natural history museum vienna opening hours

Natural history museum vienna opening hours series#

The idea of constructing a tower up to heaven seems a hopeless task.The construction methods depicted (cranes, scaffolds, etc.) are those that would have been used in Brueghel’s day, but you’ll see that he’s used a mix of ancient and romanesque architectural elements.The design of the tower was inspired by the Colosseum, but you’ll notice that the inner steps go up to the centre, rather than down into the middle, because it’s a tower not an arena.(Genesis 11: 4–9 NIV)” Brueghel sets the story in his homeland of the Netherlands, so the tower is depicted in a typical landscape of drained wetlands (known as polder) and the people are wearing Dutch dress. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

That is why it was called Babel – because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. The subject of the painting is the Tower of Babel as referenced in the Book of Genesis: “Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.The main staircase also houses a sculpture entitled ‘Theseus and the Centaur’ by Antonio Canova from 1810–1819 which was commissioned by Napoleon and later acquired by Austrian emperor Francis I.

Natural history museum vienna opening hours series#

The murals depict a series of stunning male and female figures and pay tribute to the important periods of art history represented in the museum’s own collections. If you like your art a bit more modern, I’d recommend you head for the main staircase where you will find a series of murals created by Gustav Klimt, his brother Ernst Klimt and friend Franz Matsch, known collectively as the ‘Company of Artists’. (Yes, you read that correctly!) The collection spans three millennia and includes coins, medallions, paper money and stock certificates. The picture gallery, just like the Egyptian collection, is one of the most important of its kind in the world, showcasing centuries of work by the great Italian artists, including Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto, Raphael and Caravaggio, and northern European artists such as Pieter Bruegel the Elder, van Eyck, von der Weyden, Rubens, van Dyck, Vermeer, Rembrandt, Dürer and Cranach.įinally, we come to the coin collection, which is one of the five largest in the world with more than 600,000 pieces. Giuseppe Arcimboldo, “Summer” (1563), limewood, 67 × 50.8 cm, + “Fire” (1566), limewood, 66.5 × 51 cm, Kunstmuseum/Art History Museum, Vienna These exquisite works of art crafted from some of the world’s most precious materials really are very impressive. At first glance, you might not think it’s for you, but I’d recommend giving it a go. The Kunstkammer is a collection of gold pieces, ivory and wood sculptures, and miniatures. Around 2500 objects are currently on display in the exhibition (with many more stored in the archives).

Next up is the collection of antiquities which spans three millennia, from the Bronze Age to the Early Middle Ages. The collection covers 4500 years of ancient Egyptian history and is organised into different periods and themes, including funerary cult, cultural history and the development of writing. There are five main collections, which I’ll quickly introduce now: Art History Museum Viennaįirst up is the Egyptian collection which has more than 17,000 exhibits, making it one of the most significant collections of its kind in the world.

The whole museum is spread across two floors and 88 rooms. Plus, if you’ve not yet discovered the astonishing ivory sculptures by the unnamed Master of the Furies, you’re in for a real treat. This exceptional collection includes works by many of the great artists – from many different periods, movements and styles – all housed in a stunning 19th century building with wonderful painted ceilings and exquisitely decorated staircases and rooms.Īt the KHM you won’t just find one beautifully decorated sarcophagus or one Ancient Egyptian death mask… You’ll find five, six or even seven of them!Īnd if one work by Rubens is enough to put a smile on your face, you’ll be in seventh heaven, because the KHM has more than 30! Paris has the Louvre, Madrid the Prado, Rome the Vatican Museums… and Vienna has the Kunsthistorisches Museum (or KHM for short).