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palace located in Vienna, Austria
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palace located in Vienna, Austria
The name translates as "Castle of the Court", which denotes its origins when initially constructed during the Middle Ages. Initially planned in the 13th century as the seat of the Dukes of Austria, the palace expanded over the centuries, as they became increasingly powerful. From 1438 to 1583, and again from 1612 to 1806, it was the seat of the Habsburg kings and emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, and thereafter until 1918 the seat of the Emperors of Austria. Since then, the palace has continued in its role as the seat of the head of state and is today used by the Austrian Federal President.
It is also the permanent home of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and also houses the Vienna Office of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA).
The whole palace complex is under the administration of the governor (Burghauptmann), who in turn is part of the Burghauptmannschaft, an office which has been in existence since the Middle Ages under the auspices of the Burgrave. At present the Burghauptmannschaft is under the jurisdiction of the Federal Ministry of the Economy.
In September 1958, parts of the Hofburg were opened to the public as a convention centre. In the first ten years, the Burghauptmannschaft operated the convention centre; since 1969 a private company (Hofburg Vienna – Wiener Kongresszentrum Hofburg Betriebsgesellschaft) has been managing the international congress and events centre. Every year the convention centre hosts about 300–350 events, with around 300,000–320,000 guests. Among the events are conventions and meetings as well as banquets, trade fairs, concerts, and balls.
The oldest parts of the palace date from the 13th century and were primarily constructed by the last of the Babenbergers, or by Ottokar II of Bohemia. Before that the castle of the Austrian rulers had been located on the square called "Am Hof", which is near the Schottenstift (Scottish Monastery).
The castle originally had a square outline, with four turrets, and was surrounded by a moat with a drawbridge at the entrance. These oldest sections of the castle today form the Swiss Court (Schweizerhof), where there are a gothic chapel (Burgkapelle), dating from the 15th century, and the treasury (or Schatzkammer), affiliated to the Kunsthistorisches Museum which holds, among other things, the imperial insignia of the Holy Roman Empire (Reichskleinodien) and of the Empire of Austria. The Court Music Chapel (Hofmusikkapelle) is located inside the Court Chapel (Hofburgkapelle) and is where the Vienna Boys' Choir traditionally sing mass on Sundays.
The appearance of the Swiss Court dates from the Renaissance, during the reign of Emperor Ferdinand I. The Swiss Gate entrance (Schweizertor) displays the many titles of Ferdinand I and the insignia of the Order of the Golden Fleece are painted on the ceiling.
An adjoining section of the Swiss Wing houses the Radetzky Apartments. In recognition of his services in the Italian campaign during the revolutionary year of 1848, Emperor Franz Joseph I permitted the worthy Field Marshal Radetzky to live in these apartments, even though he was not a member of the imperial family.
In the Knight's Hall (Rittersaal), on 15 May 1717 the Empress Maria Theresa was baptised by the papal nuncio Giorgio Spinola, representing Pope Clement XI, with baptismal water containing a few drops from the River Jordan.
Next to the Knight's Hall is the Guard Room (Trabantenstube), where the duty officer of the Household Guards kept watch over the emperor. The lower section of this wing once accommodated the imperial kitchen.
Across from the Swiss Gate is the Amalienburg, named after Empress Amalie Wilhelmine, the widow of Joseph I. However, this wing had already been in use for more than a century, constructed as the residence of Emperor Rudolph II in the style of the late Renaissance. Of note is the small tower with its cupola and the astronomical clock on its façade.
The connection between the Amalienburg and the Swiss Court is the Leopoldine Wing (Leopoldinischer Flügel) which was first built in the 1660s under Emperor Leopold I and thus named after him. The architect was Filiberto Lucchese, but after the Siege of 1683 by the Turks, the wing was rebuilt by Giovanni Pietro Tencala with an additional floor installed. Through its architecture, this wing still bears a connection to the Late Renaissance. It is in this wing that the offices of the Federal President are located.
The Privy Council Room (Geheime Ratstube) is part of the wing. This is where Emperor Franz Joseph I held his opening speeches at the sessions of the Austro-Hungarian Delegation. Here the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, a nephew of Emperor Franz Joseph I and heir to the throne, spoke the Oath of Renunciation on 28 June 1900 and in so doing renounced all claims to the throne for his descendants, a dynastically necessary act as his intended marriage was to be morganatic, on account of his and his future wife's unequal ranks.
The lower section of this wing as well as that of the Amalienburg served as the enormous wine cellar for the Hofburg.
An additional father-son collaborative project resulted in the Winter Riding School (Winterreitschule) across from the Stallburg (and where the first Austrian parliament sat in 1848) and in the Imperial Chancellery Wing (Reichskanzleitrakt) across from the Leopoldine Wing. The latter was originally planned by Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt and accommodated, 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 since the ceremonial position of Imperial Arch-Chancellor (Reichserzkanzler)—whom the Imperial Vice Chancellor represented—had always been filled by the Archbishop of Mainz since the Middle Ages. After the end of the Holy Roman Empire, this wing housed the apartments of Napoleon, the Duke of Reichstadt, and later those of Emperor Francis Joseph I.
The chancellery, Swiss court, Amalienburg and Leopoldine Wing form the Inner Castle Court (innerer Burghof). In the middle is a bronze statue of Francis I dressed as a Roman emperor, by Pompeo Marchesi.
Originally a free-standing structure, the Court Library (Hofbibliothek) was housed on the other side of the complex. Charles VI had the main building and the Prunksaal main hall constructed. Today it is under the auspices of the Austrian National Library. Its construction was begun by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and finished by his son Joseph Emanuel in 1735. The large Prunksaal hall contains the book collection of Prince Eugene of Savoy, an enormous ceiling fresco by Daniel Gran, and statues of emperors by Paul Strudel making this part of the Hofburg its most significant in artistic terms. The exterior decoration with attic style figures was executed by Lorenzo Mattielli in 1726. He placed a statue of Athena riding on a quadriga above the main entrance. On the left portion of the roof, he situated Atlas, supporting the celestial globe, flanked by Astronomy and Astrology, and on the opposite side, Gaia with the terrestrial globe, flanked by allegories of Geometry and Geography.
The library to the north is located at Joseph Square.
More structures and annexes were successively added. Particularly from 1763 to 1769, Nicolo Pacassi connected the Imperial Library to the other parts of the Hofburg and its other side to the Augustinian Church and he thus created the present Joseph Square (Josephsplatz), marked by its almost symmetrical proportions.
Of note are the bronze equestrian statue of Emperor Joseph II.
Built right before the adjacent Court Library, on the south-east side of Joseph Square, lies the baroque Augustinian Wing with the Augustinian church and monastery. As the palace expanded, the church and monastery became an integral part of the building.
The Augustinian Church was used by the Habsburgs as their court church and also for weddings. This is where Emperor Franz Joseph I and Empress Elisabeth, alias Sisi, were married.
Behind the Loreto side chapel is located the Hearts' Crypt, a semicircular-shaped annexe separated by an iron door, where 54 hearts of House of Habsburg members are kept in silver urns.
The Palais Archduke Albrecht (formerly Palais Tarouca-de Sylva), home of the Albertina museum, is also considered a part of the Hofburg because of its structural connections to the Augustinian monastery. In the early 19th century members of the imperial family had their residence here, such as Archduke Albrecht and, later, his nephew, Archduke Friedrich, Duke of Teschen. After the renovation of the Palais in the 1820s by Joseph Kornhäusel, that section became connected to the Hofburg as well.
On December 30, 1636, the world premiere of Ballo in onore dell'Imperatore Ferdinando III della casa d'Austria by Claudio Monteverdi took place. On March 26, 1660, the world premiere of the oratorio Il sacrifizio d'Abramo by Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor took place, followed in 1662 by the world premiere of Mercurio esploratore, in 1666 by Le lagrime di San Pietro by Giovanni Felice Sances and Nettunno e Flora festeggianti by Antonio Cesti, and in 1667 by Galatea by Pietro Andrea Ziani and Le disgrazie d'Amore by Cesti.
On July 12, 1668, the 1,000-seat new Theater an der Cortina im Hofburg (designed by Ludovico Ottavio Burnacini) opened with Cesti's Il pomo d'oro, and in the same year the world premiere of Il Ciro vendicatore di se stesso by Antonio Draghi took place, followed in 1669 by Draghi's Chi più sa manco l'intende, in 1671 by Draghi's L'avidità di Mida, in 1673 by Draghi's Il gior della speranza and La Tessalonica, and in 1675 by Draghi's I pazzi Abderiti. It was dismantled after the Siege of Vienna of 1683 but later rebuilt, it remained an important theatre and the main venue for the company and orchestra until the 1860s–1870s, when the new Court Theatre or Wiener Hofoper (now the Vienna State Opera) was built, but musical theatre activities continued to take place there even later (while the Imperial Court spoken-drama company, founded in 1741, acquired the new Burgtheater as its venue in 1888).
Empress Maria Theresia had the 17th-century first opera house converted into the dance and concert halls now known as the Redoutensäle, which consists of a small and a large hall. Together with a number of smaller antechambers they form the Redoute Wing.
The original plans were drawn up by Jean Nicolas Jadot de Ville-Issey, while the external façades are the work of Nicolò Pacassi and Franz Anton Hillebrandt. The Redoutensäle soon became the setting for the cultivated style of baroque entertainment. The name is derived from the French word "redoute", meaning an elegant masked ball, and such balls were also held there. The audience was treated to music by Joseph Haydn and Niccolò Paganini and Franz Liszt. The premiere of Beethoven's 8th Symphony took place there in 1814. The well known saying "The Congress dances" derives from the balls held in the Redoutensaele in the framework of the Congress of Vienna in 1814/15. Johann Strauss served as musical director to the court for the balls held here. Over the centuries, various modification has been made the balls in line with changing tastes.
On 27 November 1992 the whole wing with the Redoutensäle was seriously damaged by fire. The reconstruction and restoration work lasted five years. While the smaller Kleiner Redoutensaal was faithfully restored, for the interior of the larger Grosser Redoutensaal a design competition was held, which was won by the Austrian artist Josef Mikl. He created a number of oil paintings based on literary quotations taken from Ferdinand Raimund, Johann Nepomuk Nestroy and Elias Canetti. His 404 m2 ceiling painting incorporates 34 handwritten verses of Karl Kraus' poem "Youth", albeit in a form not visible to the viewer.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Hofburg”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.