informational 6 min read
The Imperial Apartments at the Hofburg
Updated September 18, 2026
The Imperial Apartments are the part of the Hofburg where the last emperor and empress lived, and they are the reason the palace route is worth the ticket. The operator is precise about which rooms these are: the Imperial Chancellery Wing and the Amalia Residence, the two suites that held the apartments of Franz Joseph and Elisabeth, are open to the public. Everything else went to museums, ministries and offices.
Did Elisabeth actually live here?
The question comes up so often that the operator answers it in its FAQ, and the answer is yes. “The Hofburg was the winter residence of the Habsburgs. When she wasn’t away travelling, Empress Elisabeth resided on the main floor of the Amalia Wing, which can be seen on the tour of the Imperial Apartments.” In summer the family had Schönbrunn and Laxenburg, and they often stayed at the imperial villa in Bad Ischl.
So the honest version is that she lived in both palaces and travelled away from both as often as she could. The apartments are where she was when she was at home, which is not the same as where she wanted to be.
What survives
The rooms are furnished and, as the operator puts it, “authentically restored on the basis of historical models”. That phrasing is worth reading carefully: this is a careful reconstruction of how the rooms were used, not a sealed time capsule. The furniture, the ceremonial layout and the working objects are what carry the story.
What they show is a court in which ceremony dictated everything, including the plan of the building. Each family member had their own apartment or suite because protocol required it, and the route through the rooms follows the sequence a visitor to the court would have taken.
What the apartments do that the museum does not
The Sisi Museum is about a person and a myth. The apartments are about a job. Between them they answer different questions: what she was like, and what the life was like. Most visitors take about two hours over both, plus the Silver Collection on the ground floor, all on one ticket.
If you are here between 6 October and 18 November 2026, the apartments are the part that stays open: the museum section of the Sisi Museum is closed for refurbishment in that window, and standard tickets are 25% cheaper as a result.