Burgtheater

The Burgtheater has plenty of laurels to rest on, but the programme is kept innovative and open-minded, saving the place from descending into plodding nostalgia. Curious travellers don't have to shell out for a performance, as guided tours are available all year round. As you'd expect from the top theatre of the Habsburg Empire, it's a sumptuous affair - actors who trod the boards here a hundred years back enjoyed a celebrity status akin to today's Hollywood stars. All the same, the building suffered some heavy blows in the dying days of World War II and extensive reconstruction work had to be carried out in the fifties.