Skip to main content

The Building History of the Vienna Hofburg from the Middle Ages to Modern Times

Type of Story: object biography / construction history of a building

Story Expert: Richard Kurdiovsky (OEAW)

Story Editors: Richard Kurdiovsky, Maximilian Kaiser, Sebastian Piringer, Carina Doppler, Eva Mayr

Target Group: General public with an interest in architectural history / tourists at the Hofburg in Vienna

Short Description: The story tellsthe construction history of the Hofburg in Vienna from its founding in the 13th century until the present state based on a research project by OEAW (cp. Kurdiovsky et al., 2015). Exemplarily a substory shows how the story could dive deeper into more detailed descriptions of different building episodes, here the building stage around 1590 has been realized.

Content Types and Visualizations:

  • Text: Presenting the development of a building in the course of time and offering historical context.
  • Image: Visual representations of different construction phases of the building with additional images.
  • Quiz: An interactive quiz tests the users knowledge on diverse aspects of Habsburg history.
  • HTML Integration: Integrated HTML elements allow users to access the story branch and is used to integrate the AR application.
  • Visualizations: Map visualizations enable viewers to comprehend the different stages and the growing size of the palatial building in Central Europe.\

Special Story Features:

How is the data generated? The data has been manually generated by Richard Kurdiovsky, Maximilian Kaiser, and Sebastian Piringer. This information is based on a major research project by the Austrian Academy of Sciences (Karner, 2014; Kurdiovsky et al., 2015; Lorenz & Mader-Kratky, 2016; Schwarz, 2015; Telesko, 2012; Welzig, 2018).

Is there anything special in the story (branch, AR, hook …)? The story tries to combine all kind of media that has been used during the research project of the Austrian Academy of Sciences on the Vienna Hofburg, such as texts and different kinds of images (drawings, prints etc.). A 3D-model of a sculpture within the Hofburg can be explored in augmented reality as well as virtual reality. The story contains one optional side branch to a detailed description of the Hofburg's state around 1590.