Hofburg New Year's Eve Ball
The Hofburg Silvesterball (formerly Kaiserball or Le Grand Bal ) is one of the New Years Eve balls in Vienna . It was first held as the Kaiserball in 1970 and takes place annually on December 31st in the Vienna Hofburg . It has been called Hofburg Silvesterball since 2012 . The ball is attended by up to 2500 guests from 50 nations. The historic ballroom, the ceremonial hall and other representative rooms of the former imperial winter residence of the Habsburgs are at your disposal.
organizer
The organizer of the ball is the Wiener Kongresszentrum Hofburg Betriebsgesellschaft mbH, a private company that leased the 17,000 m² premises from the Republic of Austria in 1969 and mainly hosts international conferences there.
The company's current shareholders are Columbus Reisen GmbH (an Austrian travel agency chain ), Hotel Sacher Eduard Sacher GmbH, Wertinvest Hotelbetriebs GmbH, Motto Catering GmbH and Schick-Hotels Betriebs GmbH, a Viennese hotel chain (including the Hotel Am Parking ring ). The Vienna Tourism Association sponsored the ball from public funds in the first few years until the event broke even.
history
The idea for the Imperial Ball developed from the tradition of " court ball " and " Ball at Court ," which in the reign of Emperor I. Franz Joseph were organized.
The “court ball” took place at the end of January. All persons who were allowed to appear at court were invited, about 2000 in number. After the royal entry into the ceremonial hall, selected guests were introduced to the emperor and empress. The buffet was set up in the Great Redoutensaal. With the last waltz exactly fifteen minutes after midnight, the ball ended.
Two weeks after the "Court Ball", the "Court Ball" was held in the same room. 700 guests from the nobility and the diplomatic corps were invited to this smaller and more elitist ball . In the Radetzky apartments and the adjoining rooms, supper was served on the most valuable porcelain of the court table chamber , the seats were reserved according to order of precedence. The ladies spared no expense to be appropriately dressed for the occasion, and had an evening gown cost 300–500 guilders, more than the annual income of a servant at court.
The Kaiserball continued this tradition and existed in its form, which was shaped until 2012, since 1970. The basic idea behind the recollection was also to revive tourism in Vienna during the winter months when the hotel industry was not busy at the time, especially around the turn of the year. The Kaiserball and the Vienna New Year's Eve Path, which was held for the first time on New Year's Eve 1990, have resulted in high hotel occupancy in the days before and after the New Year.
Since December 31, 2012 the ball has been known as the “Hofburg Silvesterball”.