The Habsburg State Rooms

What are the Habsburg State Rooms at the Albertina?

Twenty restored rooms of the palace's archducal apartments, decorated in classicist style around 1822 and open on every Albertina ticket.

The museum describes them as rooms of "precious wall coverings, chandeliers, fireplaces and stoves, distinctive marquetry, and exquisite furniture." Most of the decoration dates from the 1820s, when the architect Joseph Kornhäusel remodelled the interiors for Archduke Charles and the Viennese maker Joseph Danhauser supplied the furniture (1822 to 1825, per the Albertina's press text).

You reach them on Level 1. The pillared hall with Roman busts comes almost first, and the route ends in rooms hung with facsimiles of famous sheets from the collection.

Who lived in the Albertina palace?

Four Habsburgs in turn: Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen, his adopted son Archduke Charles, Charles's son Archduke Albrecht, and Albrecht's nephew Archduke Friedrich, who lost the palace in 1919.

The building started as a court office on the Augustinian Bastion and became a palace for Count Silva-Tarouca in the 1740s. In 1794 Emperor Franz II gave it to Duke Albert and his wife, Archduchess Marie Christine, Maria Theresa's daughter. They had founded the art collection in 1776, and the museum still carries Albert's name.

Which State Rooms are worth slowing down in?

The Hall of the Muses, the Gold Cabinet, the Wedgwood Cabinet and the two Spanish Apartments. Leave time for the Audience Hall and the Hall of Minerva too.

• The Hall of the Muses. The old ballroom, lined with statues of Apollo and the Muses by Joseph Klieber. The Friends of the Albertina bought the central chandelier back from Friedrich's descendants in 1972.
• The Gold Cabinet. Part of the Royal Writing Room. It glows with "Albertina gold", a cool 24-carat mix of 23 carats of gold and one of silver and copper, made for the restoration.
• The Wedgwood Cabinet. Named after Wedgwood, the English stoneware. Elsewhere on the route, inlaid writing desks carry Wedgwood basalt busts.
• The Large and Small Spanish Apartments. Kept for the Spanish royal family from 1895 to 1919: Queen Maria Christina of Spain was Friedrich's sister. A bust of King Alfonso XII and her portrait came back on loan in 2008.
• The Audience Hall, where the archdukes received visitors,, and the Hall of Minerva.
• The smaller rooms: the Rococo Room, the Red Tea Salon, the Rose Chamber, the Yellow Salon, the Oval Cabinet, the Fireside Room and the Study of Archduke Carl.

Look down as well as up. The museum singles out the marquetry, and the Spanish Apartment keeps a Vienna stove from 1822/23.

Are the furnishings in the State Rooms original?

Many are. After 1919 Archduke Friedrich took much of the furniture to Hungary and sold more in 1933; the museum has been buying pieces back for decades.

The rooms you walk through are the result of a long restoration that began in spring 1999. Restorers uncovered the marble-like white finish of Klieber's statues, painted over in the fifties, and redid the gilding. The Albertina's press text describes them as open in full for the first time since 1919.

Some of the returns read like a family saga. In 1995 the museum acquired a Sèvres side table that Marie Antoinette had given to her sister Marie Christine on a visit to Paris in 1787. The four side chandeliers in the Hall of the Muses are copies by the Viennese glassmaker Lobmeyr; the originals had gone to the Hungarian National Museum in Budapest.

How long does it take to see the State Rooms?

About 30 to 40 minutes at an easy pace, longer with the smartphone guide.

Until 10 January 2027 you will also meet Otto Meets Albertina on the way: the German comedian Otto Waalkes comments on masterpieces of the collection with his own paintings, placed among the rooms. The copy of Dürer's Hare waits near the end.

For the whole museum, plan 1.5 to 2 hours with Monet to Chagall, or 2 to 3 hours with the exhibitions. A two-hour route is in what to see at the Albertina.

Are the State Rooms ever closed?

Sometimes, in part. The museum warns that special events can close some rooms, and asks visitors to phone +43 1 534 83 500 for the day.

The palace still hosts special events, which is why some rooms can be shut on a given day. The ticket listing on GetYourGuide carries the same note about event closures. If the rooms are the reason you are going, call the number above on the morning of your visit.

The ticket is valid for a year from purchase, with no time slot, so a closure only means coming back another day.

Is there an audio guide for the State Rooms?

Yes. The museum's smartphone guide costs EUR 5 and covers the State Rooms in 11 languages; bring your own headphones.

You buy a code card at the desk (or a voucher online), scan its QR code and listen in your phone's browser. No app, and free Wi-Fi in the building. The State Rooms tour runs in German, English, Italian, Czech, Russian, Spanish, Ukrainian, French, Korean, Chinese and Japanese. An Austrian Sign Language version costs EUR 3, and Friends of the Albertina get it free.

To sort the audio out before you travel, the ticket with an app audio tour ($41) puts entry and a narrated tour in the WeGoTrip app. For a real person, the private guided tour covers the State Rooms and the collection with timed entry.

Entry and a narrated tour on your phone, with maps and photos, to follow at your own pace through the State Rooms and the galleries.

★ 4.4 · 1.5 hours · from $41

Explore the Albertina ticket with audio tour → Tour details

Are the Albertina State Rooms the same as the Hofburg Imperial Apartments?

No. The Hofburg next door has its own Imperial Apartments and Sisi Museum, on a separate ticket.

The Albertina borders the Hofburg, and the names get mixed up. The Albertina rooms belonged to archdukes; the Hofburg apartments were Emperor Franz Joseph's and Empress Elisabeth's. Many visitors do both in a day, since the entrances are a few minutes apart. The Hofburg and Sisi Museum tour takes about two hours with a guide.

The Sisi Museum and Imperial Apartments next door, with a licensed guide and skip-the-line timed entry.

★ 4.8 · 2 hours · from $54

Explore the Hofburg and Sisi Museum tour → Tour details

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