Amalienburg in the Hofburg, the Renaissance Wing Named for a Widowed Empress Where Sisi Later Lived
Stand in the large courtyard of the Hofburg, In der Burg, and turn toward the side opposite the Imperial Chancellery Wing. The building across from you, with its tower, clock and plain Renaissance front, is the Amalienburg. It's one of the older parts of the palace complex, and one of the few that started life as a separate building before the Hofburg grew around it.
Most visitors pass through the courtyard on the way to the Imperial Apartments or the Michaeler Gate and barely look at it. That's a shame. The Amalienburg tells the story of how the Hofburg grew, wing by wing and reign by reign, better than the grander facades nearby.
A palace for an heir, a home for a widow
The Amalienburg was built in the late 16th century, a free-standing residence for Archduke Rudolf, the son of Emperor Maximilian II, who later ruled as Rudolf II. By the time it was finished in the early 17th century, Rudolf had moved his court to Prague, and the building never served the purpose it was built for.
Its name comes from a later resident. Wilhelmine Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg, the widow of Emperor Joseph I, lived here after her husband died in 1711. Habsburg widows often took a wing of the palace as their own household, and her long residence fixed the name.
Over the following century the gaps between the Amalienburg and the rest of the palace were built in. The Leopoldine Wing linked it to the old core of the Hofburg, and the Imperial Chancellery Wing closed the courtyard on the opposite side. What had been a separate house became one side of the palace's main square. The history and wings guide shows where it fits in the whole.
Sisi and the private rooms
In the 19th century the Amalienburg housed apartments of the imperial family. Empress Elisabeth, Sisi, had her rooms here, linked to the emperor's apartments in the Imperial Chancellery Wing. Franz Joseph lived and worked across the courtyard. Visitors to the Imperial Apartments walk through rooms in both wings, which is why the route seems to turn a corner halfway through.
Sisi's rooms are among the most visited in the palace, and they tell a more domestic story than the state rooms elsewhere. Her exercise room, with gymnastic rings and wall bars, reflects her obsession with fitness and her weight. Her dressing and bathing rooms show how the empress tried to keep a private life inside a court that watched everything she did.
The Sisi Museum and the Imperial Apartments cover these rooms in detail, including the current reopening. Check opening dates and tickets with the official museum before you go.
What to look at from the courtyard
From In der Burg, look up at the tower above the Amalienburg's front. The clock and the sundial on the facade are among the most photographed details of the courtyard. The front itself is restrained compared with the Baroque wings around it, with a lower, simpler rhythm of windows. That plainness is a clue to its age.
The monument in the middle of the courtyard is the Emperor Franz monument, and it faces the Amalienburg's side of the square. From the monument you can see the whole courtyard and the way four different centuries of building meet around it.
The Amalienburg itself isn't open to visitors as a separate sight, apart from the rooms on the Imperial Apartments route, and parts of it are used as offices. The courtyard is a public space and free to walk through at any time. It's a good place to pause at the start or end of a Hofburg visit and work out which wing is which before the crowds arrive.