Charles VI

At the beginning of the 18th century the Habsburgs lost their Spanish possessions in the War of the Spanish Succession to the French Bourbon dynasty. Charles VI (1685/1711-1740), who had spent his boyhood in Spain, returned to Vienna as emperor and extended the Vienna Hofburg in the Baroque style. Besides the National Library and the Winter Riding School (home to the Spanish Riding School's Lipizzan stallions), his reign also saw the building of the Imperial Chancellery Wing, which contains part of the Imperial Apartments.