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Construction plans for the Stallburg, undoubtedly Vienna’s most valuable Renaissance building, date back to the year 1559. The actual court stables were completed in 1560 and additional building work was carried out during the years 1565-1569. Originally the “Maximiliansburg”, as the Stallburg is also called, was intended as the official residence of Maximilian II; however, when he ascended the throne in 1564 the building was not quite ready and he moved into the old Imperial Palace. Today the Stallburg accommodates 72 Lipizzaner stallions of the Spanish Riding School.
Documents dating back to the year 1565 refer to a “Ross-Thumblplatz” which was located in front of the Stallburg but which had no roof and therefore made riding in bad weather impossible
The first mention of the riding school dates back to the year 1572 and deals with an invoice for a delivery of wood for the construction of a riding hall.
More than a century later Emperor Leopold I commissioned the construction of a riding hall which was practically completed in 1683 but badly damaged during the Ottoman Wars.
More than a century later Emperor Leopold I commissioned the construction of a riding hall which was practically completed in 1683 but badly damaged during the Ottoman Wars.
In 1729 Emperor Charles VI commissioned the renewed construction of a riding hall. In 1735 the famous building designed by Josef Emanuel Fischer von Erlach was completed. It has retained its original form to this day and is considered the world’s most beautiful riding hall.
Maria Theresia ascended the throne in 1740 and subsequently staged numerous carousels, masked balls, jousts and court festivities in the winter riding school.
1800
The Spanish Riding School as it is known today exists since the 19th century. The Congress of Vienna (1814 – 1815) and its international guests brought an abundance of new impulses. With the exception of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars resulted in the closure of all the European establishments which had until then practised the art of classical horsemanship. Since then Vienna has been the only place where the High School of Classical Horsemanship has been to this day continuously cherished and maintained in its true tradition.
During the revolutionary year 1848 the first Reichstag convened in the Winter Riding School.
Emperor Franz Joseph was crowned King of Hungary on June 8th 1867 near Budapest – during the ceremony he rode the Lipizzaner stallion Maestoso Cerbero.
For the first time Field Marshal Franz Holbein and Chief Rider Johann Meixner put down in writing the “Directives“ which describe the verbally handed down knowledge on equitation at the Spanish Riding School.
After World War I, with great personal commitment, Mauritius Herold and the remaining loyal riders ensured the continuation of the school which was henceforth assigned to the Ministry of Agriculture. One-and-a half years after the end of the war the first public performance took place. Since 1920 Piber in Western Syria has been the home of the Lipizzaners.
In 1925 the closure of the institute was briefly contemplated, but this brought on a national and international outcry of protest; that same year Rudolf Count van der Straten, the first post-war director of the riding school, organized the first international tour to Berlin and thereby laid the foundation for the subsequent successful and popular tours of the Spanish Riding School.
In March 1938, shortly after the invasion by the German Wehrmacht van der Straten resigned. Alois Podhajsky, a major of the Austrian army and Bronze Medal winner at the 1936 Olympics in dressage became the new director (1939 – 1964). Alois Podhajsky wrote down all his knowledge and experience in his book “Classical Horsemanship” which to this day is a standard reference for dressage. In 1945 the school stallions from Vienna and brood mares which had been evacuated to St. Martin in Upper Austria were reunited and transferred to Wels and Wimsbach in Upper Austria. 10 years later, in 1955, the Spanish Riding School returned to its roots in the Imperial Palace in Vienna and held its first public performance on October 26th, 1955, the Austrian national holiday, which was celebrated for the first time that year.
In 1964 Colonel Hans Handler succeeded Colonel Alois Podhajsky; under his directorship the school celebrated its 400th anniversary in 1972. On October 2nd, 1974 Handler tragically fell dead from his stallion Siglavy Beja during a performance. He was succeeded by his deputy of many years Lieutenant Colonel Kurt Albrecht, who among other things was able to improve the equestrian staffs' status. He also strove to meet the growing demands of the increasing tourist industry whilst at the same time maintaining the high equestrian standards developed over the centuries. He retired in 1985.
