Places of Interest in Vienna

Hofburg Imperial Apartments and Silver Collection
(Hofburg Kaiserappartements und Silberkammer)

Innerer Burghof, Kaisertor, A-1010, Wien, Tel: 533 7570, Website: www.hofburg-wien.at, U-Bahn: Herrengasse

If you’re a first-time visitor to Vienna, then it’s pretty much obligatory to take in a tour of the Hofburg’s Imperial Apartments. In all, there are 22 state and living rooms open to the public (out of a total of more than 2, 500), which give a reasonable picture of the grandeur of life at the Imperial Court.

The Hofburg was the main residence of the Habsburgs and from here they exercised control over their sprawling and often dysfunctional Empire. The Imperial Apartments are set out as they would have been during the reign of Franz Joseph I and his wife Elisabeth (Sissi) during the 19th century. The most impressive rooms (as far as we were concerned) are the Dining room (Speisezimmer) and Conversation Room (Cerclezimmer).

The Imperial Silver Collection displays a number of dinner services used at the Imperial Court right up until the end of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy (in November 1918). Pride of place is given to the gilded silver Grand Vermeil Service, originally made for Napoleon but later ‘acquired’ by Emperor Franz II. There are also a number of beautiful porcelain services that were commissioned for the Imperial Court.