Reichskanzleitrakt, Government building in Innere Stadt, Vienna, Austria

The Reichskanzleitrakt is a wing of the Hofburg Palace complex in Vienna's Innere Stadt, featuring a baroque facade and ornate architectural details. The building connects ceremonial state rooms with former private imperial apartments, which today serve as exhibition spaces open to visitors.

Construction started in 1723 on the orders of Emperor Charles VI, based on designs by Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt. Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach then took over and finished the project in 1730.

The Reichskanzleitrakt houses the Imperial Apartments, where visitors can see original furniture, wallpaper, and personal objects from the time of Francis Joseph I. The room arrangements give a concrete sense of how a Habsburg ruler organized daily life in these chambers.

The building sits at the heart of the Hofburg complex and is easy to reach on foot from central Vienna. Access to the exhibition areas depends on museum opening hours, so it is worth planning your visit around them.

The chancellery was led only nominally by the Archbishop of Mainz as Imperial Arch-Chancellor; the actual head was the Imperial Vice-Chancellor, who joined the Secret Conference in 1669. From 1559 the office was permanently based in Vienna, and the wing of the Hofburg that housed it still bears its name.