Die Wiener Hofburg 1521‒1705

Volume II of the five-volume series of publications on the history of the building and function of the Vienna Hofburg analyses how from Ferdinand I up to and including Leopold I it developed to become the main central European imperial residence. The rewriting of the varied history of the building and functions of the continuously growing residence is accompanied by investigations of the representational practices of the Habsburgs. They are traced in the architecture and its decorative forms, in the close relationship between the ceremonial and the sequence of rooms, but also in the rooms of the theatre, the gardens and the collections. The basis for the investigation is the permanent eye on European connections. In the period of time in question, the internationalism of the Habsburg family was a precondition that must be taken into particular account. The provable close contacts and the regular exchange between the Habsburg courts in Vienna, Madrid and Brussels are of fundamental significance particularly for the analysis and assessment of the architectural and interior design achievements at the Vienna Hofburg. With its ever-changing building sites the Hofburg was a representative and prestigious space for investigation for the international, but primarily Italian-dominated building activities in central Europe.