MUSEUMS OF VIENNA
Vienna owes its vast selection of masterpieces to the acquisitive Habsburgs and to the city’s own crop of art schools and world-class artists. An exhaustive list is impossible to include here, but the tourist office’s free Museums brochure lists all opening hours and admission prices. All museums run by the city of Vienna are free on Friday before noon (except on public holidays). If you’re going to be in town for a while, invest in the Museum Card (ask at any museum ticket window).
OSTERREICHISCHE GALERIE (AUSTRIAN GALLERY). The Upper Belvedere houses European art of the 19th and 20th centuries, including Klimt’s The Kiss. The Lower Belvedere contains the Austrian Museum of Baroque Art and the Austrian
Museum of Medieval Art, which showcase an extensive collection of sculptures and altarpieces. (Ill, Prinz-Eugen-Str. 27, in the Belvedere Palace behind Schwarzenbergpl. Walk up from the Sudbahnhof, then take tram D to SchloB Belvedere or tram #71 to Unteres Belvedere. Both Belvederes open Tu-Su 10am-6pm. ‚7.50, students ‚5.)
KUNSTHIST0RISCHES MUSEUM (MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS). The world’s 4th- largest art collection features Venetian and Flemish paintings, Classical art, and an Egyptian burial chamber. The Ephesos Museum exhibits findings of excavations in Turkey, the Hofjagd- und Rustkammer is the 2nd-largest collection of arms in the world, and the Sammlung alter Musikinstrumente includes Beethoven’s harpsichord and Mozart’s piano. (U2: Museumsquartier. Across from the Burgring and Heldenpl. on Maria Theresia’s right. Open Su and Tu-Sa 10am-6pm. ‚9, students ‚6.50.1st audio guide free.)
MUSEUMSQUARTIER. At 60 sq. km, it’s one of the ten biggest art districts in the world. Central Europe’s largest collection of modem art, the H Museum Moderner Kunst, highlights Classical Modernism, Pop Art, Photo Realism, Fluxus, and Viennese Actionism in a building made from basalt lava. 20th-century masters include Kandinsky, Klee, Magritte, Miro, Motherwell, Picasso, Pollock, and War hol. (Open Su, Tu-W, and F-Sa 10am-7pm; Tu 10am-7pm; Th 10am-9pm. ‚8, students ‚6.50.) The Leopold Museum has the world’s largest Schiele collection, plus works by Egger-Lienz, Gerstl, Klimt, and Kokoschka. (Open M, W-Th, and Sa-Su 10am-7pm, F 10am-9pm; ‚9, students ‚5.50.) Themed exhibits of contemporary artists fill Kunst- halle Wien. (Open M-W and F-Su 10am-7pm, Th lOam-lOpm. Exhibition Hall 1 ‚6.50, students ‚5; Exhibition Hall 2 ‚53.50; both ‚86.50; students ‚2 on M. Take U2 to Museumsquartier.)
ALBERTINA. First an Augustinian monastery and then the largest of the Hab sburg residences, the Albertina now houses the Collection of Graphic Arts. Miche langelo, Picasso, and Diirer are among the diamonds in the rough of 65,000 drawings and 1 million prints. (Open M-Tu and Th-Su 10am-6pm, W 10am-9pm.)
