 | Vienna Hofburg Reviews | Tips 1 - 10 of 274 |  |
As one of the most important art museums of Europe the "Kunsthistorisches Museum" has no specific site on the Vienna "things to do" I will join my comment on the KHM to the Hofburg site as it is located in one of the imperial palaces close to that Hofburg.
The gallery of paintings of the Kunsthistorisches Museum results from the project of a private imperial collection and is the reflection of the taste of the various member collectors of the dynasty of Habsburg, mainly the emperor Rodolphe II and the archdukes Ferdinand II and Leopold Guillaume. This archduke is the greatest paint collector of his 17th century. Thanks to him the Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna became a museum of an essential importance as regards the Flemish and Venetian Schools. One will notice that this collection is geographically limited to the countries which had narrow links with the Habsburg i.e. Germany, the South of Netherlands (Belgium) the North of Italy and Spain but that France and Holland, with whom Austria had tense relations, are only weakly represented. It would be vain to review the painters and the works of this grand collection of the 15th to the 18th centuries. The collection of Pieter Bruegel the Elder is unequalled and is worth by itself the journey to Vienna. Furthermore there are Van der Weyden, Dürer, Jordaens, Rubens, Van Dyck, Titien, Tintoret, Veronese, Canaleto, Velasquez and many others. One of my favourite paintings, besides the Bruegels, is the" Allegorie of Painting" of Vermeer who was acquired in 1945. I find extraordinary that sixty years ago one could still buy a Vermeer! Directions: close to the Neue Burg and Hofburg.Website: www.khm.at
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For all amateurs of Pieter Bruegel the Elder the room X of the Paint gallery at the KHM, located in one of the imperial palaces near the Hofburg, is an absolute must. The museum has 14 paintings of P. Bruegel the Elder, i.e. the third of his paintings known about the world!
Among these 14 some of the most remarkable as The Tower of Babel, The Fight of Carnival and Lent, the Peasants Dance, The Peasant Wedding and especially the most beautiful, the purest, the most intense of the works of P. Bruegel " Hunters in the Snow" To go to Vienna without having seen Bruegel it is as going to Paris without seeing La Joconde in Le Louvre. But contrary to the room of the Louvre with Mona Lisa, visitors are not bumping into each other in room X of the KHM of Vienna. A relation having visited the KHM asked me (it was the time of the action in justice against the Austrian State about the Klimt's) if Belgium, which has only six P. Bruegel the Elder, did not wish the return of the Bruegel's to Brussels where the painter lived and died (1569). I would certainly like to see more Bruegel's in the Museum of the Fine Arts in Brussels but these paintings were offered by the city of Antwerp to the archduke Ernest in 1594, the others were bought in total legality. Furthermore if Belgium began demanding the return of all the works of the Flemish painters worldwide she would not have enough walls to hang them on and numerous museums in the world would have empty rooms. And last but not least, numerous persons worldwide know Belgium only by her painters. Let the Bruegel's stays in Vienna, it is a pleasure to see them in a beautiful surrounding such as the KHM and the town of Vienna. Directions: Near the Neue Burg and Hofburg.Website: www.khm.at
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This is the most beautiful collection of suits of armour in Europe.
The collection of weapons ( Hofjagd-und Rüstkammer) of the Kunsthistorisches Museum is centred on ceremonial or parade weapons and offers a very wide panorama of the evolution of what was a real art for the 15th century in Europe and in the Middle East.
The emperor Maximilien I devoted gladly to the tournaments and incited the young noble persons to devote to the joust and especially the running which was practised with sharp lances, more dangerous than the joust, but much less expensive because she could be practised in the battle armour.
Things did not stay in the field of ordinary armour because the Habsburg (notably both brothers Maximilien II and Ferdinand II) by taste for art and splendour led the technique of armours to a real art close to the goldsmith's art. The connoisseur will find in this museum numerous chiselled armours, inlaid armours, the fluted armours, the costume armours, greek-roman style armours, and darkened armours from the Baroque period.
Considerable financial means were needed to pay such works of art. Ferdinand II of Tyrol excelled at this passion of the beautiful suits of armour. Not satisfied with his own armours he collected armours and weapons of 125 famous persons of his time. We can see the suit of armour of Philippe II of Spain.
These collections are well presented in a number of rooms where the visitor is often alone! This museum still has not the chance (or misfortune for the connoisseurs) to be on the visit program of the groups.
There is also on show a collection of hunting weapons. Directions: The collection of armours and hunting weapons is part of the KHM but is in Neue Burg next to the Hofburg.Website: www.khm.at
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The Hofburg Palace is located in the center of the city.It consist in several impresive buildings,and this complex was never completely finished as originally planned,as a part of the imperial quarter.The diferent areas of the palace feature examples from the entire history of architectural styles from the Ghotic to Neo-Classic.
Right now here you can see a few very interesting museums,and also is next to the palace the National Library.If you want to know a little bit more about the Emperor Franz Joseph and his wife "Sissi" don't mis a visit to the Imperial Appartments or (Kaiser Apartaments).Another nice place to see here is The Spanish Riding School (Spanische Reitschule),here you can see during mornigs some beautiful horse demostrations. Leave a Comment
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Hofburg is a giant area in the very centre of vienna and it includes all of the buildings between Albertina - Nationalbibliothek - Ballhausplatz and between the Burg-Ring and the stables of the Vienna White Horses / Lippizaner. The Hofburg used to be the living-quaters of the austrian emperors and their employees and today you may see most of these rooms that were transfered into various museums. Even when you do not have enough time to enter any of these museums, you may still spend 1-2 hours to enjoy all of the interesting details of the parks and buildings of Hofburg :
Michaelator - the giant gate under the golden dome of Hofburg takes you to Amalienburg ( the large innercourt with great renaissance-facades and a giant monument in the centre.)
Schweizertor is the most beautiful side-gate and it is dating back to the 16th century.
Neue Burg is the big building with the statue of Prinz Eugen in front of it.
In Burggarten you may see the lovely Mozart-monument, the Palmenhaus and the Schmetterlingshaus with exotic butterflies humming in the former Orangerie of the emperor... Leave a Comment Directions: You may walk from Karlsplatz or the Opera to Hofburg within 5 minutes, or take tram #1 or #2
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Hofjagd- & Ruestkammer is one of the museums in Neue Burg with the entrance next to the monument of Prinz Eugen. The Ruestkammer shows various iron-armours that were collected by the Habsburg-family at a time, when these armours were still used at several tournaments & parades and so you will see there mostly armours, whose former owners were kings, dukes and even cardinals, you will see armours of children and horses - all of them beautifully arranged, polished and looking almost brand-new.
The Hofjagd- & Ruestkammer is open
daily except tuesday 10.00a.m. - 06.00p.m. Leave a Comment Directions: Hofjagd- & Ruestkammer is one of the museums in Neue Burg with the entrance next to the monument of Prinz Eugen at Heldenplatz. Take tram #1 or #2 and leave at Hofburg / Burgring !
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Schatzkammer is the treasury of the Hofburg and it shows various crowns of the Austrian empire, precious gold- and silverplates and cutleries, and even a 33-meters long centre-piece made of gold-bronze, it was ment as a table-decoration for banquets at the royal court. The oldest crown in Schatzkammer dates back to the 10th century and so it is no wonder, there is a real tresor-door at the entrance to this museum and a lot of people watching each of your steps through the collections !
Photography is not forbidden, but unfortunately it is quite dark in that museum !
Photography only without flash or tripod !!
the Schatzkammer is open daily except tuesday 10.00a.m.-06.00p.m.
at dezember 31st it is only open untill 01.00p.m.
it is closed january 1st + may 1st + november 1st !! Leave a Comment Directions: Schatzkammer is between Nationalbibliothek and Schweizertor, next to the stables and performance-halls of the white horses.
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The further back you go towards the Ringstrasse and Heldenplatz, the newer and (I think) the more impressive the Hofburg gets. The Burgtor, built to commemorate the Battle of Leipzig in 1813 is the only surviving gateway into the city and the official entrance to the Hofburg . The view of the palace through the arches of this gate is particularly pleasing and all round Heldenplatz generally, there is altogether a more formal, imperial atmosphere. The National Library's central reading room is here and cuts a very impressive dash as do the flags flying from the conference centre which look really colourfull and kind of heraldic. I must confess though that taking the photo of the flags the captio that kept running through my mind was 'Hapsburg laundry out to dry '. All told, there is a lot to see and do in the Hofburg, old and new, so really the choice is up to you.
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The Museum of old instruments is one of the collections inside Neue Burg and there you may see the pianos, where Mozart, Beethoven, Joseph Hayden and Franz Schubert used to perform their works. Even more famous is their collection of renaissance-instruments - it is considdered the most precious collection of these instruments. Another highlight in their collection is a Klavichord, dating back to 1596 - it is able to imitate various instruments and even the singing of birds.
Another highlight of the museum is a small-scale model of the city of Vienna. It dates back to the year 1845, and shows still the medieval townwalls around the city - that wall was taken down later-on in order to build Ringstrasse, as you may see it nowadays !
The Museum of old instruments is open
daily except tuesday 10.00a.m. - 06.00p.m. Leave a Comment Directions: Museum of old instruments is one of the various museums inside of Neue Burg with the entrance next to the monument of Prinz Eugen at Heldenplatz. Take tram #1 or #2 and leave at Hofburg / Burgring !
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Of all the sights in Vienna, the one which I was a little disappointed in was probably The Hofburg.
The words Imperial Palace set up a big expectation factor and really, when push comes to shove, a lot of the complex is not particularly grand or exciting. Admittedly the entrance from Michaelerplatz is stunning but inside it's quite a different kettle of fish. Der Burg, the central courtyard is much like a courtyard in any monastery or large establishmnet. Well maybe you wouldn't find quite so many monumental statues in the average courtyard, but after the first 20 or so giant Hapsburg statues you are inclined to take them for granted.This was something I found most intriguing about Vienna, the fact that even if you'd never heard of the Hapsburgs before, after three days or so, you are thinking of Maria Teresa, Franz Ferdinand, Joseph 11 etc as close acquaintances, if not friends. From Augustinerkirche past the Spanish Riding School and the Burgcapelle is all very tame. Inside you can visit The Imperial Apartments and The Treasury but just passing by is certainly not going to overstimulate you. On the other hand, what I liked very much about Hofburg was the way you could wander freely through it and how after two days you were using it as a shortcut to the Ringstrasse. It just became part of the everyday fabric of the city to me and that has to be a plus in anybody's book.
In the contacts section I have not listed phone numbers as there are just so many. But if you look up the website you will get all the necessary details, opening hours for the different attractions, admission prices etc.
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on October 11, 2007
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