Apart from a number of short interruptions, the Vienna Hofburg was for over 600 years - from 1276 to the abdication of Kaiser Karl in 1918 - the residence of the Hapsburg family. The first unequivocal mention of the castro Viennensi was made in the year 1279 through Rudolf von Hapsburg. The heart and oldest part of the Viennese Hofburg complex is the Swiss Yard with the Castle chapel. The Stallburg, a renaissance castle, is the second oldest part and dates from 1558-65 and was built by Ferdinand I for his son Maximilian.

Today it houses the stables of the world-famous Spanish Riding School Following the glorious defeat of the Turks in the mid eighteenth century, Karl IV commissioned the construction of the Imperial Chancellery wing (the Castle library and the winter riding school). The Leopoldine wing, built in 1660 - 66 by Leopold I, was extended around the Ceremonial Chamber at the beginning of the 19th century by Franz I.

The last great construction occurred under Kaiser Franz Josef, who ordered the building of the Michaeler wing with the eponymous dome, as well as the New Castle. Today the Vienna Hofburg is the seat of the Austrian President, and the location of many fascinating museums (the Museum of Ethnology, the National treasure chamber, the Albertina and so on).