On Vacation Guide Book Vienna | Page 34

WELCOME TO HOFBURG THE HEART OF VIENNA For more than 600 years the Vienna Hofburg The Hofburg was expanded by every emperor. was the residence of Austrian rulers. Over the The complex, which extends over 240,000 m², centuries it has become one of the most consists of 18 wings, 19 yards and 2,600 rooms, important centres of European history and in which almost 5,000 people still work and monarchy. It was here that the Habsburgs live today. reigned from the XIII century, first as rulers of the Austrian ancestral lands, beginning in 1452 The oldest part of the Hofburg is the Old as emperors of the Holy Roman Empire and Fortress, which has since been called the finally as emperors of Austria from 1806 until the Swiss Wing after the Swiss Guards, who end of the monarchy in 1918. served as palace watches.