Stallburg, Renaissance castle in Innere Stadt, Vienna, Austria.
Stallburg is a four-story Renaissance castle in Vienna's Innere Stadt featuring symmetrical arcaded courtyards with stone columns and multiple interconnected wings surrounding a central square courtyard. The structure blends Renaissance design with its current function as a stable and training facility.
Emperor Ferdinand I commissioned the building in 1559, and under Maximilian II it was converted from a residential palace into imperial stables starting in 1565. This transformation marked the beginning of its five-century role as a horse stable.
From 1659 to 1776, Archduke Leopold Wilhelm's art collection of around 1400 paintings was housed here, later becoming the foundation of the Kunsthistorisches Museum. This collection made the place a center for art and shaped Vienna's cultural heritage.
The place houses Lipizzan horses of the Spanish Riding School and offers guided tours through the organization. Visitors should check which areas are open to the public, as only certain sections of the complex are accessible.
The ground level preserves its original Renaissance architecture and continues to function as a stable, maintaining a four-hundred-fifty-year tradition of housing imperial horses. This ongoing use makes it one of the few European locations where the original purpose has remained unchanged for centuries.
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