Spanish Riding School
The Spanish Riding School is a traditional riding school for Lipizzan horses. Performances take place in the Winter Riding School on the opposite street from the Hofburg’s Stallburg in the very centre of Vienna. Visitors are also allowed to view some of the training process as well.
The riding school is first documented in the 16th century but Spanish Riding School as it is known today exists from the early 19th century. The magnificent Baroque Winter Riding School in the Hofburg Imperial Palace was built between 1729 and 1735 by Emperor Charles VI. The riding hall designed by Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach was used for various ceremonies and was opened to the public for special occasions only until the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918.
The riding school takes the “Spanish” after the origin of the Lipizzan horses that are a cross between Spanish, Arabian and Berber horses and originate from the Iberian Peninsula.