Austrian National Library State Hall Ticket

Explore Vienna's 18th-century Baroque State Hall at your own pace with a self-guided visit to the former Imperial Court Library.

Getting started

Enter the Austrian National Library and present your ticket for the State Hall at the designated access point. Once your entry is validated, proceed directly into the Baroque hall without joining any guided group. From here, you are free to move through the space independently and set your own pace for the visit.

What to expect

Baroque State Hall of the Austrian National Library

This State Hall, built in the 18th century as part of the former Imperial Court Library, stretches almost 80 meters in length and rises to about 20 meters in height. Inside this historic setting, architecture, art, and knowledge combine to present the cultural legacy of Vienna’s former Imperial Court Library.

Features

• The elaborately decorated Baroque dome is a central feature of the hall, and its ceiling frescoes draw your eye upward as you walk through the 80-meter space.
• Marble statues are positioned throughout the hall, adding sculptural detail that complements the surrounding shelves and architectural elements.
• Approximately 200,000 historical books are on display, dating from several centuries of printing, so you can visually trace the development of written culture in a single room.
• Four large Venetian globes, each measuring over one meter in diameter, are on display and illustrate how geography and astronomy were viewed at the time of the Habsburgs.
• A self-paced visit of the State Hall lets you spend as much time as you wish in specific sections, focusing on the Baroque dome, frescoes, marble statues, and the extensive collection of historical books.
• The layout and contents of the hall reflect the legacy of the former Imperial Court Library, giving you a direct sense of how the Habsburg dynasty expressed its power and worldview through architecture, art, and knowledge.