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Quick answer
On Austrian site names, a Stift is a religious foundation: Stift Melk translates its own name as Melk Abbey, a Benedictine monastery since 1089, but Innsbruck's former Adeliges Damenstift was a foundation for noblewomen. A Schloss is a palace or residence such as Schloss Schönbrunn or Schloss Eggenberg. A Hofburg is a court residence and, in both Vienna and Innsbruck, a complex of many buildings run by more than one body, so a 'Hofburg' ticket covers only part of it. A Festung, as at Hohensalzburg, is a fortress. Dom, as in Domkirche St. Stephan, marks a cathedral church; Salzburg's DomQuartier is a museum route through the cathedral area, not the cathedral itself.
The short version
Austrian heritage sites tell you what they are in the first word of their name, but the English versions on tickets and signs do not translate those words consistently. This article reads each word from the way the operators, and for Schönbrunn the Austrian Commission for UNESCO, use it, rather than from a dictionary. Where the usage is XTOUR's own reading of those pages, it says so.
| Word | Example from an operator's own pages | What the example shows |
|---|---|---|
| Stift | Stift Melk (Melk Abbey) | A religious foundation; Melk is a Benedictine monastery |
| Schloss | Schloss Schönbrunn, Schloss Eggenberg | A palace or residence, not a fortress |
| Hofburg | Hofburg Wien, Hofburg Innsbruck | A court residence that is a complex of many buildings |
| Burg | Salzburger Burgen & Schlösser | Castles, named beside palaces in one operator's name |
| Festung | Festung Hohensalzburg | A fortress |
| Dom | Domkirche St. Stephan, DomQuartier | A cathedral church, and names built on it |
The table restates the sections below.
Stift: a religious foundation
The clearest example is Melk. The monastery's site carries the title "Stift Melk", its English pages call it "Melk Abbey", and its address line reads "Benediktinerstift Melk".[1] It says Benedictine monks have lived there without interruption since 1089, when the Babenberg margrave Leopold II gave the church and the fortress on the rock of Melk to the first abbot and his monks. The abbey's own history page makes a point a first-time visitor might need: from a distance it looks like a fortress, but its dome and towers mark it as "a sacral building and not a secular palace".[2]
A Stift is not always a monastery of monks. The Burghauptmannschaft's history of the Innsbruck Hofburg lists an "Adeliges Damenstift" (in XTOUR's translation, a foundation for noblewomen) whose abbess was Maria Elisabeth, sister of Emperor Joseph II, and a "Neues Stift" that now houses the theological university and the folk art museum. Parts of the Damenstift are now a restaurant called the Stiftskeller.[5] XTOUR's reading: on a sign, Stift points to a religious foundation and its buildings, and the English word chosen for it (abbey, monastery, foundation) depends on who wrote the sign.
Salzburg shows the related titles. The DomQuartier describes St Peter's as "the Benedictine monastery of St Peter" and, for its collections, "the Archabbey of St. Peter".[11][12] For Melk itself, see Melk Abbey by season.
Schloss: a palace or residence
A Schloss on these pages is a residence, built for living and representation rather than defence. The Austrian Commission for UNESCO calls Schloss Schönbrunn the Habsburg summer residence, and lists it with its gardens as one World Heritage site.[7] The Universalmuseum Joanneum calls Schloss Eggenberg in Graz "Eggenberg Palace", the residence of an imperial governor, and describes it as political architecture.[8] The Innsbruck history uses the word the same way: when the court's residence moved out of the Hofburg, it moved to "Schloss Ruhelust", and it calls Schönbrunn a "Residenzschloss", a residence palace.[5]
English renderings vary between "palace" and "castle" on different sites; XTOUR uses "palace" for a Schloss unless the operator's own English says otherwise. See Schönbrunn Palace tickets and tours and Graz old town and Schloss Eggenberg.
Hofburg: a court residence, and a complex
"Burg" alone suggests a castle, but a Hofburg on these pages is a court residence that grew into a complex of many buildings. The Burghauptmannschaft Österreich, which it describes as a subordinate office of the federal economy ministry entrusted with preserving the Republic's built heritage, lists the Vienna Hofburg as many parts: the Albertina, the Amalientrakt, the Augustinian church and monastery, the Burggarten, the Heldenplatz, the Leopoldine wing, the Michaelertrakt and others. It dates the Hofburg's construction to the middle of the 13th century on the property page; its home page speaks more loosely of a history of "more than 600 years".[4][3]
That is why a ticket that says "Hofburg" is never a ticket to all of it. The Sisi Museum's own site sells a day ticket covering the Sisi Museum and the Imperial Apartments, and warns about fake ticket websites, saying real Sisi Museum tickets are sold online only at imperialtickets.com.[6] The separately run parts are covered in the Vienna Hofburg guide.
Innsbruck has a Hofburg too. The Burghauptmannschaft calls it the central building of a residence complex that also includes the Hofkirche, the Silver Chapel, the Dom, the Hofgarten and the two Stift buildings above.[5] See Innsbruck's Golden Roof and Ambras Castle.
Burg and Festung: castle and fortress
Salzburg's fortress is "Festung Hohensalzburg" in German and "Fortress Hohensalzburg" in English on its operator's page. The operator says it has grown since the 11th century and covers 32,000 square metres, and offers its rooms for events "where prince archbishops once held court". The operator's name puts the two older words side by side: Salzburger Burgen & Schlösser, Salzburg's castles and palaces.[9] XTOUR's reading: Festung names the fortified function; Burg is the general word for a castle; Schloss, as above, is the residence. A single site can carry more than one of these over its history. See the Hohensalzburg Fortress visit.
Dom: the cathedral church
Vienna's cathedral calls itself "Domkirche St. Stephan" on its own site, and uses "Dom" and "Stephansdom" throughout; the Dombauhütte, the cathedral's own works department, has looked after the building since its foundation, the cathedral says. The site's departments include the Archdiocese of Vienna and the Dompfarre, the cathedral parish.[10] See St. Stephen's Cathedral: towers, catacombs and treasury.
Names built on "Dom" need care. Salzburg's DomQuartier is not a church: its operator describes a single museum tour, opened in 2014, through the state rooms of the prince-archbishops' Residenz, the Residenzgalerie (marked currently closed when XTOUR read the operator's site on 9 October 2026), the Cathedral Museum and the Museum of St Peter.[11][12] Its collections come from the state, the archdiocese and the Archabbey of St. Peter.[11] What the ticket covers is set out in the DomQuartier guide.
What XTOUR does not claim
XTOUR gives no etymologies and no dictionary definitions here; it reports how the operators use the words. Usage on Austrian signs is not uniform, and the same German word can appear in English as abbey, monastery, palace or castle depending on the site. XTOUR's Austrian places and destinations, including Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Graz and Melk, are reached from the Austria country page.
Sources & references
- [1]Stift Melk (stiftmelk.at), English home page: page title 'Stift Melk', text 'Melk Abbey'; Benedictine monks have lived and worked there in uninterrupted tradition since 1089; location in the Wachau World Heritage site. Read 2026-10-09
- [2]Stift Melk, 'History' page (English): a Baroque building on a granite rock over the Danube, 'visible from afar like a fortress', with the dome and towers making clear it is 'a sacral building and not a secular palace'; the Babenbergs' fortress at Melk, where Leopold II gave the church and fortress to the first Benedictine abbot Sigibold and his monks on 21 March 1089; footer 'Benediktinerstift Melk'. Read 2026-10-09
- [3]Burghauptmannschaft Österreich (burghauptmannschaft.at) home page, in German (translated by XTOUR): a subordinate office of the Federal Ministry for Economy, Energy and Tourism entrusted with preserving the built cultural heritage of the Republic of Austria; the Hofburg Wien 'looks back on a history of more than 600 years'; the Hofburg Innsbruck in the historic centre of Innsbruck. Read 2026-10-09
- [4]Burghauptmannschaft Österreich, 'Hofburg Wien' property page, in German (translated by XTOUR): since its construction in the middle of the 13th century the Hofburg has been constantly changing; listed parts include the Albertina, Amalientrakt, Augustinian church and monastery, Augustinertrakt, Burggarten, Corps de Logis, Festsaaltrakt (congress centre), Heldenplatz, Leopoldinischer Trakt and Michaelertrakt (first of two pages). Read 2026-10-09
- [5]Burghauptmannschaft Österreich, 'Geschichte der Hofburg Innsbruck', in German (translated by XTOUR): the Hofburg is the central building of a residence complex that includes the Adeliges Damenstift (parts now the Stiftskeller restaurant), the Silver Chapel, the Hofkirche, the Neues Stift (now the theological university and the folk art museum), the Dom, the Ballhaus (now Congress) and the Hofgarten; after Innsbruck lost its role as a residence city in 1665 the princely residence moved to Schloss Ruhelust; the Hofburg became the residence of Maria Elisabeth, who as abbess headed the neighbouring Damenstift; Maria Theresa sent Nicolaus Pacassi in 1767, who had shortly before remodelled Schloss Schönbrunn into a Rococo residence palace. Read 2026-10-09
- [6]Sisi Museum / Hofburg Vienna (hofburg-wien.at), English home page: day ticket covering the Sisi Museum and the Imperial Apartments, with fixed admission times; Sisi Pass covering Schönbrunn Palace, the Sisi Museum and Imperial Apartments, and the Vienna Furniture Museum; warning about fake ticket websites, with real Sisi Museum tickets 'sold online only at imperialtickets.com'; part of the Schönbrunn Group. Read 2026-10-09
- [7]Austrian Commission for UNESCO, 'Schloss und Gärten von Schönbrunn' World Heritage entry, in German (translated by XTOUR): the Habsburg summer residence Schloss Schönbrunn with its gardens, inscribed 1996. Read 2026-10-09
- [8]Universalmuseum Joanneum, Schloss Eggenberg, 'Princely Residence' page: Eggenberg Palace, the residence of Imperial Governor Hans Ulrich von Eggenberg, 'political architecture'; in 1625 he chose the site of the family seat of his great-grandfather for the new residence. Read 2026-10-09
- [9]Salzburger Burgen & Schlösser (salzburg-burgen.at), 'Fortress Hohensalzburg' page (title 'Fortress Hohensalzburg | Festung Hohensalzburg'): has grown since the 11th century, covering 32,000 m²; highlights include the Princes' Rooms and the Great Armoury; event rooms 'where prince archbishops once held court'; address Mönchsberg 34, Salzburg; copyright 'Salzburger Burgen & Schlösser'. Read 2026-10-09
- [10]Domkirche St. Stephan (stephanskirche.at), home page, in German (translated by XTOUR): the church names itself 'Domkirche St. Stephan' and uses 'Dom' and 'Stephansdom'; the Dombauhütte has worked on building and preserving it since its foundation; history since its foundation in the 12th century; departments include the Archdiocese of Vienna, the Dompfarre and the Dombauhütte; address Stephansplatz 3, 1010 Wien; content © Kirchenmeisteramt. Read 2026-10-09
- [11]DomQuartier Salzburg (domquartier.at), 'The institutions in the DomQuartier Salzburg': the state rooms of the Residenz were the residence and official residence of the prince archbishops; the Residenzgalerie on the 3rd floor of the former prince-archbishop's residence; the Cathedral Museum presents treasures from the collections of the state, the archdiocese of Salzburg and the Archabbey of St. Peter; the Museum St. Peter in the Wallis Wing. Read 2026-10-09
- [12]DomQuartier Salzburg (domquartier.at), English home page: 'For the first time in 200 years, the Residence and Cathedral area – including the Benedictine monastery of St Peter – can once again be experienced in a coherent tour'; the DomQuartier opened in 2014; lists the state rooms of the Residenz, the Residenzgalerie Salzburg '(currently closed)', the Museum St. Peter and the Cathedral Museum. Read 2026-10-09
Frequently asked questions
Good to know
Is a Stift always a monastery?
Not on the pages XTOUR read. Stift Melk is a Benedictine monastery, and calls itself Melk Abbey in English. But the Burghauptmannschaft's history of the Innsbruck Hofburg lists an Adeliges Damenstift, a foundation for noblewomen whose abbess, it says, was Maria Elisabeth, and a Neues Stift that now houses the theological university and the folk art museum. XTOUR does not give a dictionary definition.
Is the Hofburg one museum?
No. The Burghauptmannschaft Österreich, which looks after the Vienna Hofburg as part of the Republic's built heritage, lists it as a group of buildings and spaces including the Albertina, the Augustinian church and monastery, the Burggarten and the Heldenplatz. The Sisi Museum's own site sells a day ticket that covers the Sisi Museum and the Imperial Apartments, which is one part of the complex.