The Hofburg - 4 Things to Know Before Visiting

The Neue Burg forms an extended wing from the main Hofburg palace area and lines one side of Heldenplatz square (see the photo above). Despite its grand look, the building is a relative baby in Vienna’s historical architectural landscape.

The Weltmuseum Wien in Vienna is the largest anthropological museum in Austria, established in 1876. It currently resides in the Hofburg Imperial Palace and houses more than 400,000 ethnographical and archaeological objects from Asia, Africa, Oceania, and America. Since November 2014 the museum was closed due to renovation and was reopened on the 25th of October 2017.

The Palm House in Burggarten is considered one of the most beautiful art nouveau structures of its kind in the world. Since 1998, the building, more than 3,000 square feet in area, towers over the garden of the Imperial Palace; it houses hundreds of free-flying tropical butterflies in a re-creation of their natural environment. The temperature is 27°C and the humidity 80%.

Heldenplatz is one of the prime public squares of Vienna, located in front of the Hofburg Palace. The historic square is famous for hosting many major events and functions. The square’s dimensions and content have changed with time, though, as various prestigious building projects went up in or around the area.

The Burggarten Vienna Garden was laid out in the year 1818 as a private garden of the emperor on an area of approx. 38.000 m².It is also home to the Palm House, one of the most beautiful Art Nouveau glasshouses built according to designs by Friedrich Ohmann.

The State Hall – built in the 18th century as part of the former Court Library – is a breathtaking 80 metres long and 20 metres high. The Habsburg Emperor Charles VI had this gem of secular Baroque architecture built to accommodate his court library. The hall is an exceptional experience not only for bookworms.The library complex includes four museums, as well as multiple special collections and archives.