The Most Exquisite Museums in Austria

The best way to go back in time is to visit an Art Museum. If you’re a fan of history then you’ll find some of the best museums in the world in Austria.

Whether you’re looking to see ancient artifacts, works by Klimt and Schiele, or discover an unknown contemporary artist, these are eight museums in Austria you should know about:

1. Museum of Fine Arts, Vienna

Here in the museum of fine arts (Kunsthistorisches Museum) you’ll find unrivalled collections of old masters, including a vast selection of works by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Ancient Egyptian and Greek and Roman Antiquities and Medieval Art are also housed in this grand Ringstraße building.

Highlights:

• Egyptian artefacts like sarcophagi and coffins, animal mummies, and multiple Books of the Dead
• The Tower of Babel by Bruegel
• Summer by Arcimboldo
• Take a coffee-and-cake break in the café in the beautiful dome hall

Café in the Dome, Museum of Fine Arts Vienna

© KHM Museumsverband

2. MUMOK – Museum of Modern Art, Vienna

A unique experience as you take a look at a vast collection of major 20th century artists in the courtyard of the Viennese Museums Quartier. Expect works by Picasso to Pollock – as well as changing contemporary exhibitions on great artists like Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, or Nam June Paik.

MUMOK Museum

© Breathe-Earth-Collective

3. Albertina, Vienna

A treat to the eyes for those who are big fans of graphic art. This museum is home to one of the largest and most precious graphic art collections in the world.

Located in Vienna’s city center behind the famous Opera House, the museum comprises nearly 50,000 drawings and one million prints dating from all major epochs from Late Gothic to contemporary. View works by Schiele, Klimt, and Kokoschka, as well as Warhol, Rauschenberg, and Baselitz.

Albertina Museum

© Albertina

4. Kunsthaus, Graz (Graz Art Museum)

Imagine a museum that is described as a “friendly alien”! Opened in 2003, the Kunsthaus attracts visitors not just with its modern art exhibitions, but with its unusual architecture.

It is one of Graz’s most eye-catching landmarks boasting large, tube-like "nozzles" for windows that stick out from the curved roof and its computerized lighting system.

Highlights:

• The museum's architecture itself is a marvel - find the nozzle that gives you a direct view of Graz's famous clock tower
• The Cat-Tree for the Arts: a vertical sculpture in the foyer, inhabited by changing artefacts, works of arts, stories, and installations

Kunsthaus Graz

© Graz Tourismus

5. Museum of Modern Art, Salzburg

The location of this museum is truly magnificent. It sits atop the sheer cliff face of Mönchsberg mountain, 60 metres above Salzburg’s historic old town.

The museum represents the perfect balance between the natural / urban landscape.

It consists of four floors displaying artifacts from the 20th and 21st century and houses Austria's National Photography Collection with around 12,000 titles.

Museum of Modern Art, Salzburg

© Tourismus Salzburg GmbH

6. Belvedere, Vienna

One of the most popular museums in Vienna. It is a big name amongst art lovers not just for its collections but also for its mesmerizing architectural experience.

Housed in two historic palaces set within lovingly manicured gardens (perfect for the social media), it currently boasts 18,600 works covering 900 years of art history.

Pass by works from the Middle Ages, the Austrian Baroque and Viennese Biedermeier, and the period in Vienna from around 1900, complemented by works by Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh with an additional focus on the 20th and 21st century.

Belvedere has also the largest collection of works by Austrian icon Gustav Klimt with famous paintings like The Kiss or Judith attracting visitors from around the world.

Belvedere Palace

© OEW, Popp-Hackner

7. KUNST HAUS WIEN, Vienna

A refreshing perspective on art that will make you say ‘Wow’. KUNST HAUS WIEN is the first “ecological museum”.

Here you’ll find trees growing out of windows, a friendly façade, a real forest and real beehives on the rooftop, interiors without corners and edges and a beautiful green courtyard!

Created in 1991, the museum is the dream of Austrian artists Friedensreich Hundertwasser. He wanted to create an oasis in the heart of the city. So, he transformed an existing building, a closed Thonet furniture factory, into this museum.

As per the artists understanding, buildings are the third skin of a human, after the epidermis and our clothes. Accordingly, individuals should have the right/ability to have a creative say in the construction of their abode.

The museum features work of artists who take up Hundertwasser’s ideas on ecology and sustainability and who reflect upon these from today’s perspective.

Belvedere Palace

© OEW, Popp-Hackner

8. MAK, Vienna (Museum of Applied Arts)

One of the most important museums of its kind in the world.

It opened in 1864 as the Imperial Austrian Museum of Art and Industry and is worth a visit year-round.

It stands for the ever-evolving connection between past and future and counts the interplay of applied art, design, architecture, and contemporary art among its core interests.

The permanent collection in particular comprises priceless works from various stylistic eras from the fin de siècle period, Renaissance Baroque Rococo, wealth of Art Nouveau to one of the most important Asian collections in Europe.

Belvedere Palace

© OEW, Popp-Hackner

Main Image Credit:

Museum of Fine Arts Vienna

© KHM Museumsverband