In Love With Leopold: The Ultimate Vienna Museum Guide
The Museum Associates certainly aren’t ones to brag, but we’ve seen quite a few museums in our days. We’re already looking ahead into a brighter future when museums are open again — and when that time comes and you find yourself in Vienna, be sure to give these museums a visit!
While Vienna hosts a number of museums (which you can check out here), we thought we focus only on our favourites. We’ll certainly be updating this list as we go, but for now we’ll keep it short and simple.
Leopold Museum
Without a doubt, the Leopold is our favourite museum of all time. If anything, it might even be the reason why we got so into museums in the first place.
It’s the museum where we could spend hours in, taking in the vast collection of Austrian Art Nouveau masters like Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele. Truth be told, it’s better to just go and see for yourself — this museum will help you discover more about true Viennese style than simply taking a few selfies in the city centre. If that sounds harsh, it’s meant to! Seriously, just go.
The Museum of Natural History and The Art History Museum
These two museums take us back to our childhood and the time spent with Oma, or grandma, in the city center. While we always preferred the Museum of Natural History because of, duh, the dinosaurs, one of the most vivid memories was that of the Maria Theresia statue placed directly between the two nearly identical buildings:
Empress Maria Theresia, also known as the mother of Marie Antoinette and Mother of the State (yes, we’re fully aware of the creepiness factor here), was seen as an immensely popular ruler who developed the monarchy outside of political and nationalist ideals. She was a leading figure in the Viennese cultural scene between 1740 and 1780, and her value of the arts is shown today on what we know as the Maria-Theresien Platz, or Maria Theresia Square, where the two museums can be found.
When you’re standing in this square, it might get difficult to tell the two buildings apart. To spare you the time needed to walk between both to finally get to the dinosaurs, we’ll share this invaluable piece of advice:
The Museum of Natural History’s exterior features statues of humans from all over the world, while the Art History museum’s facade shows famous European artists. You’ll have to look closely and it may still be a bit of a gamble, but it’s definitely worth it.
MUMOK
The MUMOK, or Museum der Modernen Kunst (Museum of Modern Art), can be found just a stone’s throw from the Leopold Museum. This stylish piece of museum architecture houses regular contemporary art exhibitions and, fun fact, is also the largest art museum in Central Europe since the dawn of modernism. It houses the various aspects of the international and Austrian avant-garde, focusing on Classic Modernism, Pop Art, Fluxus, and Viennese Actionism and complete with the MUMOK Cinema featuring visual arts.
Albertina
This museum’s permanent Batliner exhibition is a one of a kind, touring through Modern Art, French Impressionism to Picasso in a way that is unique in Austria. Most importantly, this ex-Habsburgian palace houses one of our very favourite paintings:
Kriminalmuseum
This one’s a bit different than the others, simply because it’s not one of the famous museums you’ll find in every other travel guide. The Wiener Kriminalmuseum, or Vienna Museum of Criminology, is located in one of the oldest buildings in Vienna’s second district. The museum has existed there since 1898, at we’ve walked past it too many times for us not to mention it in our list. The Habsburgian Emperor wasn’t the only one impressed by the exhibition on Viennese police — we found ourselves immersed in the history of the police and judgement system, as well as the city’s crime history. This is certainly a museum well suited to finish off your Vienna round trip — and don’t forget to stop by the Augarten park when you’re finished!
