Exclusive private openings with guided tours
Provide your guests with a truly unique experience in an imperial setting.
Are you looking for an elegant way to begin an unforgettable evening, or do you just want to surprise your guests?
We offer a private opening of our collections: the Picture Gallery, the Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection, or the Collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, as well as the Treasury with its famous Habsburgs’ crowns and insignia. Or armour and historical arms at the Collection of Arms and Armour. Furthermore the Carriage Museum at Schönbrunn with vehicles, carriages and sedan chairs can be opened for an exclusive private tour.
Picture Gallery
The Picture Gallery of the Kunsthistorisches Museum developed from the art collections of the House of Habsburg. Today it is one of the largest and most important of its kind in the world.
The foundations of the collection were laid and its main emphases set in the 17th century: 16th-century Venetian painting (Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto), 17th-century Flemish painting (Peter Paul Rubens, Sir Anthony Van Dyck), Early Netherlandish painting (Jan van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden) and German Renaissance painting (Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach).
Among the other highlights in the Picture Gallery are its holdings of pictures by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, which are unique worldwide, as well as masterpieces by Vermeer, Rembrandt, Raphael, Caravaggio, Velázquez and Italian Baroque painters.
Kunstkammer Wien
The Kunstkammer Wien is the most important collection of its kind in the world. Since March 1, 2013 this unique collection is now again open to the public. Come and see a »museum within the museum«.
Twenty newly-installed galleries invite you to experience a world of beauty and wit, curiosities and wonder. The Kunst- und Wunderkammern (arts and natural wonders rooms) of the Renaissance and Baroque periods were encyclopaedic, universal collections that attempted to reflect the entire knowledge of the day. Particularly desirable were rare, curious and unusual objects.
Collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities
The objects in the Collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities span a period of more than three millennia and range from Bronze Age ceramics of Cyprus dating from the 3rd millennium BC to early Medieval finds.
Some 2500 objects are on permanent display. Three main areas in particular make this collection one of the best of its kind: the unique and spectacular antique cameos, including the famous Gemma Augustea, the treasure troves dating from the period of the great migrations and the early Middle Ages, such as the golden treasure of Nagyszentmiklós, and the collection of vases with such masterpieces as the Brygos Cup.
Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection
The Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum is among the world’s most important collections of Egyptian antiquities.
The more than 17 000 objects date from a period of almost four thousand years, from the Egyptian Predynastic and Early Dynastic periods (ca. 3500 BC) to the early Christian era. Geographically their origins range from Egypt, Nubia, the eastern Mediterranean and Mesopotamia to the Arabian Peninsula.
Treasury
The Secular Treasury offers a unique panorama covering a millennium of European history. This is the home of the most important collection of medieval royal objects: the insignia and jewels of the Holy Roman Empire, including the Imperial Crown and the Holy Lance.
Further highlights include the Crown of Emperor Rudolf II (which later on became Crown of the Austrian Empire), as well as the vestments and other precious items of the Order of the Golden Fleece. The Ecclesiastical Treasury offers a fascinating journey through the history of art, piety and religion. The items here tell of the medieval cult of relics, of the Catholicism of the Habsburgs to the era of the Counterreformation, of rulers’ post-baroque piety and Austrian folk religiosity.
Museum of Carriages
The “Wagenburg” building at Schönbrunn is home to the core of the former vehicle fleet of the Viennese Court. Following the demise of the monarchy in 1918, around 100 carriages, sleds, sedan chairs and litters along with their associated harnesses, saddles and caparisons remained.
The highlights of the Carriage Collection include the gilded “Imperial Carriage”, the Golden Carousel Carriage of Maria Theresia, the Child’s Phaeton of Napoleon’s son, the Black Hearse of the Viennese court, the personal Landaulet of Empress Elisabeth and the only preserved Court Automobile of 1914. A selection of carriages of the Princes Thurn and Taxis has recently been included in the collection on permanent loan.
