Museums and Art Galleries in Vienna

One of the most ambitious construction projects in Vienna in recent years, the city's Museum Quarter (Museumsquartier) centers around the former Imperial Stables in Maria-Theresien-Platz and encompasses a number of the city's most important museums.

The Natural History Museum of Vienna (Naturhistorisches Museum Wien) was designed at the same time as the Kunsthistorisches Museum, which stands directly opposite. Its 39 galleries form the country's most important natural history collection. Founded in 1765 by Francis I, the consort of Maria Theresa, its exhibits have been on show in the same building since 1889.

Centered upon artifacts found by Austrian archaeologists excavating on the coast of Asia Minor, the Ephesos Museum in the Hofburg's New Palace contains numerous interesting statues, reliefs, and bronzes from this ancient trading city.

Emperor Franz Joseph laid the foundation stone of Vienna's new Technical Museum (Technisches Museum Wien) in 1908, and by the time it opened in 1918, it was home to a substantial collection of technological innovations. Today, its collections provide a cross-section of the development of technology, commerce, and industry, with special reference to Austria's contribution to these fields.

An amalgamation of museums dealing with the city's rich history, the Vienna Museum (Wien Museum) dates back to 1888 when it was founded as the repository of artifacts and documents considered of historical importance.

The Austrian National Library (Österreichische Nationalbibliothek), housed in a commanding Baroque building from 1726, is almost as stunning on the outside as it is inside (almost, but not quite). Exterior highlights include a group of statues depicting the goddess Minerva with her chariot drawn by four steeds, while inside it's all about the spectacular frescoes.

Vienna's Albertina art gallery possesses 65,000 drawings and watercolors, a million printed sheets of graphic material covering a period of 500 years, and 35,000 books, making it the world's most comprehensive collection of graphic material.

Art treasures fill the rooms and salons of the Hofburg, the imperial palace of the Hapsburg court. Along with paintings, artworks on display include rare decorative works in porcelain, crystal, textiles, furniture, silver, and other precious metals, which are distributed throughout the place.

Located within beautiful Belvedere Palace, Österreichische Galerie Belvedere (Austrian Gallery Belvedere) is one of Vienna's leading collections of paintings. Highlights include numerous masterpieces from the Middle Ages and Baroque periods to the modern day.

The Museum of Art History (Kunsthistorisches Museum), its mighty dome crowned by a bronze figure of Pallas Athene, houses one of the most important art collections in the world. Housed in its current palatial facility since 1891, the gallery's primary exhibits include its Egyptian-Oriental Collection, the Collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities, the Sculpture and Decorative Arts Collection, the Collection of Coins and, of course, its extensive collection of paintings.