The Imperial Palace was the residence of the Habsburg emperors until 1918. Originally a medieval castle, of which only the chapel has survived to this day, the residence of the court was expanded and made ever more lavish as the power of the Habsburgs grew and the territory of their dominions increased.

Today, the Imperial Palace houses the offices of the Austrian president, an international convention center, the chapel where the Vienna Boys' Choir sings mass on Sundays and religious holidays, the hall in which the Lipizzan stallions of the Spanish Riding School perform, various official and private apartments and several museums and state rooms which are open to the public.

The New Palace (Neue Burg) is the most recent and, at the same time, most monumental section of the Imperial Palace. It now houses the Ethnological Museum, branches of the Museum of Fine Arts: the Ephesus Museum displaying art from classical antiquity in Asia Minor, the Collection of Arms which ranks as the second-largest in the world and the Collection of Historical Musical Instruments.