The institute was founded in 1926 as the Centre de hautes études françaises à Vienne, or centre for higher French studies in Vienna. It was closed following the Anschluss of 1938 and throughout the Second World War. It re-opened on 10 November 1947 in the Palais Lobkowitz, which had previously been the French embassy. Since 1981, the institute has occupied the Palais Clam-Gallas, which was acquired by France from the Clam-Gallas family in 1952. Guillaume Rousson has been Director of the institute since September 2011.
