Page 88 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide 2016 - Austria

86  VIENNA AREA B Y AREA

The museum holds several casts on the escarpment behind the
of dinosaur skeletons in its old town fortifica tions. In 1921,
palaeontology department. these Baroque buildings became
In the square between the a venue for fairs, and in the
buildings stands an imposing 1980s they were conver ted into
monument of Maria Theresa a museum complex to designs
(1888) by Kaspar von Zumbusch. by Laurids and Manfred Ortner.
It shows the empress clasping They changed the fur nish ings
the Pragmatic Section of 1713, of the existing structures and
The dinosaur room in the enabling women to ascend to added new ones, resulting in
Natur historisches Museum the throne. Below her are her one of the world’s largest
generals and her principal cultural centres.
t Naturhistorisches nobles and advisors. The MuseumsQuartier
Museum (Museum District) includes the
y Kunsthistorisches Kunsthalle Wien (Vienna Art
Burgring 7. Map 2 A5. Tel 52 177-0. Hall) opposite the main entrance,
% Volkstheater. v 1, 2, 46, 49, 71, D. Museum behind the former premises
@ 48A. Open 9am–6:30pm Thu– See pp88–91. of the Spanish Riding School.
Mon, 9am–9pm Wed. Closed Tue, Vienna’s main showcase for
1 Jan, 1 May, 1 Nov, 25 Dec. & 7
∑ nhm-wien.ac.at international contemporary art,
u MuseumsQuartier the Kunsthalle is one of the city’s
On two sides of Maria-Theresien- Museumsplatz 1. Map 1 C5. most important art spaces,
Platz are two identical buildings, Tel 52 35 881. % MuseumsQuartier, focusing on transdisci plinary
designed by Gottfried Semper Volkstheater. v 1, 2, 46, 49, 71, D. @ work including photo graphy,
and Karl von Hasenauer. They 48A. Information: Open 10am–7pm video, film and new media, as
were both built as museums daily. ∑ mqpoint.at. Museum of well as modern-art retrospectives.
at the time of Franz Joseph I, as Modern Art: Open 2–7pm Mon, 10am– To the left of the Kunsthalle
part of the Ringstrasse develop- 7pm Tue–Sun (to 9pm Thu). & is the white limestone façade
ment. Today, one is an art Admission free 26 Oct. ∑ mumok.at of the Leopold Museum, which
museum (Kunsthistorisches Leopold Museum: Open 10am–6pm houses the art collection of
Museum, see pp88–91), the daily (to 9pm Thu). Closed Tue, public Rudolph Leopold. This encom-
other the Natural History holidays. & ∑ leopoldmuseum.org passes over 5,000 works of art,
Museum, home to one of the Kunsthalle Wien: Open 10am–7pm including major pieces by
richest and most wide-ranging Mon–Sat (to 9pm Thu). & 7 Gustav Klimt, together with
∑ kunsthallewien.at
collections in the world. the world’s largest Egon
Many exhibits originally Schiele collection.
belonged to Maria Theresa’s Johann Bernhard Fischer The Museum of Modern Art
husband, Francis Stephen of von Erlach was Ludwig Foundation Vienna,
Lorraine. The present permanent commissioned or MUMOK, to the right of the
exhibition occupies two floors by Emperor Karl Kunsthalle, is clad in contrast-
and consists of archaeological VI to build the ing dark basalt. It contains
and anthropological displays, imperial stables one of the largest European
reconstructed specimens of collec tions of modern art,
extinct animals and one of from American Pop to Cubism,
the best gem collections in Expressionism and Viennese
the world. Actionism, as well as contem-
Among the most famous porary art from Central and
exhibits are the Hallstatt Eastern Europe.
archaeological finds, dating The Architektur Zentrum
from the early Iron Age, Wien is a venue for interesting
and the famous Venus of temporary exhibi tions of modern
Willendorf – a 25,000-year-old architecture and architectural
stone statuette of a woman. history. Its permanent exhibi tion
The Natural History Museum features 20th-century Austrian
plays a very important role architecture.
within the education system The Tanzquartier Wien is
and its temporary exhibitions dedicated to dance, providing
are organized mainly with facilities and training to perfor-
schools in mind. The once mers and choreographers, and
famous exhibition showing presenting various types of dance
the imaginary life of dinosaurs and other performances to the
toured much of the world in public. The MuseumsQuartier
the wake of Steven Spielberg’s Rossbändiger (1892), the tamer of horses, also has archives and facilities
famous film Jurassic Park. near the MuseumsQuartier for lectures, workshops and
For hotels and restaurants in this area see p293 and pp312–13

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