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Trip ideas  /  6 days in Innsbruck and the Tyrol  /  Imperial Palace
Imperial Palace, Innsbruck, Tyrol
Historic site · Innsbruck, Tyrol

Imperial Palace

A fire in 1534.A Giants' Hall.A rebuild from 1754.

Photo: Ghirlandajo, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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The start

The Hofburg grew from a city wall under Archduke Sigismund around 1460

The original palace was built around 1460 under Archduke Sigismund. It included sections of medieval fortifications that ran along the eastern city wall. The Rumer Gate was converted into the Heraldic Tower in 1499 under Emperor Maximilian I.

Maximilian

Maximilian I enlarged the palace in the late Gothic style

The Hofburg was enlarged under Emperor Maximilian I and soon gained a reputation as the most beautiful building of the late Gothic period. In 1495 the north part was added as the residence of his second wife Bianca Maria Sforza. The court builder was Nikolaus Thüring the Elder, who also built the Goldenes Dachl.

A fire

A fire in 1534 led to a Renaissance rebuilding under Ferdinand I

In 1533 the Hofburg became the permanent residence of Emperor Ferdinand I and his family. In 1534 a fire destroyed sections of it. The Italian architect Lucius de Spaciis redesigned the east wing and created a new banquet hall, and flatter roofs replaced the high Gothic roofs.

Baroque

Maria Theresa rebuilt it in the Baroque style between 1754 and 1776

The reconstruction under Empress Maria Theresa lasted from 1754 to 1776 and was interrupted by the Seven Years' War. The Giants' Hall ceiling fresco was painted by Franz Anton Maulbertsch, the master of Austrian Rococo, between 1775 and 1776.

1765

A wedding in 1765 ended in a loss, and a chapel was made

In 1765 Maria Theresa chose Innsbruck for the wedding of her son Leopold II and Maria Luisa of Spain. During the celebrations Francis I died suddenly after returning from the theatre. The anteroom where he died was converted into the Hofburg Chapel in 1766.

Day 1, morning

It comes after Golden Roof. Then Hofkirche.

More stories from this trip idea

The words are a retelling of the Wikipedia article Hofburg, Innsbruck, and are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. They are checked against those articles, and a fact that is not in them is left out.

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