State Hall of the Austrian National Library
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Location number: 1010051
Library
18th Century
Indoors
Elevator
Parking Space
Power Current
Power Supply
Toilet
The State Hall of the Austrian National Library – the former imperial court library – is considered the most beautiful library hall in the world, a baroque work of art. Emperor Charles VI commissioned the construction of this jewel of secular baroque architecture for his court library. The State Hall was built between 1723 and 1726 according to plans by the court architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and his son Joseph Emanuel. The magnificent ceiling frescoes were painted by Daniel Gran and completed in 1730. The frescoes in the entrance wing (‘war wing’) deal with secular and military themes. In the rear Peace Wing, adjacent to the Hofburg Palace, with the original entrance for the emperor and the court, allegorical representations of heaven and peace can be seen. The fresco in the dome, which is almost 30 metres high, depicts the apotheosis of Charles VI, the builder of the court library, with an allegory of the construction of the library. The four baroque globes displayed in the central oval were created by Vincenzo Coronelli (1650–1718). Combined with the marble statues of the brothers Peter and Paul Strudel and the walnut bookcases, they form an authentic picture of the baroque universal library of the 18th century. Among the approximately 200,000 books stored in the State Room is the 15,000-volume private library of Prince Eugene of Savoy (1663–1736) in the central oval.
