The 2008 European Semantic Technology Conference will be hosted at the Palais Niederösterreich in Vienna , Austria . This venue is located in central Vienna , with easy access to local transportation links to and from any part of the city via Vienna 's U-Bahn (underground).

It is located at:

Palais Niederösterreich, Altes Landhaus,
Herrengasse 13, A-1010 Wien , Austria

History of the Palais Niederösterreich

The Palais was originally the home of the so-called “estates,” the political representatives of the upper classes, knights, prelates, and towns. The estates were the precursors of the Lower Austrian Parliament. The estates acquired the Landhaus in 1513 in order to be near the reigning prince and to hold assemblies in Vienna . Precious interiors such as those at the Landhauskapelle and the Gotisches Zimmer have been preserved from this late Gothic building.

The Großer Saal, and its vault were erected in the middle of the 16 th century. This conference hall was built in Renaissance style and decorated in the Baroque period with precious frescos that symbolise glory and honour. In the 18 th and 19 th centuries, the large Landhaussaal was a very popular ballroom and concert hall, where many important performances took place.

In 1861, the Lower Austrian Provincial Parliament took over the building from the estates, after this representative body of the people ceased to exist in the revolution of 1848.

On 21 October 1918, the Provincial National Assembly of the independent Austrian was constituted in the Landhaus after the end of the First World War.

The Landhaus was used by the representatives of the people of Vienna and Lower Austria up to the year 1921. The Landhaus has belonged to the Lower Austrian Provincial Parliament since 1 January, 1922, when Lower Austria gained independence from Vienna.

In 1997, the Lower Austrian Parliament moved to the new political capital in St. Pölten. Between 2002 and 2004, the Landhaus was lovingly renovated and restored following guidelines for the protection of historical monuments.

All of the information on this page about the venue and more is available at the venue's website: http://www.palais-niederoesterreich.at