Heldenplatz and the Neue Burg

This vast open space was never planned. A bastion of the city walls stood here until Napoleon's troops blew it up in 1809. With the ground cleared, the court laid out a square, and in 1824 Peter von Nobile built the Burgtor, the palace gate, at the far end.

1Two bronze heroes

The name, Heroes' Square, comes from the two equestrian statues. The one of Archduke Charles, who defeated Napoleon at Aspern in 1809, was made by Anton Dominik Fernkorn and unveiled in 1860: the horse balances on its hind legs alone, a technical feat. The one of Prince Eugene of Savoy, the general who defeated the Ottomans, was finished in 1865, when Fernkorn was already ill and his assistants completed it.

2A half-built imperial forum

The curved palace is the Neue Burg, the new wing of the Hofburg, built from 1881 to designs by Gottfried Semper and Carl von Hasenauer. It was meant to have a twin on the other side, closing off a gigantic imperial forum stretching to the museums on the Ringstrasse. The empire fell in 1918 and the twin was never built.

315 March 1938

From the central balcony, Adolf Hitler addressed a crowd that filled the square and announced Austria's incorporation into the German Reich. The photographs of that day remain among the most uncomfortable images in Austria's memory.

In January 1993 up to 300,000 people filled the same square with candles against racism.

4What to look for

• The Neue Burg balcony, above the main entrance.
• Archduke Charles's horse, resting on just two legs.
• The Burgtor at the far end, now a war memorial.