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, in the late 13C, the Habsburgs took up residence in the Hofburg just at the end of this street. The splendour of the district's numerous Baroque palaces has earned the capital of Austria its renown.