Ancient Musical Instruments, and the Museum of Ethnology. Additionally, it houses several reading rooms of the national library. The Hofburg Congress Centre is situated in this vicinity.

Vienna, Austria