Vienna

The religious and geographical center of Vienna is St. Stephen's Cathedral. The most prominent Gothic masterpiece of the city, with its stunning tiled roof and stone interiors, actually retains many artworks from different periods as the Romanic towers, the Baroque altar or the Renaissance decorations. When the Pummerin – the largest bell in Austria – rings on New Year’s Eve, it is even broadcast on TV.

Featuring a golden dome decorated with laurels, this Art Nouveau exhibition building was constructed in 1897/98 by Joseph Maria Olbriach, a student of Otto Wagner, and is one of the most famous structures in Vienna. The Beethoven Frieze created by Gustav Klimt in 1902 is on permanent display on the lower level. Changing exhibitions featuring contemporary art are held on the entrance level.

With its magnificent gardens, this former residence of Prince Eugen von Savoyen is one of the most beautiful Baroque ensembles in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Upper Belvedere houses the world’s largest collection of paintings by Klimt, including the Art Nouveau icons “The Kiss” and “Judith.” It also contains masterpieces by Schiele, Kokoschka, Waldmüller, Renoir, Monet and Van Gogh as well as important collections of works from the 19th and 20th centuries, the Baroque and the Middle Ages. Top-quality special exhibitions are put on in the Lower Belvedere and Orangery. The exquisite Baroque garden between the two palaces offers an extraordinary view of Vienna.

The Imperial Palace was the residence of the Habsburg emperor until 1918. From the 13th century until just before the end of the monarchy, the area was fitted out in imperial splendor with its present-day size. The original gothic building around today’s Schweizerhof was extended on a continuous basis, resulting in an extensive building complex formed of different sections, which contributes an essential character to the appearance of Vienna's Old City. Europe’s largest imperial cultural complex today houses more than two dozen collections of international standing, including the Austrian National Library, the Imperial Treasury, the Imperial Apartments and the Sisi Museum, as well as the Spanish Riding School.

With its 41 paintings and 188 works on paper, the Leopold Museum in Vienna’s MuseumsQuartier has the world’s largest and most significant collection of works by Egon Schiele. The comprehensive collection “Vienna 1900 and Art Nouveau” is another highlight of the Leopold Museum. The paintings by Schiele’s mentor and friend Gustav Klimt are especially noteworthy. A program of special exhibitions also presents large-scale shows of work by internationally famous artists. The offer is rounded off by a well-curated museum shop and a cafe with a patio overlooking the main courtyard of the MuseumsQuartier.

A striking sacred building with a large cupola and two giants twin columns standing at its sides, this church is the last great work of Baroque city architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach. Karlskirche is a European Baroque masterpiece, with symbolic design and use of classical architectural elements. Take the elevator to the dome for a close-up of the frescoes-decorated interiors.

Albertina, Habsburg’s enormous collection of graphic arts, houses works by Dürer and Rubens along with masterpieces by Schiele, Cézanne, Klimt, Kokoschka, Picasso and Rauschenberg. The show “Masterworks of Modernism: The Batliner Collection” illustrates the progression from Monet and Picasso to Gerhard Richter and Georg Baselitz and presents highlights from the last 130 years of art history. Albertina also has a collection of architectural works and photos (including Helmut Newton and Lisette Model among others), which are on display in special exhibitions.

This huge basalt stone building makes visitors experience art from the 20th century to the present days via changing exhibits of everything from classic modern art to the essential artistic genres of the 1960s and 1970s, right up to contemporary artworks from the worlds of film, photography and video. Since 2011, a cinema designed by the artist Heimo Zobernig has also been housed, focusing on the relationship between visual arts and film.

A visit to Vienna’s most famous palace is a must for art lovers. The Baroque building structures have been preserved with “Viennese Charm" and hosts the 1,441 rooms that were once inhabited by the imperial family – 40 of which you can still admire during the guided tours today. Explore the architectural treasures of the Palace Gardens, such as the Palm House and the the oldest zoo in the world, built in 1752 by Emperor Franz I.

Two twining museum buildings were erected during the construction of Vienna's Ringstrasse as monuments to the imperial collections: the Museum of Fine Arts and the Museum of Natural History. Embark on a journey through the breathtaking diversity of the natural world: from insects to precious stones and minerals to flying dinosaurs, you will experience fascinating insights into the history of our planet at this museum near the Imperial Palace. Numerous stuffed specimens of extinct species make this an invaluable collection. From the rooftop, where guided tours are offered regularly, you have the best view over Vienna's Inner City and the Ringstrasse.

The MAK Austrian Museum of Applied Arts is unique in its ability to represent the history and significance of the Wiener Werkstätte. The archive, which was donated to the MAK in 1955 by its last owner, Alfred Hofmann, comprises, among others, about 16,000 design drawings and about 20,000 fabric samples. One of the highlights of the MAK’s collection is Gustav Klimt’s nine-part working drawings for the mosaic frieze in the dining room of the Palais Stoclet in Brussels. After a restoration process that took several years, this has again been on permanent display in the MAK since 2012.