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10 Specialty Museums in Inner City That You Shouldn't Miss
In Vienna, the coffee house isn’t just a hangout: it’s an institution. Lingering over a newspaper with a pastry and a strong espresso drink is, according to UNESCO, officially a Viennese cultural pastime. Walk off your slice of Sachertorte with a self-guided tour of the city’s stunning traditional, Secessionist, and modern architecture, such as the Imperial Palace, the State Opera House, the Kirche am Steinhof, or the Kunsthistorisches Museum, an exercise in ornate geometry.
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1. The Hofburg
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 12,521 reviews
For centuries the Vienna Hofburg was the centre of the Habsburg empire. Today the palace houses three museums which afford historically authentic insights into the traditions and everyday life of the imperial court: The Imperial Apartments with their original furnishings and decoration, the Sisi Museum with its sensitive staging of the empress' life, and the Imperial Silver Collection which contains a comprehensive range of tableware and other utensils used at the imperial court.
Reviewed By GoalieMarty - Ottawa, Canada
We took the Hofburg Vienna ticket which includes the Silver Collection, the Sisi Museum, and the Imperial Apartments with an included audio guide. We bought our tickets on the spot and did not even wait one minute in line. Not sure if it's always like that though. The visit starts with the Silver Collection. Lots and lots of everything you can possibly find on a table. For me, it was nice to see but I got a little bored at the end because I found there was too much and it gets somewhat overwhelming. The audio guide is also a bit dry in my opinion. "Exhibit 24: This silverware collection was designed by Italian master Giovanni Macaroni in 1829 for the visit of King Stradivarius IV who spent 2 weeks at the palace with his court, and bla-bla-bla ...". You get the idea. If you want to save time, I would suggest you skip the dishes. Or at least, don't listen to everything in the audio guide. The visit continues with the Sisi Museum which I found really interesting because it's about her life and all the people in it. Really well made and really well presented. The audio guide is also much more interesting this time around. The Imperial Apartments, the last third of the visit, are truly magnificent. You can feel the opulence and the wealth of this family. The audio guide is again very informative. Both the museum and the apartments are worth spending a little more time in there to take it all in. Overall, we really enjoyed our visit of the Imperial Palace. We also visited Schönbrunn Palace and based on our experience, I would recommend the following. If you want to visit both, start with the Imperial Palace first as Schönbrunn is even more grandiose. If you only have time for one, I would recommend Schönbrunn.
2. Dialog im Dunkeln
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 48 reviews
3. MAK - Austrian Museum of Applied Arts/Contemporary Art
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 561 reviews
Discover the fascinating era of “VIENNA 1900” in the grand museum building on Vienna’s Ringstraße with art nouveau masterpieces of the Wiener Werkstätte by Gustav Klimt, Josef Hoffmann, or Koloman Moser. Inaugurated in 1871, the building by Heinrich von Ferstel is one of the grandest works of architecture on Vienna’s Ringstraße. Today the MAK, originally founded as the “Imperial Royal Austrian Museum of Art and Industry”, accommodates a unique collection of precious art and craftwork from the fields of furniture, glass, porcelain, silver, and textiles from the middle ages to today. With more than 1 million objects and printed works it is one of the most important museums of its kind in the world. The spacious exhibition rooms were designed by contemporary artists and show selected highlights of the MAK Collection as well as temporary exhibitions in the field of design, art and architecture.
Reviewed By SusanWms - Santa Fe, United States
This museum has a magnificent collection of objects from the mid-19th century forward (when the school was founded). The collections are mainly organized typologically/chronologically, e.g. chairs, tables, glass table wares, porcelain, silver, textiles, etc., but there was a major interpretive exhibit running while we were there—“Vienna 1900.” Vienna was a hotbed of reformist ideas about decorative and applied eta—resulting in the Wiener Werkstadt and the Vienna Secessionist movement. Labels are clear and each gallery has a booklet with English translations of object labels. We spent three hour happily perusing the collections and then retreated to the excellent gift shop featuring a well-curated assortment of well-designed goods.
4. Hofjagd- und Rustkammer
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 46 reviews
The Imperial Armoury is located in the second floor of the Weltmuseum Wien. It is packed full of magnificent suits of armour and decorative weapons that attest to chivalric values and important occasions at court and it is accessible via the gallery of the breathtaking Hall of Columns.
Reviewed By stevebG6121BX - London, United Kingdom
My wife and myself visited the Welt Museum this morning primarily - as my wife hails from New Zealand - to see the Captain Cook Collection. Whilst this was most enjoyable, the Armoury Collection - which must be one of the world’s most extensive - proved equally so. As such, for any enthusiast it is undoubtedly a must see!
5. Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 9,709 reviews
Experience one of the world's foremost museums! Let yourself be enchanted by works spanning five millennia, from Ancient Egypt to the modern era. Experience unique major works by Dürer, Raphael, Titian and Velázquez as well as the world's largest collection of Bruegel paintings, all in a magnificent setting. The Kunstkammer Vienna, featuring the famous Saliera by Benvenuto Cellini, is a veritable universe of art and beauty guaranteed to transform any visit into an unforgettable experience. Included in the ticket are the collections at the Neue Burg on the opposite side of Vienna's Ringstrasse. Here you will see the instruments used by the great composers and be transported back to chivalrous times when knights held sway and tourneys and hunting shaped courtly life.
Reviewed By Ina5555 - Kyiv (Kiev), Ukraine
The museum was the main goal of my Vienna visit, but I never expected it to be such an excellent introduction into the city and palaces sculptures' motifs as well, underscoring how much power was assigned back then to the art as a means of ideological visual education. Having spent 1,5 days in the museum I have made plenty of personal discoveries and enjoyed new for me artworks (e.g. unexpected parallel to the modern popular mass culture is a 1524 'Arya Stark' self-portrait bearing uncanny resemblance, in fact Parmigianino's enchanting masterpiece). The discoveries haven't stopped after the museum visit ended, because the next day during sightseeing I realized I recognize many of the city and its palaces sculptures' motifs and whatever I used to know about the big name old masters the most influential of them in Vienna must be Luca Giordano's The Fall of the Rebel Angels, whenever I saw its impressive replicated Laocoon-like convulsion-wriggled figures conveying the ideals of Counter-Reformation to the empire subjects on the city streets. Just walking the city you can recognize in the city sculptures' many familiar motifs, not only Biblical but antique as well (Hercules lifting Antaeus, Amazons, etc). Practicalities of the museum visit: the air-conditioning wasn't felt at all in the big inner rooms with Roman numerals, I slightly felt it in the small outer rooms with Arabic numerals (as of 14th and 15th of July). Six or seven rooms were entirely closed for reconstruction during my two-day visit. For lockers you need either a 1 or 2 euro coin, but there's a manned storage facility as well. Backpacks have to be left in a locker, normal shoulder bags are OK. Photo of the permanent exhibition without a flash is allowed. Temporary exhibition: Yan van Eyck "Als Ich Can". Probably I somehow unfortunately missed it. In the room dedicated to the special exhibition (0.5 floor, the same floor as the Kunstkammer, Egyptian and Antique collections - beware indeed almost no English translations of the exhibits, an audio guide cannot make up for all of them; the Egyptian rooms maintain specific humidity level) I saw only few works by the painter, and few works by his contemporaries like Rogier van der Weyden. The museum building (as well as the whole square) is a stunning art object in its own right, specifically built to showcase the Habsburg art treasuries, its highlights are covered by audio guide, including Klimt, Munkacsy contributions. Seeing the interiors I couldn't help but felt as the Mask film protagonist having to recover my awestruck jaw from the floor. Really a mind-boggling shrine of a high art which symbols and messages are probably half-obscure nowadays.
6. Collection of Old Musical Instruments
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 53 reviews
The Collection of Historic Musical Instruments is home to the most important collection of renaissance and baroque instruments worldwide. Furthermore, the museum keeps, maintains and presents numerous instruments that were played by famous musicians and composers. The collection includes a particularly comprehensive range of clavichords and Viennese fortepianos. The world of sound in which the composers of Viennese Classicism lived can be heard and understood here in a nearly complete fashion. The holdings of the collection have their origins in Habsburg holdings; they have since been continually expanded via purchases, gifts and loans. The Matinees of the Collection of Historic Musical Instruments give visitors the opportunity to both see and hear the instruments, insofar as their condition allows them to be played.
Reviewed By 476jael - Long Island, United States
This museum is our favorite museum in Vienna, and visiting this museum is also an excellent way to admire the beautiful state rooms and hallways of the majestic palace building. When we visited this museum last September, we entered the palace building through the main entrance behind the statue of Prince Eugene of Savoy on his horse. Upon entering the palace building, we turned right, and walked up some steps to the room with transparent glass doors where we bought the museum admission tickets and picked up audio tape player. We then walked up to the musical instruments rooms. There was a lift (elevator) near the ticket counter for those who needed it. In the Collection of Historic Musical Instruments rooms, precious musical instruments, including the collections from Renaissance period and those instruments played by W.A. Mozart, Franz Liszt, Gustav Mahler and Clara Schumann were on display. Visitors could use interactive terminals for additional information, and they could also play some of the playable copies of the historical instruments. The museum’s armor collections in the rooms and the hallway were also very impressive. The museum was connected to the display rooms for collections from Ephesos and Ethnology. But we spent about 2 hours in the display areas of historical musical instruments and armors this time. This museum, along with Kunsthistorische Museum, are must-visit palace museums in Vienna.
7. Globe Museum of the Austrian National Library
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 185 reviews
All about the globe! The Globe Museum of the Austrian National Library in the magnificent setting of Palais Mollard is unique in the world. Discover over 250 exhibits involving a total of 750 objects in the exhibition area – including exclusive terrestrial and celestial globes, globes of the moon and other planets as well as numerous astronomical instruments.
Reviewed By Y0rkshirewalker - Leven, United Kingdom
We visited this museum using our Vienna Pass. What a fascinating place. Never knew there were so many different globes. Also we were the only people there in a very busy city.
8. Bank Austria Kunstforum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 74 reviews
The Bank Austria Kunstforum is the top address for art lovers, especially for classical modern painting of the post-war years. Every year, 250,000 people visit the temporary exhibitions held in this private institution, shows that are unique across the globe. Leading museums present their works here as well as private collectors. Whether van Gogh or Miro, Kandinsky or Chagall, Warhol or Lichtenstein, the great names of art are united here. Since 2000, there have also been exhibitions devoted to contemporary artists.
9. Liechtenstein City Palace
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 57 reviews
Reviewed By phillipr731 - Shipley, United Kingdom
This was the most perfect evening concert when visited for a private evening concert.couldn'thave been improved,great opera singer and ballet dancers with a great orchestra! A once in a lifetime experience
