Location: Inner City
Top Things to do in Inner City
10 Art Museums in Inner City That You Shouldn't Miss
In Vienna, the coffee house isn’t just a hangout: it’s an institution. Lingering over a newspaper with a pastry and a strong espresso drink is, according to UNESCO, officially a Viennese cultural pastime. Walk off your slice of Sachertorte with a self-guided tour of the city’s stunning traditional, Secessionist, and modern architecture, such as the Imperial Palace, the State Opera House, the Kirche am Steinhof, or the Kunsthistorisches Museum, an exercise in ornate geometry.
Restaurants in Vienna
1. W&K Palais
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 4 reviews
W&K - Wienerroither & Kohlbacher schaffen im Palais Schönborn-Batthyány einen einmaligen Ausstellungsort zur Präsentation von Kunst nach 1945 sowie zeitgenössischen Positionen. So wurden bereits höchst erfolgreich Arbeiten von Günter Uecker, Heinz Mack und Max Weiler gezeigt. Durch die anspruchsvolle Programmierung etabliert sich ein neuer Kunststandort für nationale und internationale Kunst. Das historische Ambiente trifft auf Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts und ermöglicht einen einzigartigen Dialog zwischen kulturellem Erbe und Gegenwartskunst.
2. MAK - Austrian Museum of Applied Arts/Contemporary Art
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 561 reviews
Discover the fascinating era of “VIENNA 1900” in the grand museum building on Vienna’s Ringstraße with art nouveau masterpieces of the Wiener Werkstätte by Gustav Klimt, Josef Hoffmann, or Koloman Moser. Inaugurated in 1871, the building by Heinrich von Ferstel is one of the grandest works of architecture on Vienna’s Ringstraße. Today the MAK, originally founded as the “Imperial Royal Austrian Museum of Art and Industry”, accommodates a unique collection of precious art and craftwork from the fields of furniture, glass, porcelain, silver, and textiles from the middle ages to today. With more than 1 million objects and printed works it is one of the most important museums of its kind in the world. The spacious exhibition rooms were designed by contemporary artists and show selected highlights of the MAK Collection as well as temporary exhibitions in the field of design, art and architecture.
Reviewed By SusanWms - Santa Fe, United States
This museum has a magnificent collection of objects from the mid-19th century forward (when the school was founded). The collections are mainly organized typologically/chronologically, e.g. chairs, tables, glass table wares, porcelain, silver, textiles, etc., but there was a major interpretive exhibit running while we were there—“Vienna 1900.” Vienna was a hotbed of reformist ideas about decorative and applied eta—resulting in the Wiener Werkstadt and the Vienna Secessionist movement. Labels are clear and each gallery has a booklet with English translations of object labels. We spent three hour happily perusing the collections and then retreated to the excellent gift shop featuring a well-curated assortment of well-designed goods.
3. Akademie der bildenden Kunste
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 160 reviews
This art gallery houses a collection of impressive works by famous artists such as Peter Paul Rubens and is also home to Hieronymus Bosch's famous painting "The Last Judgement."
Reviewed By Monstrum0206 - Saarwellingen, Germany
Great art museum currently in the Theater museum because of the renovation. For those who love and enjoy art.
4. Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 9,709 reviews
Experience one of the world's foremost museums! Let yourself be enchanted by works spanning five millennia, from Ancient Egypt to the modern era. Experience unique major works by Dürer, Raphael, Titian and Velázquez as well as the world's largest collection of Bruegel paintings, all in a magnificent setting. The Kunstkammer Vienna, featuring the famous Saliera by Benvenuto Cellini, is a veritable universe of art and beauty guaranteed to transform any visit into an unforgettable experience. Included in the ticket are the collections at the Neue Burg on the opposite side of Vienna's Ringstrasse. Here you will see the instruments used by the great composers and be transported back to chivalrous times when knights held sway and tourneys and hunting shaped courtly life.
Reviewed By Ina5555 - Kyiv (Kiev), Ukraine
The museum was the main goal of my Vienna visit, but I never expected it to be such an excellent introduction into the city and palaces sculptures' motifs as well, underscoring how much power was assigned back then to the art as a means of ideological visual education. Having spent 1,5 days in the museum I have made plenty of personal discoveries and enjoyed new for me artworks (e.g. unexpected parallel to the modern popular mass culture is a 1524 'Arya Stark' self-portrait bearing uncanny resemblance, in fact Parmigianino's enchanting masterpiece). The discoveries haven't stopped after the museum visit ended, because the next day during sightseeing I realized I recognize many of the city and its palaces sculptures' motifs and whatever I used to know about the big name old masters the most influential of them in Vienna must be Luca Giordano's The Fall of the Rebel Angels, whenever I saw its impressive replicated Laocoon-like convulsion-wriggled figures conveying the ideals of Counter-Reformation to the empire subjects on the city streets. Just walking the city you can recognize in the city sculptures' many familiar motifs, not only Biblical but antique as well (Hercules lifting Antaeus, Amazons, etc). Practicalities of the museum visit: the air-conditioning wasn't felt at all in the big inner rooms with Roman numerals, I slightly felt it in the small outer rooms with Arabic numerals (as of 14th and 15th of July). Six or seven rooms were entirely closed for reconstruction during my two-day visit. For lockers you need either a 1 or 2 euro coin, but there's a manned storage facility as well. Backpacks have to be left in a locker, normal shoulder bags are OK. Photo of the permanent exhibition without a flash is allowed. Temporary exhibition: Yan van Eyck "Als Ich Can". Probably I somehow unfortunately missed it. In the room dedicated to the special exhibition (0.5 floor, the same floor as the Kunstkammer, Egyptian and Antique collections - beware indeed almost no English translations of the exhibits, an audio guide cannot make up for all of them; the Egyptian rooms maintain specific humidity level) I saw only few works by the painter, and few works by his contemporaries like Rogier van der Weyden. The museum building (as well as the whole square) is a stunning art object in its own right, specifically built to showcase the Habsburg art treasuries, its highlights are covered by audio guide, including Klimt, Munkacsy contributions. Seeing the interiors I couldn't help but felt as the Mask film protagonist having to recover my awestruck jaw from the floor. Really a mind-boggling shrine of a high art which symbols and messages are probably half-obscure nowadays.
5. Albertina
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 6,819 reviews
Situated in the very heart of Vienna's City center, the Albertina houses one of the most important art collections of the world. Founded in 1776, the Museum today owns masterpieces by Da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Duerer, Rembrandt etc. These collections are presented in temporary exhibitions. The Batliner Collection "From Monet to Picasso" is permanentely on display and shows the most important works by artists from the age of modernism. The Habsburg Historic Staterooms of the Albertina give an air of Imperial glamour.
Reviewed By iioannis2 - Limassol City, Cyprus
Let yourself be attracted and inspired by classical and modern art of famous painters like Picasso and Rubens, as well as admiring memorable vividness painting scenes of the A' World War and medieval personalities, along with modern pieces of painting of abstract art. You will also enter at luxurious furnished coloured rooms taking you back at classical eras and rooms decorated with Greek status like the 9 muses and Apollon (usually their names are written in Greeks). I was impressed that most of the visitors are young people even if the ticket could be considered a bit expensive. But the cost deserves for those who look for such cultural exhibitions. When an exhibit (eg a painting) impresses you, read the small label in the wall next to it and then let your imagination be absorbed looking at the painting, enjoying it as an excellent creation and experiencing in your though what it represents. This is the best place for this purpose!
6. METRO Kinokulturhaus
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 7 reviews
Ein Mekka für Cineasten mitten in der Altstadt. Mit zwei Kinosälen - davon dem wohl schönsten, historischen Kinosaal Wiens, drei Ausstellungsebenen und einer BIO-Bar bietet das METRO Kinokulturhaus des Filmarchiv Austria ein besonderes Zentrum für alle Film- & Kunstbegeisterte! Mit täglichem Programm, über 40 Filmen im Monat (Originalversion), Podiumsdiskussionen, Führungen, Workshops etc.
7. Trickymind
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 15 reviews
Trickymind is a 3Dimensional and augmented reality museum which presents unique giant hand painted exhibitions. The museum features masterpieces of artists like, Gustav Klimt and Claude Monet shown through special light features. Get a little touch of fairytales and dragons with supernatural experiences with flying whales and dancing fish among other unique surprises on 3 magical floors.
Reviewed By MarioTrax - Vienna, Austria
I went to visit Trickymind with my children. It was a fun visit for all of us - including us parents!! Our children took many animated pictures with Mythological and modern creatures. The paintings are of amazing quality and to top it up there were Austrian classical artist in giant exhibition. I can recommend this to anyone, wether younger or older! Worth a trip when in Vienna!!!
8. Albertina Modern
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 7 reviews
Reviewed By 444minervah
The Kuenstlerhaus building underwent a wonderful rebirth, new interiors, new lighting, ventilation, more exhibition spaces. The entrance ticket is pricey but well worth it, providing a 2-floor viewing option or for an additional EUR 5, including the 2nd floor as well. After absorbing all the art (paintings, sculptures, objects), enjoy a snack (sweet or salty) and Aperol or coffee in the 'Ludwig & Adele' cafe, tucked in a corner of the museum. Alex Katz prints on the wall make it feel as if you are enjoying the snack in the museum.
9. Silberkammer
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 198 reviews
10. Ephesos Museum
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 63 reviews
Ephesos, located in present-day Turkey, was one of the most important cities of antiquity. It was here that the Artemis Temple, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, stood; the city was also the home of Heraclitus, as well as of one of the largest early-Christian communities. Roman times saw Ephesos became capital of the Province of Asia, with around 200,000 inhabitants. Since 1895, Austrian archaeologists have been excavating the ruins of Ephesos. Up to the year 1906, numerous recovered objects of high quality were removed to Vienna, objects which can be seen today at the Ephesos Museum, an annex to the Collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities.
Reviewed By macedonboy - Glasgow, United Kingdom
It’s been many years since I’ve been to Turkey to see Ephesus. I enjoyed that trip, so I wanted to come to this museum. What a great experience! This museum exhibits some of the fascinating finds of the ancient Greek site. The great Greco-Roman frieze has been arranged into what it might have looked like in ancient times and looks amazing. There’s also a platform where you can see the frieze from higher up and see it in its entirety. Don’t miss the sculptures “The Sphinx Devouring a Boy” and “Athlete from Ephesus”! Upstairs there’s a small collection of frieze and stone work and pretty polychrome marble pillars. The museum is not actually all that big, but the focus is on high quality exhibits. I’m interested in classics, so it took me over an hour to get through everything. The entrance ticket to this museum also gets you into House of Austrian History museum, which is also fantastic. Both these museums are in the same building!
