Today’s Burgtheater is already the second edition of this imperial venue. The Old Burgtheater had stood on Michaelerplatz since 1748 and had to make way in 1888 for the plans to expand the Michaelatrakt of the Hofburg. On October 12, 1888, the curtain fell there for the last time before the new Burgtheater opened just two days later, on October 14, with Grillparzer’s Esther and Schiller’s Wallenstein’s Camp. It is located on today’s Universitätsring, which at the time was called Franzensring. The building was designed and built in the Historicist style, inspired by the Italian High Renaissance. Gottfried Semper was responsible for the ground plan and Karl Freiherr von Hasenauer for the facade. Since the theater was no longer directly connected to the Hofburg due to its location, an underground tunnel connected the two buildings so that the imperial family could comfortably reach the theater by carriage. Today, however, this tunnel has been bricked up. What has been preserved, however, are the ceiling paintings of the stairways, which were made by Gustav Klimt, together with his brother Ernst and Franz Matsch. The Burgtheater has many more surprises in store for you – visit them.