Austria
,Museums
,Vienna
Museums in Vienna: the Ultimate Guide
11/11/2024
Hi all! Vienna is the place to go if you like museums! This post will help you to start exploring the museums of Vienna and choose the most interesting ones.
A while ago, I wrote about Vienna so this post is like a continuation of that one and take you more into the details of what Vienna has to offer. When I lived in Vienna, I visited 16 museums. There would have been many many many more. I will mention some of them in the end, but of course, I will concentrate on those I know better (read: those I went to).
First, we will cover the museums I would recommend the most, then move on to the art museums and finish with the rest. After my instructions, you can find links to the museum’s page so you can find more about them if you want to. So let’s start!
The museums I would recommend to you the most
Sisi-Museum and Kaiserappartements
Empress Sisi is a legendary figure in Austrian history. Married to Emperor Frans-Joseph, she was a beauty icon with a mixed reputation in the media at her time. Her life ended when she was unexpectedly assassinated. Nowadays, she is remembered by TV series, souvenirs, two euro coins, and a museum in the Hofburg palace. This is the castle in the historical center and the former official residence of the imperial family.
The museum introduces you to the life of Sisi by showing items such as her beautiful dresses, accessories, and paintings of her. Everything is accompanied by an audio guide. The downside is that because of the audio guide visitors stand around listening and blocking the areas and corridors.
After the Sisi-Museum, there are the imperial apartments. I think this is the best part! The apartments include the actual rooms where Frans-Joseph and Sisi resided. You can see Frans-Joseph’s office (and a portrait of Sisi at his desk), Sisi’s dressing room/gym, and the empresses’ modern bathroom. At least in the 19th century standards. The museum feels very authentic and like a trip back in time. If you cannot choose which museum to visit in Vienna, I recommend this one. Even if you are not that interested in Sisi, you can still visit the Hofburg and see the fascinating imperial apartments.
More information can be found here.
Belvedere
Do you know the painting Kiss by Gustav Klimt? It is the most famous Austrian artwork and resides in the museum Belvedere. The museum exhibition includes works from the Middle Ages to the mid-20th century. Klimt’s paintings are the treasure of Belvedere, but you can also enjoy the works of other great painters such as Monet, Renoir, Van Goch, and another local boy from the early 1900s, Egon Schiele. Belvedere also has Franz Xaver Messerschmidt’s confusing Charakterköpfe-statues.
Belvedere is a Baroque palace so not only is the art gorgeous but the building as well. Also, the garden around is an amazing place to take a stroll. If you like art museums, Belvedere is a cool option. It is also another one I would recommend if you cannot choose where to go.
More about Belvedere here.
Art museums
Albertina
Even though Belvedere was in the most recommended section, my favourite art museum in Vienna is Albertina. Its permanent collection includes an impressive compilation of modern art. All my favorites (Monet, Toulouse-Lautrec…) and Picasso. In addition, they have always very nice temporary exhibitions. I visited Albertina when they had even more Monet! It was ah, so lovely! If you are ever in Vienna, check which exhibition they are hosting and visit Albertina!
Albertina is located in one of the wings of the Hofburg, near the Opera. Its balcony is an excellent place to take photos of the Opera house. Albertina is named after Empress Maria Theresa’s favourite daughter Maria Christina and her husband Prince Albert of Saxony, who started collecting art.
While researching this post, I discovered a new museum: Albertina Modern. I wonder how cool that must be! You can learn more about the museums here.
Kunsthistorisches Museum
Literally Art Historical Museum or Museum of Fine Art. THis museum is like Vienna’s version of the Louvre. The first floor has the Egyptian and Ancient collections so you can see some mummies and Greek vases. The second floor has the painting galleries. It includes works of famous painters such as Raphael, Brueghel, Caravaggio, and Rubens.
The Art Historical Museum is at the Maria-Theresian-Platz opposite its twin Natural History Museum. These massive museums were opened in the late 1800s by the emperor Franz Joseph. You can find out more about it here.
mumok
mumok or Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien is a modern art museum part of the Museumsquartier. Its collection includes modern and contemporary art and hosts temporary exhibitions.
I do not remember much about mumok except that I was pleasantly surprised. I prefer art from the late 1800s and early 1900s over more modern art, but this museum was interesting and well-organized. The temporary collection was cool, too. Here is more information.
Leopold Museum
Another art museum at the Museumsquestier. Leopold Museum specializes in modern Austrian art and has the largest collection of Egon Schiele. They also have a lot of Klimt. Even Klimt that does not look like Klimt!
I visited the Leopold Museum during the opening night of their Vienna in the first decade of the 20th century. Commonly, the opening nights are free, which was as nice as the exhibition itself.
More info here.
MAK
MAK a.k.a. Museum für angewandte Kunst a.k.a. in English Museum of Applied Art. It is a slightly different art museum. Instead of fancy paintings, there is art of everyday objects, including carpets, furniture, design items, and Klimt.
This MAK is near the Stubentor metro station. More about the museum here.
Other museums
Schloss Schönbrunn
One of the most famous sights in Vienna is the Schloss Schönbrunn. Back in the day, this Baroque palace was a summer residence of the imperial family. The Empress Maria Theresa was particularly fond of this palace and renovated it a lot.
If you read my Vienna recommendations post, you may remember that I proposed visiting the spectacular gardens of Schönbrunn. You can also visit inside the palace and see the gorgeously decorated rooms where Maria Theresa and her family lived. The Great Gallery and Millions Room are wonderful.
There are a couple of different tour options, which vary on the price and the number of rooms (40 or 27). They both include a great audio guide. If you want to visit Schönbrunn, you should book your tickets beforehand here. If you just go to the palace to wait in line to buy the tickets, you may not be able to get them for that day (this is what happened to me in spring 2019).
Naturhistorisches Museum
Museum of Natural History. Can you imagine what you can see in this one? The first floor has a lot of stones, dinosaur fossils, and more stones. The second one has fish in jars and mammals. Okay, it is actually more interesting and cooler than I made it sound! The fact that some of the items are quite old is also impressive. The treasure of the museum is the Venus Cabinet in the prehistory section.
The Natural History Museum is the twin of the Art History Museum at the Maria-Theresian-Platz. Here is more info.
Weltmuseum
World Museum is an anthropological museum housed in one of the wings of the Hofburg. It is probably one of my favourites in Vienna though I cannot but wonder if some items were stolen from their original cultures. I am thinking particularly about the gorgeous green Aztec feathered headpiece…
This museum shows items and photos of non-European cultures around the world such as Indigenous Latin American cultures and traditions of several Asian cultures. I remember particularly well the Japanese and Chinese sections. On top of that, everything was very well organized. As long as I do not have the opportunity to visit those countries, it was pleasurable to learn about them by visiting this museum.
More about here.
Globenmuseum (and Esperantomuseum)
The Globe Museum is surprisingly about – the globes. Beautifully decorated old terrestrial and celestial globes. So old globes that they do not have Americas on them! There are also globes of the moon and other planets, which was quite cool!
This museum is not very big but I enjoyed a lot seeing these beautiful items. It is in Palais Mollard on Herrengasse, near the Café Central and part of the Austrian National Library, which is also a place worth visiting.
Oh yeah, and together with the Globe Museum is the Esperanto Museum about the constructed language. It was just one room full of information about Esperanto.
Links to both museums: the Globe Museum and the Esperanto Museum.
Römermuseum
Did you know that about 2000 years ago, there was a Roman military camp called Vindobona located in the same place as the city center of Vienna nowadays? The Römermuseum will tell you all about it. Below the street level are the excavations of the actual Roman ruins. On the upper floors, you can find some artifacts and information about the Romans in Vienna.
It is quite a small museum and because of this, one of my favorites in Vienna. There were enough cool things to see (ruins, items, maps to compare the Roman camp to modern Vienna) but not too many so I had the motivation to read the signs properly and learn fully. Perfect!
More about the museum.
Jüdisches Museum
Jewish Museum Vienna covers the history of Viennese Jews. The permanent collections present the culture of the Jewish Community in Vienna through items and stories of the locals. All this is connected to the global history of the Jewish diaspora and the Jewish traditions. I visited the museum on a guided tour and learned a lot of new things about Jewish culture.
The permanent collections are accompanied by temporary ones, which offer more perspectives of Austrian Jewish culture. You can find more information here.
Filmmuseum
The film museum collection is presented on a silver screen. Thus, it may seem more like a cinema than a traditional museum. But because it has a museum in its name, I added it to this list. The museum’s impressive archives have tens of thousands of movies of all genres and from all eras of the cinema. The films are shown in the original form in the Invisible Cinema to create an authentic experience as possible.
The Filmmuseum is one of the cinemas where the International Film Festival Viennale takes place. The three movies I watched in the Filmmuseum were low-budget films from the 1940’s and part of the festival.
Technisches Museum
Technical Museum of Vienna is located quite near the Schönbrunn Palace. It presents a wide range of technology in different eras from everyday objects to transportation and communication technologies.
I visited this museum with the kindergarten where I was volunteering and we mainly spent time in the playing area. We walked just briefly through the exhibition so the only thing I can say about this museum is that it had gorgeous old trains and a cool playing area.
If you want to know more, here is a link.
Heeresgeschichtliches Museum
The last and yes, the least: the Museum of Military History. This is my least favourite in Vienna. It is too big and they do not have signs in English. At least not in 2019. Only thing I learned in this museum was that the word turquoise is connected to Turkey. My Turkish friend told me this while we walked through the exhibition about the Ottoman military campaign in Austria. The exhibition areas about World Wars were more interesting but yeah…
Maybe if you are more into military history and know about the subject in advance, you can enjoy more about this museum. But at least I have visited more interesting war museums.
However, here is their link as well.
List of museums in Vienna I did not visit:
- Mozarthaus (Mozart’s house in Vienna)
- Wiener Schatzkammer (Impreial Treasury of Vienna)
- Secession
- Sigmund Freud Museum
- Josephinum (Medical History Museum)
- Pathological-anatomical collection in the Narrenturm
- Wien Museum
- Bestattungsmuseum (Funeral Museum)
- Rauchfangkehrermuseum (Chimney Sweeper Museum)
I am most sad that I missed the last one. Maybe one day I will go back and visit there.
But that is all I can share you about the museums of Vienna. As you can see the range is wide and diverse. There is something for everybody! Hopefully, now after this post, you will not have problems choosing a museum that interests you!
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