The Museumsquartier is a 60,000 m² large area in the 7th district

Neubau

Neubau is the seventh district of Vienna . It is located near the center of Vienna and was established as a district in 1850, but borders changed later...

 of the city of 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...

; it is the eighth largest cultural area in the world. The Museumsquartier contains Baroque

Baroque architecture

Baroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...

 buildings as well as Modern architecture

Modern architecture

Modern architecture is generally characterized by simplification of form and creation of ornament from the structure and theme of the building. It is a term applied to an overarching movement, with its exact definition and scope varying widely...

 by the architect

Architect

An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

s Laurids and Manfred Ortner (Ortner & Ortner Baukunst). The renovation of the former court stables began in April 1998. Three years later, the Museumsquartier opened in two stages (June and September 2001). The total cost of the construction was 150 Million Euro (two billion Schilling).

The MQ is home to a range of installations from large art museums like the Leopold Museum

Leopold Museum

The Leopold Museum, housed in the Museumsquartier in Vienna, Austria, is home to one of the largest collections of modern Austrian art, featuring artists such as Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka and Richard Gerstl....

 and the MUMOK

MUMOK

MUMOK is the abbreviation of "MUseum MOderner Kunst" Foundation Ludwig Vienna. It is located in the Museumsquartier in Vienna, Austria....

 (Museum of Modern Art Ludwig Foundation Vienna) to contemporary exhibition spaces like the Kunsthalle Wien

Kunsthalle Wien

The Kunsthalle Wien is an institution in Vienna for temporary exhibitions of contemporary international art. It opened in 1992, and was originally located on Karlsplatz, in a container-shaped building designed as a temporary site by the Austrian architect Adolf Krischanitz...

 and festivals like the Wiener Festwochen, an annual summer event that is headquartered in the MuseumsQuartier Wien.

Additional highlights include the Tanzquartier, an international, state-of-the-art centre for dance, the Architekturzentrum Wien

Architekturzentrum Wien

The Architekturzentrum Wien is a museum in Vienna, in the Museumsquartier. It is conceived as a centre for exhibitions, events and research into architecture and related topics, particularly the architecture and urban design of the 20th and 21st centuries. It is the national architecture museum...

, production studios for new media, artist studios for artists-in-residence, outstanding art and cultural facilities designed for children, and a variety of other events and festivals such as the renowned Viennale

Viennale

The Vienna International Film Festival, or Viennale, is a film festival taking place every October since 1960 in Vienna, Austria.The average number of visitors is about 75,000. Traditional cinema venues are Gartenbaukino, Urania, Metro-Kino, Filmmuseum and Stadtkino...

 film festival, the ImPulsTanz Vienna International Dance Festival

ImPulsTanz Vienna International Dance Festival

ImPulsTanz Vienna International Dance Festival is a major contemporary dance festival held in Vienna, Austria each year. It gathers thousands of professional dancers, choreographers and teachers for a five week program of performance, research projects and workshops...

, and many others. The Museumsquartier also hosts quartier21, which features a number of alternative art groups.

Controversy

There was negative media

Mass media

Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...

 reaction after it became known that the expensive public buildings had serious shortcomings regarding barrier-free wheelchair

Wheelchair

A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, designed to be a replacement for walking. The device comes in variations where it is propelled by motors or by the seated occupant turning the rear wheels by hand. Often there are handles behind the seat for someone else to do the pushing...

 accessibility

Accessibility

Accessibility is a general term used to describe the degree to which a product, device, service, or environment is available to as many people as possible. Accessibility can be viewed as the "ability to access" and benefit from some system or entity...

. Not even the recently constructed buildings (Kunsthalle, MUMOK and Leopold Museum) were able to fulfil the most basic requirements. After many negative reports across the media, and the commitment of handicapped

Disability

A disability may be physical, cognitive, mental, sensory, emotional, developmental or some combination of these.Many people would rather be referred to as a person with a disability instead of handicapped...

 interest groups, the majority of the problems were repaired in the following years.

Another contentious point regarding the initiatives and museums that were included in the area of the MQ is the Public Netbase

Public Netbase

Public Netbase was a cultural media initiative, open access internet platform, and advocate for the development of electronic art. Long a support of avant-garde, sometimes controversial, art and digital culture, the project increasingly came into conflict with the Austrian political establishment...

, an internet provider and sponsor of electronic art and culture programs. Originally located in a part of the MQ, it had to leave during the renovations, but after the construction was completed, it was not able to return to its former premises.

Institutions

• MUMOK
  MUMOK
  MUMOK is the abbreviation of "MUseum MOderner Kunst" Foundation Ludwig Vienna. It is located in the Museumsquartier in Vienna, Austria....
  
  
• Leopold Museum
  Leopold Museum
  The Leopold Museum, housed in the Museumsquartier in Vienna, Austria, is home to one of the largest collections of modern Austrian art, featuring artists such as Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka and Richard Gerstl....
  
  
• Kunsthalle Wien
  Kunsthalle Wien
  The Kunsthalle Wien is an institution in Vienna for temporary exhibitions of contemporary international art. It opened in 1992, and was originally located on Karlsplatz, in a container-shaped building designed as a temporary site by the Austrian architect Adolf Krischanitz...
  
  
• ZOOM Kindermuseum
• Tanzquartier
• Architekturzentrum Wien
  Architekturzentrum Wien
  The Architekturzentrum Wien is a museum in Vienna, in the Museumsquartier. It is conceived as a centre for exhibitions, events and research into architecture and related topics, particularly the architecture and urban design of the 20th and 21st centuries. It is the national architecture museum...
  
  
• quartier21
  • Asifakeil
  • math.space
  • monochrom
    Monochrom
    monochrom is an international art-technology-philosophy group, founded in 1993. Its offices are located at Museumsquartier/Vienna ....
    
    
  • Quintessenz
    Quintessenz
    Quintessenz is a civil liberties advocacy organization based in the Museumsquartier in Vienna, Austria.Founded in 1994, Quintessenz works on Internet and on-line liberty issues in co-operation with other civil liberties advocates around the world.Quintessenz is a co-organizer of the Big Brother...
    
    
  • 5uper.net
  • PLAY.FM
    PLAY.FM
    PLAY.FM is a web radio and online audio database for DJ and club culture. DJ sets, radio shows and live recordings are collected and can be listened to on-demand. The PLAY.FM studio and the office were located in the Museumsquartier in Vienna, Austria but are now in the 16th district.- Web radio...
    
    
  • SUBOTRON
  • etc.

External links

• Museumsquartier website
• math.space
• Museumsquartier on Ortner & Ortner Baukunst (The MuseumsQuartier on the website of the architectural firm Ortner & Ortner Baukunst)