9 Architectural Buildings in Landstraße That You Shouldn't Miss

EXPERIENCE HUNDERTWASSER UP CLOSE: Art - Achitecture - Nature - Vision Two intriguing museums experiences await the visitors at the KUNST HAUS WIEN. The Museum Hundertwasser presents the world's biggest collection of Austrian exceptional artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928 -2000): his world famous paintings, fine art prints, tapestries and architectural designs. Here you can immerse yourself in his imaginative world of art inside and out - colorful walls and uneven floors in the interior, the artistic façade with tiles and color fields on the outside. "Tree tenants" grow from the windows, plants and flowers inhabit the rooftop and inner courtyard. In Vienna's first "green museum" one can sense Hundertwasser's visionary mind and experience his ecological engagement on site. Beyond that the KUNST HAUS WIEN is Vienna's premier house for photography exhibitions: changing exhibitions introduce the biggest names of photography to a wide audience.

The two Belvedere palaces were built in the early eighteenth century by the famous Baroque architect Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt to be used as the summer residence of Prince Eugene of Savoy (1663–1736). One of Europe’s most stunning Baroque landmarks, this ensemble – comprising the Upper and Lower Belvedere and an extensive garden – is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Today the Belvedere houses the greatest collection of Austrian art dating from the Middle Ages to the present day, complemented by the work of international artists such as Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, and Max Beckmann. Highlights from the holdings Vienna 1880–1914 are the world’s largest collection of Gustav Klimt’s paintings (including the famous golden Art Nouveau icons the Kiss (Lovers) and Judith) and works by Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka. Key works of French Impressionism and the greatest collection of Viennese Biedermeier art are further attractions on display at the Upper Belvedere.

Since the end of the 1990s, four teams of star architects have been working on converting four 112-year-old gasometers into a new urban complex. Vienna undertook a remodelling and revitalization of the protected monuments and in 1995 called for ideas for the new use of the structures. The chosen designs by the architects Jean Nouvel (Gasometer A), Coop Himmelblau (Gasometer B), Manfred Wehdorn (Gasometer C) and Wilhelm Holzbauer (Gasometer D) were completed between 1999 and 2001. Each gasometer was divided into several zones for living (apartments in the top), working (offices in the middle floors) and entertainment and shopping (shopping malls in the ground floors). The shopping mall levels in each gasometer are connected to the others by skybridges. The historic exterior wall of bricks was conserved. There are 615 modern appartements, an event hall holding 3.500 People, a cinemacenter, a shoppingmall, a student home, the viennas municipal archive, offices of telecommunication companies, a kindergarden, schools, medical and other facilities in the four gasometers. Visitors and experts can learn everything they always wanted to know about the new architecture of the gasometers, the history of the gas works and alternate uses (from location for James Bond movies to Gazometer rave events) at a guided tour.