Kunsthistorisches Museum (Art History Museum)
Imperial Habsburg art collections in a domed Ringstrasse palace facing its twin natural history museum.
The Kunsthistorisches Museum was built between 1871 and 1891 on Maria-Theresien-Platz as one of a matched pair of Ringstrasse museums, its facade mirroring that of the Natural History Museum across the square. Gottfried Semper devised the overall scheme and Karl von Hasenauer carried it out, producing a Neo-Renaissance palace crowned by an octagonal dome. Emperor Franz Joseph I opened the building in October 1891 to house the art treasures accumulated by the Habsburgs over several centuries.
Its holdings span five millennia, from Egyptian and Near Eastern antiquities through Greek and Roman sculpture to the Kunstkammer of courtly curiosities and one of the world's great picture galleries. The collection is particularly strong in Venetian and Flemish painting, and it holds the largest group of works by Pieter Bruegel the Elder anywhere. The decorated staircase, with lunettes and spandrels painted by Gustav Klimt, Ernst Klimt and Franz Matsch, is a significant work of art in itself.
Highlights
- Neo-Renaissance palace by Semper and Hasenauer, opened in 1891
- World's largest collection of paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder
- Kunstkammer of Habsburg curiosities, including Cellini's Saliera
- Staircase decorations painted by the young Gustav Klimt
![[King Thibaw Min's Throne Room - Mandalay]title QS:P1476,en:"[King Thibaw Min's Throne Room - Mandalay]"label QS:Len,"[King Thibaw Min's Throne Room - Mandalay]"](https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/02/Felice_Beato_%28British%2C_born_Italy_-_%28King_Thibaw_Min%27s_Throne_Room_-_Mandalay%29_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg/500px-Felice_Beato_%28British%2C_born_Italy_-_%28King_Thibaw_Min%27s_Throne_Room_-_Mandalay%29_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg)
