The Hofburg at Innsbruck is one of the three most significant Habsburg palaces in Austria, alongside the Vienna Hofburg and Schönbrunn. It began as a medieval castle and was transformed into a Baroque residence by Empress Maria Theresa in the 1760s. The exterior, with its pink stucco facade and giant order of pilasters, is the defining image of Innsbruck's Old Town.
Inside, the Imperial Apartments are open to visitors. The Giant's Hall (Riesensaal), with its large oil portraits of Maria Theresa's children and her idealized ceiling fresco, is the centrepiece. The fresco, showing the Habsburg dynasty in allegorical glory, was painted in 1776 by Franz Anton Maulbertsch. A visit here gives real substance to the Habsburg period that shaped so much of what you see in Innsbruck's streets.