The Kunsthistorisches Museum Gesamtkunstwerk More than just a museum

A grand historic building with an ornate facade stands at the center, surrounded by neatly trimmed gardens. In front, a large statue atop a pedestal is prominent. The sky above features soft clouds, hinting at a sunset. Visitors stroll along the pathways in the park.

The Kunsthistorisches Museum is more than a place for storing collections – it’s a Gesamtkunstwerk. The building was designed by Gottfried Semper and Carl von Hasenauer, and is the perfect setting for the Habsburg collections, which date from Antiquity to the late Baroque. Every detail of the Museum, from the splendid Cupola Hall to the meticulously designed exhibition spaces, reflects the ambition to showcase art and culture in grand fashion while making them accessible to a wide audience.

Architects: Gottfried Semper and Carl von Hasenauer

Built: 1871–1891

Commissioned by: Emperor Franz Joseph I

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Under Emperor Maximilian I (1459–1519), the Habsburgs had already amassed a family treasure trove of valuables, artworks, and historical mementos. This collection grew as a result of the Habsburg Empire’s strategic marriage and expansion policy. Political, scientific, and social developments contributed to widening the scope of the collections. Even when Vienna became their main residence in 1683, these collections were kept at various residences of the Austrian line of the Habsburgs – primarily in Vienna, Prague, and Innsbruck. During the planning of Vienna’s Ringstrasse beginning in 1867, the idea emerged of bringing the imperial collections together for display in Vienna.

Ambras Castle Innsbruck

Ambras Castle Innsbruck, which was used as a residence and repository by Archduke Ferdinand II (1529–1595) for his Chamber of Art and Wonders, is a unique testimony to the Habsburgs’ passion for collecting. Ferdinand II was one of the first systematic collectors of his time. He owned both works of art and exotic natural objects and created specially adapted rooms to house them.

To the Ambras Castle website

Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in His Gallery at Brussels, David Teniers d. J., around 1651

Stammbaum mit den Königen und Kaisern des Hauses Habsburg, Christoph Dorsch, um 1725/30

Kaiser Maximilian I. (1459-1519), Bernhard Strigel, spätes 16. Jahrhundert

‘Museums ought to be designed first and foremost for contemplative enjoyment, intellectual refinement, the joy and education of the masses; and secondly for serious study by experts, artists, and scholars.’

‘Everything turned out exceptionally well – the building is as beautiful as the layout is practical. The objects can now come into their own’.

Kaiser Franz Joseph I. (1830-1916), Franz Schrotzberg, 1865-1870

Die Eröffnung des Kunsthistorischen Museums durch Kaiser Franz Joseph I. am 17.10.1891 — Die Eröffnung des Kunsthistorischen Museums durch Kaiser Franz Joseph…, Robert Raschka, 1891

A handwritten decree issued by Emperor Franz Joseph I on 20 December 1857 marked the beginning of Vienna’s transformation into a modern metropolis: it was decided to demolish the old fortifications around the inner city and create a ring-shaped boulevard – the Ringstrasse. As part of this, the construction of two imperial museums (a Kunsthistorisches Museum and a Naturhistorisches Museum or Natural History Museum) along the new thoroughfare became a central undertaking.

A Contest Fraught with Obstacles

In 1866, a competition was announced, and, behind the scenes, attempts were initially made to find a common denominator between the diverging interests of the parties involved. The evaluation and discussions continued for three years. The Viennese architect Carl Hasenauer also took part in the competition, but his first design failed to impress the jury.

In 1869, Gottfried Semper was brought in as an external consultant. The German architect and art theorist was living in Zurich at the time. He questioned the proposals made so far and suggested the creation of a ‘Kaiserforum’ (imperial forum) that would connect the Hofburg with the museum buildings. In the end, the emperor decided in favour of a collaborative approach between Semper and Hasenauer. Together, they developed the final design.

After twenty years of construction, the Kunsthistorisches Hofmuseum was opened on 17 October 1891, in the presence of the emperor. It was one of two domed twin buildings – the Kunsthistorisches Museum and the Natural History Museum – which face each other.

A grand interior of a historic building featuring ornate arches, detailed walls, and a staircase. A central sculpture of seated figures is displayed at the bottom of the stairs, surrounded by intricately decorated columns and large windows that allow natural light to illuminate the space.

The twin design of the two new museum buildings opposite the Hofburg was, even before the architectural competition, one of the basic requirements of the patron, Emperor Franz Joseph I. As a result, the exteriors were built to be virtually identical, with only the sculptural decoration on the façades adapted to their respective contents: thus, the Natural History Museum features a wide variety of scientists and explorers, inventions, continents, seasons, and celestial bodies, while the Kunsthistorisches Museum showcases artists and scholars, rulers and patrons, as well as representations of the decorative arts, artistic centres, literature, and mythology.

Façades with Stories to Tell

The main façade of the Museum is accentuated by a central structure that rises above it, topped with a cupola and flanked by corner projections, while uniform structuring elements such as pilasters, columns, and friezes add variety to the High Renaissance forms. The design combines imposing plasticity with a classical style.

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Above the black-and-white inlaid floor, a vaulted ceiling rises in the Entrance Hall, with a round opening through which visitors can catch a first glimpse of the Cupola Hall above. Like an hors d’oeuvre, it offers a foretaste of what is to come and follows Semper’s requirement for a ‘heightening of the effects from the entrance to the interior of the main floor’. The restrained decorative scheme of the Entrance Hall’s vault reflects the continued preference for the Renaissance – already predominant in the conception of the main façade: the portrait heads of Bramante, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Benvenuto Cellini (by Viktor Tilgner), together with their inscriptions, blend harmoniously into the monochrome overall design. Flanking the central axis of the Entrance Hall that leads to the staircase, a short flight of stairs takes visitors up to the galleries on the raised ground floor. Emerging from the semi-darkness of the Entrance Hall, the main route leads up the monumental staircase to the Cupola Hall, the pinnacle of imperial self-representation. Canova’s Theseus Group on the landing of the staircase marks a powerful climax in the spatial design. When the viewer reaches the turning point of the staircase, their gaze is drawn toward the Cupola Hall, the sacral focal point of the interior architecture. After the monochrome scheme of the Entrance Hall, the staircase’s surrounding arcade bursts into vibrant colour and a wealth of shapes and images.

Lunette, Spandrel, and Intercolumnar Paintings

Hans Makart (1840–1884) was originally commissioned to paint the ceiling, as well as the lunettes, spandrels, and intercolumniations. The contract was signed in February 1881. Makart initially delivered the lunette paintings depicting the ‘classical heroes of painting’ and their ‘favourite materials’, as well as designs for the spandrel paintings and the planned ceiling painting, The Victory of Light over Darkness. However, Makart’s early death thwarted the original plan to achieve a unified decorative style in the staircase, down to the smallest detail. Half a year later, Hans Canon (1829–1885) was commissioned to paint the ceiling. However, he also died before he could complete his designs, which were based on Makart’s preliminary work. In 1887, the Hungarian painter Mihály von Munkácsy (1844–1900), who was well established in Paris, was finally engaged for the project. The monumental oil painting Apotheosis of the Renaissance, created in a Paris studio specially leased for the purpose, was delivered to Vienna in 1890 and installed in its intended location.

The Cupola Hall rises above an octagonal floor plan, bringing together the main floor and the second floor at this point. Monumental pilasters at the corners, with a massive base, create the architectural framework that supports the towering cupola, which also features a continuous gallery. The vault seen from inside is different from what is visible outside: the distance between the respective apexes is nearly 20 metres. The medallions and reliefs on the cupola drum form the iconographic centrepiece of the figurative decoration: arranged like a collage, they showcase the political and cultural achievements of individual rulers from Maximilian I to Franz Joseph I.

It was not until six years after Makart’s death, in 1890, that Franz Matsch (1861–1942) and the brothers Ernst (1864–1892) and Gustav Klimt (1862–1918) were commissioned to paint the spandrel and intercolumnar paintings. The brief required them to reflect the content of the imperial collections in the Kunsthistorisches Museum and, where possible, to depict some of the objects in detail.

Our galleries house objects dating back to Antiquity and Ancient Egypt, yet their current classification by epoch, artistic landscape, genre, and artist emerged in the nineteenth century and corresponds to the typical layout of museums of a similar ilk. Thematic focuses – such as all the portraits in the Kunsthistorisches Museum or works about love and passion – are not presented here; instead, you will find the following cohesive collections: the Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection, Collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities, Kunstkammer, Picture Gallery, and the Coin Cabinet.

The contemporary discussions about the structure that would house the Picture Gallery focused on practical issues such as hanging spaces, lighting, and clarity. Despite technical advances in artificial lighting, Vienna remained true to the sole principle of museums lit by natural light well into the twentieth century, with skylights in the galleries and large windows in the exhibition rooms.

Picture Gallery

Most of the rooms in today’s Kunstkammer were originally designed to house the weapons collection. When this was moved to the Neue Burg in the 1930s (now the Imperial Armoury), the Kunstkammer gained these spaces. In the Golden Hall – which was designed for the Kunstkammer from the beginning – you will find a grand ceiling painting by Julius Victor Berger. The ‘patrons of the House of Habsburg’ are here surrounded on a grand stage by ‘their’ artists and scholars, many of whom were active at court.

Kunstkammer

The murals in the first two rooms of the Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection are based on copies of Egyptian originals that Ernst Weidenbach traced in 1843 during a research trip to the necropolis of Beni Hassan. The three papyrus-bundle columns, most likely dating from the Middle Kingdom (2061–1665 BCE) and discovered in Alexandria, were presented to Franz Joseph I as a gift in 1869. These were initially housed in the Lower Belvedere and in 1876 were integrated into the new museum building, now as supporting elements.

Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection

The ceiling design of the rooms in the Collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities is essentially based on the Renaissance, an artistic period that itself drew inspiration from Classical Antiquity. The coffered barrel vault of the largest gallery in the Collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities showcases one of the architectural inventions of ancient Rome: the arch and the vault. The Theseus Mosaic from a Roman villa near Salzburg was incorporated into the marble flooring of the gallery.

Collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities

The second floor was originally home to copy rooms, a restoration workshop, and the collection of watercolours, drawings, and sketches that were distributed to other museums in the 1920s. The Coin Cabinet, initially part of the Collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities on the ground floor, was made into a stand-alone collection in 1899 and has been located on the second floor ever since, where the historical furnishings have largely been preserved. The precisely coordinated organisation reflects the historicist exhibition technology of the time.

Coin Cabinet

The Kunsthistorisches Museum Gesamtkunstwerk More than just a museum

The Habsburgs: A Family of Collectors

Ambras Castle Innsbruck

Planning History

A Contest Fraught with Obstacles

Art and Nature

Façades with Stories to Tell

An Iconic View, Inside and Out

A Stage for Art and Humanity

Lunette, Spandrel, and Intercolumnar Paintings

Our Galleries

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