Museum of Art History in Vienna

Kunsthistorisches Museum - The Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna or Museum of Art History in Vienna - It can be called one of the leading museums in the world, whose rich funds include exhibits of seven millennia - from ancient Egypt to the end of the 18th century.

The main building of the museum

The funds of the museum are so vast that it is impossible to place them under one roof. The main building of the museum on Ringstrasse houses an art gallery, a collection of Greek and Roman antiquities, an Egyptian and Middle Eastern collection, a collection of coins and the Kunstkamera. Other collections of the Kunsthistorisches Museum are in Neue Burg (a collection of historical musical instruments, a collection of weapons and armor and the Museum of Ephesus), in the Hofburg (Treasury) and in the Schönbrunn Palace (a collection of old carriages). In 2001, the Heldenplatz Museum of Ethnology and the Austrian Theater Museum on Lobkowicz Square were included in the Kunsthistorisches Museum.

The construction of the main museum building on the Ringstrasse began in 1857 with the goal of demonstrating the rich imperial collection of the Habsburg dynasty. Three renowned Viennese architects were invited to design the building, each of whom proposed his own design. But the jury could not choose a winner and invited the architect Gottfried Semper, world famous for his museum projects, for the final decision. He finalized one of the projects owned by the architect Karl von Asenauer, giving the future museum the appearance of an ancient Roman forum (Semper’s idea involved the construction of two symmetrical buildings) and in 1871 the construction of the museum began. The museum opened in 1891.

The Egyptian and Middle Eastern collection of the museum brought together more than 17,000 objects and almost 4,500 years of the history of Ancient Egypt, from its inception to the Christian era.

The collection of classical antiquities covers the period of three millennia, starting from the Bronze Age to BC. In the permanent exhibition you can see more than 2500 objects: the art of ancient Cyprus and Mycenae, Greek ceramics, ancient Roman portraits, statues and jewelry, the art of late antiquity and the period of early Christianity.

The collection of the Habsburg dynasty formed the basis of the richest art gallery of the Vienna Museum of the History of Art. The foundation of the collection was laid in the 17th century, originally it included 16th-century Venetian painting (Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto) and 17th-century Flemish painting (Peter Paul Rubens, Antonio van Dyck), early Dutch painting (Jan en Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden) and the German Renaissance (Albrecht Durer, Lucas Cranach). Among other attractions - a unique collection of paintings by Peter Bruegel the Elder, the masterpieces of Vermeer, Rembrandt, Rafael, Caravaggio, Velazquez and other painters of Italian Baroque.

Art Gallery Museum Art Gallery

The Kunstkamera of the Kunsthistorisches Museum has perhaps the most important collection of its kind in the world. It houses an amazing collection of stone and ivory, bronze, wooden and stone sculptures, watches, tapestries, furniture and more. The collection includes items belonging to five generations of the ruling Habsburg dynasty.

The coin collection is one of the five largest in the world and contains more than 600,000 objects. The museum’s library contains incunabula (the first printed books published before January 1, 1501), manuscripts, maps and prints of historical and artistic value. A collection of historical musical instruments dating back to the Renaissance and Baroque period is incredibly popular. All the instruments are in working order, and if you are lucky, you can hear how the instruments, the peers of Mozart and Paganini, sounded exactly. No less impressive is the world’s best collection of armor. Not a single European ruling family had as many kinship ties with other countries as the Habsburgs. Since the 15th century, almost all princes and ruling dynasties of Europe have regularly presented armor and decorative weapons to Vienna. This unique collection is presented today at the Kunsthistorisches Museum.

A tour of the Vienna Museum of the History of Art takes almost the entire day. The museum complex has recreation areas and cafes where you can have a bite to eat between collections reviews. For one ticket you can visit the exposition in the main building and in Neue Burg, a combined ticket to several museums is cheaper than to each individually. Audio guide services are also available in Russian.