Fire Heavily Damages Vienna’s Historic Hofburg Palace : Austria: Room used for arms control talks is destroyed. Lipizzaner horses next door are evacuated.

Flames reaching four stories high swept through frescoed chambers of the Hofburg Palace early Friday and smoke from the roaring blaze forced evacuation of the famed white Lipizzaner horses from the Spanish Riding School.

The fire was thought to be the worst in the history of the central Vienna landmark dating back to the 13th Century. Initial estimates put the damage as high as $90 million.

Once home to the Hapsburg emperors who ruled Austria-Hungary until World War I, the lavish, cream-colored palace continued to smolder throughout the day even after more than 300 firefighters had brought the flames under control shortly after sunrise.

Soot and cinders littered the streets and rooftops in the heart of the Austrian capital and a wet-campfire smell hung heavily over the city.

It was the second major fire in a week to inflict severe damage on a European palace and treasured tourist site. Another spectacular blaze consumed a wing of England’s Windsor Castle just a week ago.

The Hofburg fire is believed to have broken out late Thursday, but the first alarms were sounded only at 1 a.m. Friday when smoke detectors were set off in the adjacent National Library and Schatzkammer, the treasure room that houses priceless Hapsburg heirlooms.

When smoke engulfed the Lipizzaner stables next to the ruined wing, attendants aided by concerned local residents led 69 horses to safety in a nearby park. The famed white horses, warmed by woolen blankets, ambled around a marble fountain while waiting for their stalls to be cleared of the acrid smoke.

The Redoutensaal conference room, a frequent venue for international arms control talks, was destroyed in the blaze, as were surrounding chambers used as ballrooms during the palace’s imperial heyday.

The opulent Redoutensaal was built in the 18th Century by Empress Maria Theresa.

Firefighters managed to avert major damage to the vaulted National Library and its collection of 192,000 rare books, as well as to the Schatzkammer, where the Hapsburg crown jewels are displayed.

Police cadets and library employees, summoned to the palace in a radio appeal, removed more than 10,000 books and artworks before firefighters declared the repositories out of danger.

The Hofburg houses the offices of Austrian President Thomas Klestil and Chancellor Franz Vranitzky, but they are far removed from the damaged wing of the sprawling palace.

“This is a very depressing sight,” Vranitzky told Austrian Radio. “The whole tract was recently renovated and was one of the prominent jewels of our city. Luckily, nobody was hurt. We’ll just have to renovate it again.”

Friedrich Perner, who directed the firefighting that drew in volunteers from throughout eastern Austria, told journalists at the scene that the fire probably started in the Redoutensaal, on which renovation work had just been completed.

Economics Ministry spokesman Wilhelm Kranzlmayr said the palace is not insured against fire because its priceless contents made the premiums too high. The government will pay the costs of restoration, the ministry said.