The Vienna Hofburg developed over a period of 8 centuries as the main residence of the Habsburgs, a family from the area between the upper Rhine and the Alps with mythical origins that went back to the Trojans via the Carolingians and the Merovingians. The election of Count Rudolf IV as Roman-German King in 1273 would mark the beginning of the long history of the dynasty as the rulers of Austria. The oldest part of the Hofburg, featuring distinctive Gothic elements, dates from the 13th century and was constructed by the last of the Babenbergers, the predecessors of the Habsburgs. It is known as the Schweizerhof, meaning the Swiss Court, and its most prominent feature is the famous red-black Swiss Gate. The court owes its name to a period during Maria Theresa’s reign when a guard of 250 to 450 Swiss soldiers guarded the Hofburg. The appointment of Swiss guards was quite common in European courts and although they stayed here in Vienna only for a brief period of 20 years, they left behind them an enduring legacy.