Vienna Photos: Hofburg Palace from Heldenplatz

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The Hofburg Palace in all its pompous glory


The Hofburg is a peculiar piece of architecture, as you can see from walking once around it: The former imperial palace is a strange cluster of wings from various periods and built in styles that range from Renaissance to Baroque to neo-Classicism - not to mention the early 20th century neo-Baroque as seen in the picture above. The photo shows the Neue Burg or "New Castle" from the Heldenplatz.

If you think this part of the Hofburg is pompous and odd, you are not the first person to notice - the Neue Burg is also the place where Adolf Hitler had his first official appearance in Vienna after the Anschluss. Some 150,000 Austrians had come to see their new Führer in 1938, the event is rather iconic these days and seen as the symbol for Austria′s ultimate moral fall. Speaking of moral falls: This is the centre for Vienna′s tourism mafia.

Tacky souvenirs, guys in pseudo-historic costumes, 19th century style horse and carriages - perfectly complemented by the "Sisi-Museum" (an entire museum dedicated to the generally rather useless Empress Elisabeth). Apart from that, the Heldenplatz ends in the Volksgarten, a really nice park and the only park in central Vienna that is big enough for getting thoroughly away from the traffic.



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