Kunsthistorisches Museum

Kunsthistorisches Museum
	Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna with Maria-Theresien-Platz
	Interactive fullscreen map
Established	1871–1891
Location	Maria Theresien Platz Vienna, Austria
Coordinates	48°12′13.97″N 16°21′41.76″E / 48.2038806°N 16.3616000°E
Type	Art museum
Visitors	1,688,509 (2023)
Director	Sabine Haag (since 2009)
Architects	Karl Hasenauer ; Gottfried Semper
Website	www.khm.at

The Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien (lit. "Vienna Museum of Art History", often referred to as the "Museum of Fine Arts, Vienna") is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on the Vienna Ring Road, it is crowned with an octagonal dome. The term Kunsthistorisches Museum applies to both the institution and the main building. It is the largest art museum in the country and one of the most important museums worldwide.

Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary opened the facility around 1891 at the same time as the Natural History Museum, Vienna which has a similar design and is directly across Maria-Theresien-Platz.^[2] The two buildings were constructed between 1871 and 1891 according to plans by Gottfried Semper and Baron Karl von Hasenauer. The emperor commissioned the two Ringstraße museums to create a suitable home for the Habsburgs' formidable art collection and to make it accessible to the general public. The buildings are rectangular, with symmetrical Renaissance Revival façades of sandstone lined with large arched windows on the main levels and topped with an octagonal dome 60 metres (200 ft) high. The interiors of the museums are lavishly decorated with marble, stucco ornamentation, gold-leaf, and murals. The grand stairway features paintings by Gustav Klimt, Ernst Klimt, Franz Matsch, Hans Makart and Mihály Munkácsy.^[3]

^ "The 100 most popular art museums in the world—blockbusters, bots and bounce-backs". theartnewspaper.com. The Art Newspaper. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
^ The Office of the High Chamberlain (31 December 1906). Guide to the Treasury of the Imperial House of Austria. Vienna: A. Holzhausen. p. 12.
^ Czerny, Ernst (2012). "Gustav Klimt and Egyptian Art. Paintings in the staircase of the Kunsthistorisches Museum". Egypt and Austria VII. Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. ISBN 978-8073312473.

[1] "The 100 most popular art museums in the world—blockbusters, bots and bounce-backs". theartnewspaper.com. The Art Newspaper. Retrieved 4 September 2024.

[2] The Office of the High Chamberlain (31 December 1906). Guide to the Treasury of the Imperial House of Austria. Vienna: A. Holzhausen. p. 12.

[3] Czerny, Ernst (2012). "Gustav Klimt and Egyptian Art. Paintings in the staircase of the Kunsthistorisches Museum". Egypt and Austria VII. Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. ISBN 978-8073312473.

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