At the far end of the Kohlmarkt, St Michael's Square gives onto the curved façade of St Michael's Wing (or Michaelertrakt) of the Hofburg, dominated by its famous cupola (1888-1893). On the other side, note the Looshaus (1911), built only twenty ..

At one end of the Kohlmarkt, on St Michael's Square, Michaelertrakt , the semicircular St Michael's Wing of the Hofburg dates from 1888-1893. Two monumental fountains emphasise the grandeur of the building. The dome covering the roof is one of Vie..

Forming a long sequence of rooms, the Imperial Apartments occupy the principal floor of the Chancellery Wing and the Amelie Palace. Around 20 of the 2 600 rooms that make up the Hofburg are open to visitors. Others are today used by the President a..

Freyung is a large square in the Innerring, or inner city, in the centre of a particularly aristocratic district. By the Middle Ages it had become a residential district for the nobility, hence the name Herrengasse or «Lords' Street». This is why, ..

The former palace of Archduke Charles is today dedicated to music. Like an instrument maker’s workshop, the Museum der Wiener Philharmoniker und Haus der Musik (to give it its full name) on the second, third and four floors enliven the building with ..

The imposing Heldenplatz is flanked on two sides by the Hofburg, followed by Amalia Palace, the Leopold Wing, the Hall of Ceremonies and the Congress Centre, linked to the huge fan-shaped façade of the Neue Burg or New Palace. Another palace was ..

The wealth of items exhibited in the Ethnography Museum are from Africa, the Far East, Polynesia and Pre-colombian America. Austria never had a colonial empire but these collections reflect the universal curiosity of the Habsburgs as collectors. The ..

Although set back from the Ring, the monumental grandeur of the Post Office Savings Bank makes it seem an integral part of it. You will be surprised how modern it seems. Its mottled façade is made of plaques of marble riveted together, with the alu..

The abbey houses a museum displaying works from the 15C to the 19C, including pictures by Rubens, some interesting Biedermeier pieces, and the famous altarpiece of the Scots , a Flamboyant Gothic masterpiece from around 1470 which includes depiction..

This late 18C house bears the name of its owner. It houses one of the three Viennese museums devoted to Beethoven . In 1804 and from 1813 to 1815, the composer lived in two rooms on the 4th floor where he composed the opera, Fidelio and several s..

The Neubau district lies between Gürtel and the Ring, along the Mariahilferstrasse a busy commercial thoroughfare. Croats and Hungarians once lived in this district of housing estates and residential houses. A few streets connect the district to ..

The Court Theatre was founded by Maria Theresa in 1741 and became a veritable national theatre, the Burgtheater , in the reign of Josef II and has been one of Vienna's great cultural institutions ever since. In 1888, it moved into the current buildi..

In the centre of the vast Schwarzenberg Square stands the equestrian statue of Prince Schwarzenberg who defeated Napoleon at Leipzig in 1813 (the French Embassy is practically opposite!) and another memorial, the Russen-Denkmal , renamed «the un..

Many of the exhibits in the Natural History Museum were part of Emperor Franz-Josef's collection. The Mineralogy section has some remarkable objects such as the bouquet of precious stones , a gift from Maria Theresa to her husband. However, it is ..

The Parliament with its rigorous classical lines bears a close resemblance to a Greek temple. Even more evocative is the Pallas-Athene-Brunnen , the fountain of Pallas Athena, standing in front of the immense building as a homage to Athens, the city..

The Volksgarten was laid out on the site of the fortifications blown up by Napoleon during the French occupation in 1809. It was the city's first public park. It is an ideal spot for a break between two museums and offers extensive views of the bui..

The architect Otto Wagner , commissioned to design the underground stations, seized this opportunity to escape from Vienna's «neo» architecture of the past and enter an era of modernity. At the time (1899), people were highly critical of his work wh..

The Historical Museum of the City of Vienna traces the city's history with an incredible variety of objects. Some of the exceptional exhibits include a circular plan of Vienna (1545) and a Pompeiian Drawing Room (1800). Paintings such as Klimt'..

The Carriage Museum, located in the former Schönbrunn indoor riding school, possesses a superb collection of carriages and other types of transport used by the Court. The most spectacular piece is undoubtedly the Imperial carriage built in 1765 for..

Berggasse 19 has become a place of pilgrimage for psychoanalysis enthusiasts. Freud lived here for most of his life, from 1891 to 1938 until he was forced to flee from Nazi persecution to London. This is where he developed the theory that changed o..