Kunsthistorisches Museum
Encyclopedia
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
: "Museum of Art History", also often referred to as the "Museum of Fine Arts") is an art museum in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. Housed in its festive palatial building on Ringstraße
Ringstraße
The Ringstraße is a circular road surrounding the Innere Stadt district of Vienna, Austria and is one of its main sights...
, it is crowned with an octagonal dome
Dome
A dome is a structural element of architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere. Dome structures made of various materials have a long architectural lineage extending into prehistory....
. The term Kunsthistorisches Museum applies to both the institution and the main building.
It was opened in 1891 at the same time as the Naturhistorisches Museum
Naturhistorisches Museum
The Naturhistorisches Museum Wien or NHMW is a large museum located in Vienna, Austria.The collections displayed cover , and the museum has a website providing an overview as a video virtual tour....
, by Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
. The two museums have identical exteriors and face each other across Maria-Theresien-Platz
Maria-Theresien-Platz
The Maria-Theresien-Platz of Vienna is a large square joining the Ringstraße with the Museumsquartier, a museum of modern arts located in the former Imperial Stables...
. Both buildings were built between 1872 and 1891 according to plans drawn up by Gottfried Semper
Gottfried Semper
Gottfried Semper was a German architect, art critic, and professor of architecture, who designed and built the Semper Opera House in Dresden between 1838 and 1841. In 1849 he took part in the May Uprising in Dresden and was put on the government's wanted list. Semper fled first to Zürich and later...
and Karl Freiherr von Hasenauer
Karl Freiherr von Hasenauer
Baron Karl von Hasenauer was an important Austrian architect and key representative of the Historismus school....
.
The two Ringstraße museums were commissioned by the Emperor in order to find a suitable shelter for the Habsburg
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...
s' formidable art collection and to make it accessible to the general public. The façade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
was built of sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
. The building is rectangular in shape, and topped with a dome that is 60 meters high. The inside of the building is lavishly decorated with marble, stucco ornamentations, gold-leaf, and paintings.
Collection
Picture Gallery
The museum's primary collections are those of the HabsburgHabsburg
The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...
s, particularly from the portrait
Portrait
thumb|250px|right|Portrait of [[Thomas Jefferson]] by [[Rembrandt Peale]], 1805. [[New-York Historical Society]].A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness,...
and armour
Armour
Armour or armor is protective covering used to prevent damage from being inflicted to an object, individual or a vehicle through use of direct contact weapons or projectiles, usually during combat, or from damage caused by a potentially dangerous environment or action...
collections of Ferdinand of Tirol, the collections of Emperor Rudolph II (the largest part of which is, however, scattered), and the collection of paintings of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm.
Among the most important works in the picture gallery are (see also :Category:Paintings of the Kunsthistorisches Museum):
- Jan van EyckJan van EyckJan van Eyck was a Flemish painter active in Bruges and considered one of the best Northern European painters of the 15th century....
: Portrait of Cardinal Niccolò AlbergatiPortrait of Cardinal Niccolò AlbergatiThe Portrait of Cardinal Niccolò Albergati is a painting by early Netherlandish painter Jan van Eyck, dating to around 1431 and currently housed in the Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna, Austria.-Description:...
(c. 1431) - Albrecht DürerAlbrecht DürerAlbrecht Dürer was a German painter, printmaker, engraver, mathematician, and theorist from Nuremberg. His prints established his reputation across Europe when he was still in his twenties, and he has been conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance ever since...
: Adoration of the Trinity (1511) - TintorettoTintorettoTintoretto , real name Jacopo Comin, was a Venetian painter and a notable exponent of the Renaissance school. For his phenomenal energy in painting he was termed Il Furioso...
:- Susanna and the Elders (1555–56)
- Giuseppe ArcimboldoGiuseppe ArcimboldoGiuseppe Arcimboldo was an Italian painter best known for creating imaginative portrait heads made entirely of such objects as fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish, and books – that is, he painted representations of these objects on the canvas arranged in such a way that the whole collection of...
: Summer (1563) - Antonello da MessinaAntonello da MessinaAntonello da Messina, properly Antonello di Giovanni di Antonio was an Italian painter from Messina, Sicily, active during the Italian Renaissance...
: San Cassiano AltarpieceSan Cassiano AltarpieceThe San Cassiano Altarpiece is a painting by the Italian Renaissance master Antonello da Messina, dating to 1475-1476. Commissioned for the church of San Cassiano in Venice, it is now housed in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna...
(1475–1476) - Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio:
- Madonna of the RosaryMadonna of the Rosary (Caravaggio)The Madonna of the Rosary is a painting finished in 1607 by the Italian Baroque painter Caravaggio. It is housed in the Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna....
(1606/07) - The Crowning with ThornsThe Crowning with ThornsThe Crowning with Thorns may refer to:*The Crowning with Thorns painted in 1542/1543 by Titian*The Crowning with Thorns painted c. 1602/1604/1607 by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio...
- David with the Head of GoliathDavid with the Head of Goliath (Caravaggio)David with the Head of Goliath is a painting by the Italian Baroque artist Caravaggio. It is housed in the Galleria Borghese, Rome. The painting, which was in the collection of Cardinal Scipione Borghese in 1613, has been dated as early as 1605 and as late as 1609–1610, with more recent scholars...
- Madonna of the Rosary
- Peter Paul Rubens:
- Ildefonso Altar (1630–32)
- The Fur (1638)
- RaphaelRaphaelRaffaello Sanzio da Urbino , better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur...
: Madonna of the MeadowMadonna del Prato (Raphael)The Madonna with the Christ Child and Saint John the Baptist is a 1506 painting by Raphael, now held in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna...
(1506) - Rembrandt: Self PortraitSelf Portrait (Rembrandt, Vienna)Self Portrait is an oil on canvas painting by the Dutch artist Rembrandt. Painted in 1652, it is one of at least 40 self-portraits painted by the artist, and was the first he had painted since 1645...
(1652) - Johannes VermeerJohannes VermeerJohannes, Jan or Johan Vermeer was a Dutch painter who specialized in exquisite, domestic interior scenes of middle class life. Vermeer was a moderately successful provincial genre painter in his lifetime...
: The Artist in his Studio (1665/66) - Diego VelázquezDiego VelázquezDiego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez was a Spanish painter who was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary Baroque period, important as a portrait artist...
: Several portraits of the Spanish royal family, a branch of the Habsburg, sent to Vienna. - Pieter Brueghel the ElderPieter Brueghel the ElderPieter Bruegel the Elder was a Flemish renaissance painter and printmaker known for his landscapes and peasant scenes . He is sometimes referred to as the "Peasant Bruegel" to distinguish him from other members of the Brueghel dynasty, but he is also the one generally meant when the context does...
:- The Fight Between Carnival and LentThe Fight Between Carnival and LentThe Fight Between Carnival and Lent is an oil-on-panel work painted by Pieter Bruegel in 1559. This painting depicts a common festival of the period, as celebrated in the Southern Netherlands...
(1559) - Children's Games (1560)
- The Tower of BabelThe Tower of Babel (Brueghel)The Tower of Babel is the subject of three oil paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. The first, a miniature painted on ivory, was painted while Bruegel was in Rome and is now lost...
(1563) - The Procession to Calvary (1564)
- The Gloomy DayThe Gloomy DayThe Gloomy Day is an oil on wood painting by Pieter Bruegel in 1565. The painting is one in a series of six works, five of which are still extant, that depict different times of the year...
(Feb.-Ma.) (1565) - The Return of the HerdThe Return of the HerdThe Return of the Herd is an oil on wood painting by Pieter Bruegel in 1565. The painting is one in a series of six works, five of which are still intact, that depict different times of the year. The painting is currently in the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, located in Vienna,...
(Oct.-Nov.) (1565) - The Hunters in the SnowThe Hunters in the SnowThe Hunters in the Snow — also known as The Return of the Hunters — is a celebrated oil on wood painting by Pieter Bruegel. The work is one in a series of six works, five of which still survive, that depict different times of the year. The painting is in the collection of the Kunsthistorisches...
(Dec.-Jan.) (1565) - The Peasant and the Nest Robber (Bauer und Vogeldieb), 1568
- The Peasant WeddingThe Peasant WeddingThe Peasant Wedding is a 1567 painting by the Flemish Renaissance painter and printmaker Pieter Brueghel the Elder, one of his many depicting peasant life. It is currently housed in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.-Scene:...
(1568/69) - The Peasant Dance (1568/69)
- The Fight Between Carnival and Lent
The collections of the Kunsthistorisches Museum are the:
- Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection
- Collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities
- Collection of Sculpture and Decorative Arts
- Coin Cabinet
- Library
Hofburg
- Ephesus MuseumEphesos MuseumThe Ephesos Museum in Vienna displays antiquities from the city of Ephesus , in modern-day Turkey. Begun in the late 19th century, the collection includes original works of sculpture and architecture, and belongs to the Kunsthistorisches Museum....
- Collection of Ancient Musical Instruments
- Collection of Arms and Armour
- Archive
- Secular and Ecclesiastical Treasury (in the Schweizerhof)
Others
- Museum of Carriages and Department of Court Uniforms (in Schönbrunn PalaceSchönbrunn PalaceSchönbrunn Palace is a former imperial 1,441-room Rococo summer residence in Vienna, Austria. One of the most important cultural monuments in the country, since the 1960s it has been one of the major tourist attractions in Vienna...
) - Collections of Ambras CastleAmbras CastleAmbras Castle is a schloss in Innsbruck, Austria. Situated in the hills above Innsbruck, the Castle of Ambras is one of the most important sights of the city...
(in InnsbruckInnsbruck- Main sights :- Buildings :*Golden Roof*Kaiserliche Hofburg *Hofkirche with the cenotaph of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor*Altes Landhaus...
) - the Austrian Theatre MuseumAustrian Theatre MuseumThe Austrian Theatre Museum, or Österreichisches Theatermuseum, is the national museum of theatre history in Austria. It is situated in the Palais Lobkowitz in Vienna.-History:...
in Palais LobkowitzPalais LobkowitzPalais Lobkowitz, or Palais Dietrichstein-Lobkowitz, is a Baroque palace in Vienna, Austria. It was owned by the noble Lobkowitz family.Today it houses the theatre museum of the Kunsthistorisches Museum.- History :...
Also affiliated are the:
- Museum of Ethnology in the Neue Burg (affiliated in 2001);
- LipizzanLipizzanThe Lipizzan or Lipizzaner , is a breed of horse closely associated with the Spanish Riding School of Vienna, Austria, where the finest representatives demonstrate the haute école or "high school" movements of classical dressage, including the highly controlled, stylized jumps and other movements...
er-Museum in the Stallburg
Recent events
One of the museum's most important objects, the Cellini Salt Cellar by Benvenuto CelliniBenvenuto Cellini
Benvenuto Cellini was an Italian goldsmith, sculptor, painter, soldier and musician, who also wrote a famous autobiography. He was one of the most important artists of Mannerism.-Youth:...
, was stolen on May 11, 2003 and recovered on January 21, 2006, in a box buried in a forest near the town of Zwettl
Zwettl
Zwettl is a town and district capital in Lower Austria. It is chiefly known as the location of Zwettl Abbey, first mentioned in October 1139.- Geography :...
, Austria. It had been the biggest art theft
Art theft
Art theft is usually for the purpose of resale or for ransom . Stolen art is sometimes used by criminals to secure loans.. One must realize that only a small percentage of stolen art is recovered. Estimates range from 5 to 10%. This means that little is known about the scope and characteristics of...
in Austrian history.
The Kunsthistorisches Museum appears in considerable detail in the final mission of the Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven
Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven
Mafia is a third-person shooter video game initially made for Microsoft Windows in . It was developed by Czech company Illusion Softworks and published by Gathering of Developers...
, developed by Illusion Softworks
Illusion Softworks
2K Czech is a game development company located in Brno and Prague, Czech Republic. The company focuses mostly on first-person and third-person shooter games. Since the foundation in 1997, till the sale to Kush Games ten years later, its owners and key managers were founders Petr Vochozka and Jan...
.