Neue Burg (Vienna)

 

Heldenplatz
Tel. 01- 5252 4484
Open: 10am- 6pm Wed- Mon

Subway: Volkstheater, Herrengasse

www.hofburg.vienna.info

 

Description of the Neue Burg

The newest wing of Hofburg Palace complex, Neue Burg, was completed in 1913, just a year before the outbreak of World War I or the Great War. Just five years later Habsburg dynasty lost its throne. The monument on a horseback is dedicated to a famous general Eugene of Savoy 1663- 1736. The Neue Burg is part of the Vienna Hofburg and the monumental Kaiserforum, which Gottfried Semper and Karl Freiherr von Hasenauer planned and built from 1869 for Emperor Franz Joseph.

 

History of the Neue Burg

The Emperor approved in 1881 the construction of the "Hofburg wing against the imperial garden", as the New Castle was officially called. After Hasenauer's death in 1894-97, his students Bruno Gruber and Otto Hofer, 1897-99 the officials Emil von Förster and Julian Niedzielski more or less haplessly directed the construction until 1899 Friedrich Ohmann was appointed Hofburg architect. Among other things, he was able to build the glasshouse in the Burggarten.

The construction has become (also) very expensive due to the local conditions. The foundations had to be dug out to a depth of 25 meters, as the site was located on the loosened area of ​​the former city ditches and underground defenses. For these foundations, the porous Leitha lime sandstone was taken from winds on the lake. The particularly polluted parts of the supporting stone facade are made of hard Wöllersdorfer stone. The pedestal consists of the white limestone of Duna-Almás near Süttö west of Esztergom in Hungary. The masonry veneer consists of chalk-karst limestones from Marzana in Istria, from the island of Brač, Croatia. Numerous metalwork and ironwork were created by Alexander Nehr.

After 1906 Emperor Franz Joseph had appointed his nephew and heir to the throne Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Este as the protector of the castle, Ohmann was replaced by Ludwig Baumann, who continued to build until 1923, but could not complete.