The palace faces the Heldenplatz (Heroes' Square) ordered under the reign of Emperor Franz Joseph I, as part of what was planned to become the Kaiserforum [de] but which was never completed.

The whole palace complex is under the administration of the governor (Burghauptmann), who in turn is part of the Burghauptmannschaft, an office which has been in existence since the Middle Ages under the auspices of the Burgrave.

The oldest parts of the palace date from the 13th century and were primarily constructed by the last of the Babenbergers, or by Ottakar II of Bohemia.

These oldest sections of the castle today form the Swiss Court (Schweizerhof), where there are a gothic chapel (Burgkapelle), dating from the 15th century, and the treasury (or Schatzkammer), affiliated to the Kunsthistorisches Museum which holds, among other things, the imperial insignia of the Holy Roman Empire (Reichskleinodien) and of the Empire of Austria.

The Swiss Gate entrance (Schweizertor) displays the many titles of Ferdinand I and the insignia of the Order of the Golden Fleece are painted on the ceiling.

In recognition of his services in the Italian campaign during the revolutionary year of 1848, the Emperor Franz Joseph I permitted the worthy Field Marshal Radetzky to live in these apartments, even though he was not a member of the imperial family.

In the Knight's Hall (Rittersaal), on 15 May 1717 the Empress Maria Theresa was baptised by the papal nuncio Giorgio Spinola, representing Pope Clement XI, with baptismal water containing a few drops from the River Jordan.

The connection between the Amalienburg and the Swiss Court is the Leopoldine Wing (Leopoldinischer Flügel) which was first built in the 1660s under Emperor Leopold I and thus named after him.

The architect was Filiberto Lucchese, but after the Siege of 1683 by the Turks, the wing was rebuilt by Giovanni Pietro Tencala with an additional floor installed.

After the end of the Holy Roman Empire, this wing housed the apartments of Napoleon, The Duke of Reichstadt and later those of Emperor Francis Joseph I.

The large Prunksaal hall contains the book collection of Prince Eugene of Savoy, an enormous ceiling fresco by Daniel Gran, and statues of emperors by Paul Strudel making this part of the Hofburg its most significant in artistic terms.

Particularly from 1763 to 1769, Nicolo Pacassi connected the Imperial Library to the other parts of the Hofburg and its other side to the Augustinian Church and he thus created the present Joseph Square (Josephsplatz), marked by its almost symmetrical proportions.

He created a number of oil paintings based on literary quotations taken from Ferdinand Raimund, Johann Nepomuk Nestroy and Elias Canetti.

His 404 m2 ceiling painting incorporates 34 handwritten verses of Karl Kraus' poem "Youth", albeit in a form not visible to the viewer.

[3] The Redoutensäle reopened in 1998 in the framework of the first Austrian Presidency of the Council of the European Union and became since then part of the Hofburg Congress Centre.

Restoration of the roof of the wing gave an opportunity to convert the original loft space into a new amenity called the Rooftop Foyer (Dachfoyer).

The architect Manfred Wehdorn designed a modern interior, completed with a spherical structure for secure conferences and panoramic windows.

Although not physically connected to the rest of the complex, the imperial mews (Stallburg) of the Hofburg were originally built as a residence for the then crown prince, Maximilian.

The residence was converted during the Baroque era to house the imperial horses on the ground floor and is used by the Spanish Riding School (Spanische Hofreitschule).

Because of its additional nature, it formed a clearly visible protrusion at right angles to the Leopoldine Wing for almost a hundred years, and was therefore also called the "Nose".

The hall has Alois Hans Schramm's three ceiling paintings, dedicated to the greater glory of the Habsburgs, complete with Emperor Franz Joseph's motto "Viribus Unitis" (with united strength).

The lower lunettes and octagonal panels are decorated with paintings by Eduard Veith and Viktor Stauffer [de] of famous people from Austrian history, with Maximilian I, Charles V, Ferdinand I, Rudolph II and Ferdinand II of Tyrol to be seen in the ceiling paintings, and Leopold I, Charles VI, Prince Eugene and also the Polish King John III Sobieski in the side panels.

All the way up to the present Ring Road, new grounds were laid out, in which the neoclassical main castle gate (Burgtor) was integrated.

Equestrian statues of the two most important Austrian field marshals, Prince Eugene of Savoy and Archduke Charles, stand at the foci of Heroes Square.

On 15 March 1938 Adolf Hitler proclaimed from the balcony of the New Castle onto Heroes' Square the "Anschluss" of Austria into the Nazi Third Reich.

It is flanked by two soldiers of the period as a reminder of the unsettled times which saw Vienna besieged by Turkish armies in 1529, as well as the struggles between Protestants and Catholics during the Reformation.