The main building of today’s Museumsquartier was first used as the stables of the Roman-German Emperor Karl VI. used. The Emperor wanted to build the imperial stables and commissioned them from the court architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach. The completion, however, took over his son Joseph Emanuel, who, however, did not strictly adhere to the original plans.
With the end of the First World War, the stables lost their function and most of their contents were auctioned off. In 1921, this building was used for the first time as an exhibition venue. This led to a speedy renovation and a new naming. Since then, the building bears the name “Exhibition Palace”.
For the first time in 1985, the exhibition palace served as the venue for the Wiener Festwochen. This eventually became a tradition. Between 1980 and 1986 a debate was held on the exact purpose of the object of the Museumsquartier. The city administration of that time proposed to develop a museum of modern art, modeled on the Center Pompidou in Paris. Based on this model, his exhibition spaces would serve to depict modern art in the media, film, computer and video sectors.
Over the next few years, a public debate was held on extensions to the building that had already been proposed and approved. The decisions made, however, were repeatedly destroyed by Prosten by historians, artists and architects. Among the protesters were also the architects of the pyramid of the Louvre Museum. In 1996, the planned expansion was discussed again and some changes were made. The idea of a glass facade and the construction of high objects inside the complex were discarded. Two years later, the construction started worth 150 million euros and was completed in 2001.
The Museumsquartier is the world’s eighth largest cultural area. It covers an impressive 60,000 square meters of exhibition space. He combines a number of outstanding contemporary art, as well as classical pieces. It also contains the most extensive collection of Schiel’s works in the Leopold Museum.
The hotel is located in the city center, in the heart of the city. The modern architecture gives you a better picture of the historic buildings. The renovation cost two billion euros. However, this investment has become one of the most exciting and largest exhibition venues for modern art in Europe.
Here is a list of the individual museums you will find at the Museumsquartier:
The Leopold Museum, which houses the well-known Egon Schiels collection, the Vienna Secession, Viennese Modernism, Austrian Expressionism etc. The Museum of Modern Art, which offers a collection of modern and contemporary art, such as works by Pablo Picasso and Joseph Beuys.
Other museums include the Kunsthalle, the Architekturzentrum, the Kindermuseum Zoom, the Quartier 21 and the Tanzquartier.