For a long time, one of Lobmeyr’s most important customers—if not the most important—was the imperial family and their residence in Vienna, the Hofburg; after all, as of 1860 the company bore the name “J. & L. Lobmeyr. Imperial and Royal Court Glazier and Purveyor of Glassware”. Chandeliers and exclusive drinking sets, often in large numbers, were delivered to the Hofburg with regularity.

The Lobmeyr chandeliers for the Redoutensäle, the Hofburg’s impressive ballroom and concert halls, were the first electric chandeliers to be hung in a palace in Europe. The back story: In 1883, the International Electrical Exhibition was held in the exhibition halls of the Vienna World’s Fair (1873). After visiting it, Emperor Franz Joseph wished for the annual court ball for the high nobility, held in the Hofburg, to take place under the light of electric chandeliers, and subsequently commissioned Lobmeyr to develop the idea. The chandeliers for the Redoutensäle were then developed together with the Edison Illuminating Company and designed by Ludwig Lobmeyr. After the new chandeliers were installed, Le Figaro wrote of the grand event: “The ballroom radiated with over 500 incandescent lights.”

However, not only the Redoutensäle are equipped with Lobmeyr chandeliers; several other of the Hofburg’s countless halls and rooms also have Lobmeyr chandeliers, most of them in a historicist or baroque style. Today, large parts of the Hofburg are used for an international congress and event centre, bringing the historic ballrooms and the unique ambience of the former imperial residence together with modern glass architecture and state-of-the-art technology. Up to 320 events now take place every year in the venue where monarchs once held audiences and Empress Maria Theresa resided.