Vienna's Marvelous Museums Promise Variety
Find Austria Treasure Troves - from Classic to Quaint to Modern Art
Feb 25, 2009
Vienna’s museums are among the finest in the world. Whether they contain antiquities or avant garde art, they translate to hours of browsing pleasure. The half dozen museums below are internationally famous.
Historical Museum of the City of Vienna
One of the oldest museums in the city, the Historisches Museum der Stadt Wien, was founded in 1888 and moved to its present location in 1959. Displays on the ground floor are devoted to Neolithic period and tribal migrations. The exhibits of archeological excavations, of the construction of St. Stephen’s Cathedral and Models of Vienna in the 19th Century are also outstanding. (Karlsplatz 4; daily, 9 a.m. – 6 p.m., free admission Sundays)
Museum of Fine Arts
Built in 1891 to contain the imperial family’s extensive art collection, the Museum of Fine Arts most notable treasure is its fabulous collection of paintings by Pieter Breughels – largest in the world. The collection of European art is generally impressive, with works by Raphael, Rembrant and Rubens, Durer, Tintoretto, Titian, Vermeer and Velazquez hanging on its walls in ornate gilded frames. Sculpture, decorative arts and architectural pieces are also displayed in this vast repository. The “Art and Pleasure” Thursday evenings at the museum combine art, a buffet dinner and classical music (US$12.60, adults; open Tuesday-Sunday, 8 a.m. – 6 p.m., Thursday, 9 p.m.; Mariatheresien Platz 1).
Kunst Haus Wien (Vienna Art Museum)
The museum building, designed by Friedrich Hundertwasser as a “bastion against the dictatorship of the straight line, the ruler and T-square,” strikes traditionalists as downright bizarre. The lumpy façade is interrupted by irregular mosaics in an uneven black-and-white checkerboard pattern. The tile floors of the exhibition areas rise and fall unevenly. Colorful ceramic columns in a variety of shapes and sizes, unusual plant-filled urns in unusual places, a café with dozens of black chairs all of different design are only some of the museum’s out-of-the-ordinary elements. Paintings inside the museum are all by Hundertwasser. Most of them depict fanciful houses in a variety of equally fanciful locations(Untere Weissgerberstrasse 13; open daily, 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.; half-price admission Mondays).
MuseumQuartier
A light-filled limestone cube called the Leopold Museum and the basaltic lava-clad Ludwig Museum flank the inner courtyard of the MuseumQuartier, completed in 2001. One of the ten largest cultural centers in the world, the Quartier was a joint venture of the city of Vienna and Republic of Austria. Built on the site of the 18th Century imperial stables, the original brick buildings as well as a third new structure were incorporated into the project’s design.
Showcasing the best of 19th and 20th Century Austrian art on five exhibition levels, the Leopold displays major works by such artists as Gustav Klimt, Richard Gerstl and Koloman Moser as well as the world’s most important Egon Schiele collection, which includes his famous “Selbstbildnes mit Judenkirschen” (Self Portrait with Winter Cherries). Adult admission, US$12; open daily 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.; Friday to 9 p.m.)
The Ludwig, first building in Austria actually designed as a museum of modern art, houses a collection begun in 1958 when the museum was founded. That collection includes every genre from Jasper Johns’ “Target,” Pablo Picasso’s ”Seated Woman with Green Scarf” and Jackson Pollock’s “Number 7” to minimalist paintings such as Richard Serra’s “Mat/Remnant” US$10.50, adults; Tuesday-Sunday 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.; Thursday until 9 p.m.).
The museum also emphasizes three-dimensional art: Duane Hanson’s “Football Vignette” with its in-your-face realism, John Chamberlain’s “Trixie Dee” sculpture made from parts of wrecked cars and George Segal’s “Woman on a Restaurant Bench” stand out among its leading attention-attracting works of object and installation art.
Austrian Museum of Applied Arts
This is the place to go to see choice articles created during the Weiner Werkstatte years, 1903-1912. Werkstatte members included Klimt, Schiele, Josef Hoffman, Koloman Moser and a dozen other prominent artists. The distinctive style of the jewelry, fabrics for clothing, ceramics and furniture they created was characterized by simple shapes, minimal decoration and geometric patterning (Stubbening 5; adults, $10.50, open Tuesday – Sunday, 10 a.m. to various closing hours. Admission is free on Saturdays). People who plan to visit several museums can save money by purchasing combination tickets, such as the Kombi ticket that includes admission to the Leopold, Ludwig and Museum of Applied Arts.
And There are Many More
Among the most unusual of Vienna’s dozens of other museums are The Museum of Crime (2, Grosse Sperlgasse 24), Sigmund Freud Museum (9, Berggasse 19), Clock Museum of the City of Vienna (1, Schulhof 2) and Austrian Circus and Clown Museum (2, Karmelitergasse 9). Admission fees, hours and days open vary.
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