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Avoiding the erzatz-Mozarts that lay in wait for unwary tourists, as you cross the Michaelerplatz, you cannot help but be impressed by the great sweeping curve of the Michaeletrakt, the facade of the Hofburg, and the Michaelertor, with its massive copper dome and classical sculptures flanking either side of the entrance. Behind this facade (built in the late 1800s in the dying days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) lies the vast complex of palaces and chapels, gardens and royal apartments and offices that was the seat of Hapsburg power more than 500 years. Add in the surrounding streets, once home to the aristocracy and clergy that revolved around the court, and you could spend days in this quarter of Vienna and still not see the half of it. Passing under the gate, the Spanish Riding School is on your left, the ticket office and entrance to the State Apartments of Franz Joseph, last Emperor of Austria, and his beautiful Empress Elizabeth, and the Silberkammer - a treasure house of the plate and porcelain - is on your right. They're housed in the Amalienburg, a palace built in 1575. This time I'm heading for the Schweizertor though, the entrance to the oldest part of the complex, the Schweitzer Hof (Swiss House), the mediaeval core of the Hofurg. Here, in the Burgkapelle (Royal Chapel), the angel voices of the Wiener Sangerknaben (Vienna Boys Choir) have been heard on high days and holy days for 500 years. Plan ahead and you too may be lucky enough to get a ticket for an exquisite Mozart or Haydn mass. After that, it's the Schatzkammer (Treasury) when 21 rooms contain the fabulous treasures of 1000 years of church and state, including the 1100 year-old crown of the Holy Roman Empire - to my mind the most amazing object in the whole museum, with its barbaric chunks of precious gems, huge pearls and Byzantine enamels set in an extraordinary crown of gold. State Apartments, Silberkammer and Burgkapelle are open daily Schatzkammer is closed on Tuesdays. Leave a Comment Directions: Ticketsfor the choir should be booked well ahead. A few tickets are on sale on Friday 11-1 and 3-5, Sunday 8:15 to 8:45am. Get there early. Standing room is freeWebsite: http://info.wien.at/hofburg/hofburg-e.html
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Vienna
on November 1, 2005
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