A Museum Kind of Day in Vienna (Day 24 - GToE)

While it never actually outright rained today, the sky kept looking very threatening. I took advantage of the so-so weather and spent much of my day indoors, exploring various museums.

The day started with the Kunsthistorisches Museum. This gorgeous museum was built expressly to showcase the grandeur and opulence of the Habsburgs' collected artwork. Built in 1888, this world class museum showcases some of the finest masterpieces in the world. A short list of artists represented are Raphael, Caravaggio, Velázquez, Dürer, Rubens, Vermeer, and Rembrandt. In addition to all these famous artists, the museum offers a fine display of Egyptian and classical arts. Now I've mentioned that I'm not much of a fan of Renaissance artwork and much of the Kunsthistorisches is just that, so it was not the most thrilling time spent in a museum. (Raina would have loved visiting this museum.) But there were some paintings that I found interesting enough to shoot a photo. I really enjoying touring the Egyptian and classical arts so much more.

I next went across the street to explore the Hofburg New Palaces Museum. Yet another collection of the Habsburgs. Technically, the New Palaces is three separate museums in one building. The Arms and Armor Collection, the Ancient Musical Instruments Collection, and the Ephesus Museum. The Arms and Armor Collection is pretty self explanatory - rows upon rows of armor and weapons. Not my cup of tea. I loved the Ancient Musical Instruments Collection, which shows musical instruments through the ages including (supposedly) Beethoven's clarinet, Leopold Mozart's violin, and two pianos played by Wolfgang Mozart. Now how much of that is true...<shrugs>. The Ephesus Museum has artifacts from an ancient Roman city. I really only spent a considerable amount of time with the musical instruments. Fascinating stuff.

After leaving the New Palaces Museum, I headed off to the Hofberg Treasury. This museum contains a stunning collection of royal regalia - sparkling crowns, jewels, gowns, and assorted Habsburg bling. Man, were these people rich! The treasures include the crown of the Holy Roman emperor, Charlemagne's saber, and a ton of precious gems. There was one display that showed a piece of the "true cross" that Jesus was crucified upon (or so they say).

I then took a walk to Judenplatz, an area of Vienna which once had a thriving Jewish community in the Middle Ages, that is until Albert V ordered the annihilation of the entire Jewish community. Judenplatz has a memorial to all the Austrian Jews who were victims of the Holocaust. It's a moving monument with a unique design of being a library turned inside out. There are rows and rows of books with the bindings turned inward. Behind the memorial is the Museum Judenplatz, which has displays on medieval Jewish life and the remnants of a medieval synagogue below street level, which was discovered when they were excavating for the memorial. There is a second museum (Jewish Museum Vienna) a couple of blocks away, which documents the Viennese Jewish community from before 1938 through the present day. 

That was pretty much my day today. The only thing left is to grab some dinner and then get a good night's sleep because I have a 7:30am train to Salzburg tomorrow. Check out all my Day 24 photos on my GToE photo site.